NDC Dumps Dumelo, Others …Ahead of Election 2020

Former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) Koku Anyidoho has said the party will not leave its campaign in the hands of people he describes as “strangers” again.

He said the NDC lost the 2016 election because about 1 million supporters of the party did not vote because they were apathetic about how the campaign was handled.

The NDC during the launch of its campaign in Cape Coast ahead of the 2016 general election saw the country’s celebrities which included John Dumelo, Jewel Ackah, Abrantie Amakye Dede, Amandzeba Nat Brew, Bukom Banku and Ayitey Powers in attendance.

Papa Nii, a local comedian and football analyst, Abeiku Aggrey Santaana, celebrated radio presenter at Okay FM were also not left of the pomp and pageantry that greeted the event.

Nigeria’s veteran Actor Ekem Owoh aka “Long John” for instance was engaged to fly down to Ghana for a television advert about the Greater Accra Regional Hospital after it was given a facelift by the then Mahama government.

But Koku believes the party will not have that anymore of that.

“What message did we use to campaign , was it a strong message ? Which people led the campaign in 2016, are we going to use the same tactics while we have cadres, party executives, National Executives yet the campaign was run by people who had no understanding of the Party’s Philosophy and History, No! So never again will we put our campaign in the hands of strangers”.

He added “for celebrities, Yes, we enjoy their music and movies but never again should we hand over NDC’s campaign to celebrities, if they want to be part of the party, they should go and join the branches “.

Koku who was speaking  to journalists in Koforidua on Saturday at the sidelines of National Cadres conference being held in collaboration with the Fredrich- Elbert Stefftung for the Southern Sector under the theme :Re-Tracing the Spirit of Probity and Accountability -The Role of Cadres.

The longest serving Minister of Justice and Attorney General Obed Yao Asamoah who spoke at the event said to position the NDC party to the wheels of Probity and Accountability, the Party must develop enough resources to run its activities to curb the increasing monetization influencing the selection of leaders of the party .

“There is no virtue in the poverty. Look at you so many of you are old cadres who have worked for the party but there is nothing to show for it .There is no reward for it because we have never been able to organize a situation whereby we have resources to take care of our people. And we have situation that even within the party if somebody wants to lead the party he got to be able to have his own resources to campaign to lead the party. We should by now develop resources for the party so that we choose candidates on the basis of their quality and not on the basis of the money they have”.

Former Eastern Regional Minister Comrade Antwi Bosiako stated that the ruling government’s policies are “hurting more people than helping to make the NPP very unpopular day by day”.

He said the NDC must therefore go back to its root of probity and accountability to resonate hope to Ghanaians.

Present at the Conference are some bigwigs of the party including Alhaji Huudu Yaaya, Goosie Tannoh , Kofi Ator and Joyce Bawa Mogtari who represented former President John Dramani Mahama.