Speaking to Citi News’ Fred Djabanor, Mr. Vandepuijie categorically stated that, both the content and structure of the said report are entirely different from the original one in the NDC’s possession.

[contextly_sidebar id=”fuh2rprLYygDiqHd7fTxOW64jEiQuRg2″]“No, this can never be the report of the committee that I worked on. It has some resemblance of the executive summary, but then it is not. What the person has done is picking from here and there and putting it together to let you have the resemblance of the report.”

“I am seeing some pages which are not the exact pages of the executive summary. You can even see from the pages that people made photocopies of what they had, and decided to put it together without having the exact document. They ended up messing up the whole thing. This is not our report. I know the pages from where we did the analysis.”

His comments come hours after the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, also pooh-poohed the report, saying the documents are fake, because the party has not published the committee’s report.

“We’ve taken a position that Kwesi Botchwey’s report is meant for internal consumption so it has not been published anywhere. So any commentary that is being run or any alleged capturing of Botchwey’s report and serialization cannot represent any genuine document coming from NDC,” Mr. Asiedu Nketia said.

Mahama laughs off supposed Kwesi Botchwey report

Former President John Mahama, who was amused by the recent publications, also took to social media platform Twitter, to make a mockery of it.

“It appears ‘KB report has been adopted by some media as the new handbook for any challenge facing Gh…. In the event of crisis, open any page and quote. Lol,” he tweeted.

NDC quiet on Kwesi Botchwey

The leadership of the NDC has been tight-lipped over findings of the report which was submitted in June 2017, after months of touring and holding consultative meetings with interest groups and individuals across the country.

However, some media outlets including the Daily Guide newspaper and Accra-based Joy FM in series of news stories, have made public what they claim to be some findings of the committee.

The publications, among others, have pointed to Stan Dogbe and Elvis Afyiie Ankrah as John Mahama’s undoing.

It also indicated that, the report had cited some officials at the Flagstaff House during Mahama’s tenure of shortchanging journalists by cutting down budgeted stipends for the presidential press corps and pocketing the rest.

We won’t publish Kwesi Botchwey’s report – Asiedu Nketia

Mr. Asiedu Nketia has said that the NDC is not ready to make the true report of the committee public.

He says the report is only meant to be used internally by the party.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwesi Botchwey c’ttee member Nii Lantey, rubbishes ‘leaked’ report appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The committee had been touring the country and meeting with various individuals and groups to gather information for the past four months, on what accounted for its loss in the polls.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OmqcfNlzfaHXwcc9A4TzITegww1QuIvW”]Citi News has gathered that, the final report, which will be presented to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting tomorrow [Tuesday], suggested among other things a new direction for the NDC on the election of executives and a flagbearer.

The 13-member committee was constituted by the NDC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and approved by its Council of Elders on December 29, 2016.

Members of the committee are;
1. Kwesi Botchwey
2. Edward Doe Adjaho (Former Speaker of Parliament)
3. Alhaji Hudu Yahaya
4. Naval Capt. Asase Gyimah
5. William Ahadzi (director of research at the NDC headquarters)
6. Ibrahim Zuberu, (Lecturer at Accra Technical University and member of NDC)
7. Razak Abu (Researcher at NDC’s Development Challenge)
8. Juliana Azumah Mensah (Former MP for Agotime-Ziope)
9. Barbarah Serwah Asamoah
10. Four (4) members from NDC parliamentary caucus (including Minority Leader)

According to the General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketia, who announced the setup of the committee, the committee was to “review and validate the results of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections and find out the causes of the poor performance of the NDC in both the presidential and the parliamentary election, as well as to deal with other matter reasonably related to the above objectives and to make recommendations to the National Executive Committee about the way forward.”

The committee’s work faced a number of challenges including some youth preventing one of its meetings in the Eastern Region from being held.

The 90-day deadline given to the committee was extended by at least a month to enable it complete its work.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwesi Botchwey committee presents report on Tuesday appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It is unclear what may have inspired the former President’s comment, and what message he seeks to carry across, especially when there is uncertainty as to whether or not he would be contesting the 2020 elections.

But according to him, members of the party must help to strengthen the party’s base to ensure that it returns to power.

In a social media update via his Twitter page, the former president said the cause of the party’s loss was “multifaceted” but called for calm among supporters.

“The NDC will bounce back!! Cause of our loss is multifaceted. We need calm nerves & hard work to strengthen the base of party.  #JMLegacy.”

John Mahama lost in his bid to remain president for another 4-year term. He was defeated by the New Patriotic Party’s Nana Akufo-Addo who had unsuccessfully contested to be president on two previous occasions.

Nana Akufo-Addo polled 5,716,026 votes, representing 53.85 percent of valid votes cast, against John Dramani Mahama’s 4,731,277 votes.

Many described the victory as historic, since no incumbent president in Ghana’s recent history had lost by such margin. The National Democratic Congress (NDC), subsequently formed a 13-member committee to investigate the cause of the party’s defeat in the December 7 polls.

The committee, formed by the NDC’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and approved by its Council of Elders, is being chaired by a Former Minister of Finance and Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Kwesi Botchwey.

The Committee is currently meeting various stakeholders across the country in carrying out it’s mandate, although some of the meetings have been engrossed in confusion.

Angry NDC members hold executives ‘hostage’ over election defeat 

Some foot soldiers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Eastern Region, on Thursday prevented their regional party executives from engaging in a scheduled meeting at the Koforidua Eredec Hotel.

The irate foot soldiers blocked the entrance of the hotel with logs, stones and motorcycles, which caused some regional party executives to flee the scene.

Below are the members of the fact-finding committee:

1. Kwesi Botchwey
2. Edward Doe Adjaho (Former Speaker of Parliament)
3. Alhaji Hudu Yahaya
4. Naval Capt. Asase Gyimah
5. William Ahadzi (director of research at the NDC headquarters)
6. Ibrahim Zuberu, (Lecturer at Accra Technical University and member of NDC)
7. Razak Abu (Researcher at NDC’s Development Challenge)
8. Juliana Azumah Mensah (Former MP for Agotime-Ziope)
9. Barbarah Serwah Asamoah
10. Four (4) members from NDC parliamentary caucus (including Minority Leader)

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post NDC will bounce back – Mahama appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 88-year-old suffered a heart attack on Saturday and had been in an induced coma in Madrid’s Gregorio Maranon hospital.

Real Madrid confirmed the news, saying Di Stefano, their honorary president, died at 15:15 GMT.

As a  forward, he won five straight European Cups, scoring in each final between 1956 and 1960.

Real president Florentino Perez said he and the club’s board would ‘like to express deepest condolences and all their love and affection to his children, their families and friends’.

The Argentina-born player also won eight Spanish league titles and was voted European player of the year in 1957 and 1959.

He left Real in 1964 at the age of 38, having scored more than 300 goals across 11 seasons.

Di Stefano played at international level for three nations but never appeared at the World Cup.

He won six caps for Argentina and played four times for Colombia during a spell in that country’s league. However, his Colombia caps are not officially recognised by Fifa.

Fifa said in 1954 he could not play for Spain but reversed that decision in 1957 after he gained citizenship and he went on to win 31 caps, scoring 23 goals.

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Source: BBC Sport

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