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Augustus Goosie Tanoh, a leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said the party is currently going through an identity crisis which it needs to purge itself of it.
According to him the “identity crisis” which makes it difficult for many Ghanaians to differentiate between it and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a bother and must be worked on for victory for the party.
He said that in order to restore the true identity of the party, the NDC will have to go back to its founding principles.
The former flagbearer aspirant of the party said this during a forum organised over the weekend by some cadres of the party on the future of the NDC.
He said “NDC is facing what is called Identity crisis. People cannot tell the difference between the NDC and the NPP and what we are saying is that we must go back to our founding values, our founding principles…that we are a social democratic party.”
For his part, a former Minister of Defence Benjamin Kumbuor said the future for the new NDC is no more the same and not easily predictable.
According to him, the party needs to use scientific tools to analyse and overcome the challenges it finds itself in as any other progressive political association does.
“I do not know whether some of those tools are still relevant today but what I do know is that you cannot use some other tools to interpret your reality.”
The forum was themed: ‘Securing NDC’s Future’.
It was the first of such open, constructive discourse about the challenges of social democracy in Ghana and the way forward for the NDC.
The former Minister of Health cautioned the NDC to be wary of the game it has chosen to play with other political parties, insisting the party cannot win with its current tactics.
“If you choose to be new and play the game as other political parties, you can never win,” he stressed.
“They know why they have set up those games. They know the rules of those games better than you and if you intend to engage them on their terms, there is no way you can ever win.”
Mr. Dan Abodakpi, a former Vice Chairman of the NDC who also spoke at the forum charged the leadership and membership of the party to return to the ethos and principles on which the party was formed.
Dan Abodakpi lamented that the party has departed from its philosophy and that has become its Achilles’ heel.
He bemoaned that the NDC in its current state is unable to win an election because it has become lame.
“This forum is a recognition of the fact that we have a formidable political organization which unfortunately has become lame. Assuming that you are running a race with a strong horse, the horse is lame. Can you ride the horse to victory? So, it is our collective responsibility to think through the actions that will heal the horse, strengthen the horse so that when we get a rider, however capable that rider is, he will have a very strong horse that will carry him to victory,” he said.
Dan Abodakpi further appealed for a conscious effort by the leadership of the party to unite its grassroots.
He argued that the party was robbed of victory in the 2020 elections because of the disunity that permeates at the grassroot level.
“I’m sure if I ask my colleague from Tema Central that I want to visit her branch today, the branches will be there in name but not really there. So is the case in my Keta Constituency, so is the case everywhere and that will explain the reason why victory will be beckoning us in 2020 and come to the finishing line; that victory will be taken from our hands,” the former Keta MP said.
Speaking at the same forum, the NDC’s 2020 parliamentary candidate for Tema East, Ebi Bright charged the party to reward the loyalty of its members.
“I don’t envy them (NPP) at all but a few things I envy is their loyalty to their direction. They don’t make it about the individuals. They don’t have to like me. They are looking for what I bring to the table for the advancement of the common good. Our party needs to be the common denominator. So, let’s tell that to all the people holding an old grudge,” she said.Top of For
Other speakers at the forum were, founding General Secretary Alhaji Hudu Yahaya and Mr. Fritz Baffour, a former Member of Parliament and also Deputy Minister under the John Evans Atta Mills administration.