NDC suffered identity crisis — Spio Garbrah

A one-time flag bearer hopeful of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Ekow Spio Garbrah, has said the party suffered an identity crisis during the last election because it abandoned the tenets that defined its foundation.

He said the principles of probity, accountability and integrity which occasioned the June 4 Revolution were hardly touted by the party as it battled the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the run-up to the 2016 general election.

The NDC eventually lost power after eight years in office, as the NPP swept both the presidential and majority of the seats in parliament.

Mr Spio Garbrah said the values of the June 4 Revolution characteristically distinguished the NDC from other parties, particularly the NPP, and said the failure to espouse such noble values perhaps gave credibility to the opinion that the key actors within the party may not have covered themselves in glory.

June 4 still relevant

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Wa after a wreath-laying ceremony that marked the 38th anniversary of the Jerry John Rawlings-led June 4 Revolution, Mr Spio Garbrah said those principles were very relevant in present-day Ghana, given the economic and certain circumstances of majority of the people.

He said the values of probity, accountability and integrity were the main differences between the NDC and the NPP, and not mere references to the stretches of roads constructed, or the number of schools and hospitals built.

“One of the reasons why the NDC may have lost the 2016 election was the perception – which may not be the reality – that we ourselves were not able as a party to openly promote the slogans, values and ideals that brought us into existence,” he said.

His submissions also sought to question the beliefs of the ruling party as he insisted that June 4 represented the demarcation of the thinking processes in Ghana, between those who were interested in the welfare of the ordinary Ghanaian and those who favoured property-owning democracy that restricted state property and wealth distribution among an elitist group.

Drifting from founder’s values

He also questioned the apparent neglect of the party’s founder, Flt Lt Rawlings, following the bitter relationship the former President has had with his own party’s  leadership, particularly when they took over the reins of government in 2009 after eight years in opposition.