The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the new crop leaders for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) can be likened to a coup d’état.
“When you look at the new crop of leaders, it is clear that it almost represents a coup d’état from President Kufuor’s faction. He has taken over the party again,” he claimed.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia however said he believes the old executives have been punished by the delegates for the roles they played in the party’s failure in the 2012 elections.
He recalled he had earlier cautioned the immediate past executives to position themselves as neutral leaders by running the party on the basis of principle and the party’s constitution.
“But I guess they didn’t listen and so the wind that has swept them is a result of what they did…it is all because of how the other side conducted themselves.”
Listing some of the shortcomings of the old executives, the NDC general secretary said: “First of all, you went into election and lost, you refused to concede, you kept on misleading the rank and file of the party…so they took the party for a jolly ride and so that is how the NPP has decided to pay them.”
Regarding the new elected executives, Mr. Asiedu Nketia discounted assertions that they are strong enough to push the NDC into opposition.
Some have contended that the new leadership represents a new wind of change for the NPP, and could potentially win the 2016 elections.
But Mr. Asiedu Nketia in an interview with Citi News said he does not believe in that analysis.
He noted that people making those assertions “can only claim it is a change for the better if they concede that they actually lost the election and the election was transparent. There was the need for them to change things so they can perform better.”
According to him, the total overhaul of the national officers of the NPP is indicative the immediate past executives performed abysmally which he said largely contributed to their loss in both the 2008 and 2012 general elections.
Click on link below to listen to Asiedu Nketia
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan