NPP is Doing What NDC Should Have Done ― Fritz

Former Member of Parliament and National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart, Mr. Fritz Baffour, has admitted that the ruling New Patriotic Party is doing something right for the good people of Ghana.

According to him, NPP’s involvement in social interventions is what his party―the NDC, should have done in order to retain power in the 2016 presidential elections.

But the NDC, Mr. Baffour lamented, concentrated more on infrastructure―which was not the urgent need of the people.

“There is a brouhaha about social intervention…when you look at the NPP, which is supposed to be a liberal democratic institution, and the kind of social democratic initiatives they brought in, then there must be a disconnect somewhere because, we should have been the ones to be doing that,” he told Accra-based 3FM, yesterday.

The former MP for Ablekuma South Constituency also believes the NDC lost in 2016 because the party failed to connect with its supporters.

“We fell short, we were over confident…Infrastructure development is not the ‘be all and end of all’ of political thought or success, you have to also engage the people,” he emphasized.

Having learnt a regrettable lesson from a shocking defeat in 2016, Mr. Baffour believes the NDC can regain power if it changes its way of doing things and focuses on policies that would benefit the whole nation and not just a particular group of people.

Policies similar to the Free Senior High School (FSHS) and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), he said, are what the NDC, under the leadership of Alban Bagbin will pursue.

“We are talking about the new initiatives that have been brought in, the Free SHS, how are we going to look at it and make it better? How are we going to look at the rural transportation and food security situation issues…all these come into play because that is where the people benefit,” Mr. Baffour noted.

He continued: “If something like education is not going to become part and parcel of the political football, then we know we are doing something…if we invest in education and invest in health and it is for the man on the street and he has access to the best health and educational delivery systems, then we are there.”

Mr. Baffour, who is currently the Campaign Director for the Alban Bagbin campaign team, disclosed that his boss would be coming on board with a lot of potential to secure victory for the NDC in 2020.

Though many believe former President Mahama has an upper hand in the flagbearership race, other aspirants say the NDC is crying for change.

“I do not think it is a done deal, maybe in terms of publicity because he [Mahama] has a lot of exposure. Ghanaians are now hungry for someone who is direct, someone who is accessible, someone who can take decisions, and someone who has experience with dealing with situations that are difficult.

“He [Bagbin] is neither intellectually nor socially arrogant,” Mr. Baffour stated.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]