NDC needs new leadership - Nii Armah Ashitey
A former Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashitey, has called on delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to vote out the current chairman and the general secretary to help restore confidence in the party’s leadership.
He said the chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, had no business leading the party into another election after failing to win two elections “back to back”.
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Mr Ashitey, who is a former Member of Parliament for the Korle Klottey Constituency, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that to help restore confidence in the NDC as the party to lead the country out of the current economic hardship, the leadership of the party had to change.
He was speaking to the Daily Graphic after he filed his nomination to contest the National Chairman position of the NDC.
“Asiedu Nketia and Ofosu Ampofo have lost two elections together back to back and Asiedu himself has openly said that there are problems at the top. We have to change them and when we do, the people of this country will know that we are ready,” he said.
Mr Ashitey, who is also a lawyer, said he had the qualification to lead the party after going through the hierarchy from the branch level to serving as Mayor of Tema under the first NDC administration from 1992 to 2021 and as Minister under the Prof. Mills and John Mahama administrations.
“What I bring on board is experience that can bring a united front to go into the next election as I stand tall among those who want to compete, and that is striking because the current leadership cannot offer that to the party,” he said.
Decision
He said his decision to contest the chairmanship followed calls from the rank and file of the party to change the current leadership.
“For some of us, we sit back and we see that things are not going well, especially the management and preparation for national elections,” he said.
He added that, “For some of us it’s about service to the party that we have worked for since we were youth, and service to the country. I have been a businessman since 1989 and have contributed to industry, especially the maritime industry, and we feel very accomplished, but we cannot stand aside while others who lead a great party like ours mismanage it.”
The former Labour and Employment minister also explained that the leadership must shift from the current one to help in the re-organisation of the party.
“The problem is that we have turned the party into an election machine so after every election, the party leadership goes to bed and leaves the people at the branch level, who are the soul of the party, on their own; but that is not how to run a party,” he said.
He said when voted to lead the party, one of the main things he would focus on would be to strengthen the branch and constituency leadership of the party and get branch executives to vote in all national elections of the party.
He said he would also move for elders and founders of the party to constitute the highest decision-making body of the party after congress.