NDC USA Biennial Congress and matters arising

- Part I



Synopsis



The NDCUSA chapter, as it is called is (was) made up of 12 branches namely: Massachusetts Branch, New York Branch, New Jersey Branch, Maryland Branch, Virginia Branch, DC Metro Branch, Pennsylvania Branch, Ohio Branch, Illinois (Chicago) Branch, Colorado (Denver) Branch, Atlanta Branch and Florida Branch.

Prof Agyenim Boateng, of West Virginia, in May 2011 was elected as the chairman of the NDCUSA in a congress held in Herndon Virginia. He was described the people I interviewed as a divisive figure full of himself (but that is not the subject of this piece). During the tenure of Prof Agyenim Boateng, the organization saw deep divisions, breeding factions. Anyone or branch that dares criticizes the chairman and/or the executives’ management style is termed “anti’ or ‘against”. This division also impacted the executives; those supporting the Chairman and his style of management and those against. To make matters worse the Secretary, Mr. Osbourne Sam sided with the chairman shifting the balance of power tremendously.



Prior to the Worcester Congress



The Chairman, Professor Agyenim Boateng, to add insult to injury, to the chagrin of the member branches, abandoned the organization and left to contest for the position of Member of Parliament for Dorma Central. After losing the election he stayed on in Ghana lobbying for political appointment, first as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Minister of Sports, then Minister Education, then Regional Minster and lastly Deputy Minister of Education.



The member branches, aggrieved by his abandon and the power struggled that ensued in his absence, invoked a resolution passed in Ohio during one of the conferences (states if an executive stayed outside the United States for more than 6 months then he/she would be deemed to have abandoned the organization and hence ceases to be an executive of NDCUSA; not verbatim since I could not lay my hands on the wordings of the said resolution) to oust the Chairman from the seat but the secretary refused to provide documentary evidence on the resolution. The said Ohio congress was attended by His Excellency Daniel Ohene Agyekum, Ghana’s Ambassador to the US, Cobby Boahen, the then chairman, representatives of the NDC party from Ghana, member branches from about 10 of the 12 branches with Prof Agyenim Boateng as a representative of DC Metro Branch.



When the invocation of the Ohio resolution failed, member branches (in exception of New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and DC Metro branches) together with some NDCUSA executives signed a petition passing a vote of No Confidence in the chairman. The petition was forwarded to the NDCUSA Executive body with a copy to Hon Kofi Attor, the International Chapters coordinator who happened to be in town at the time to be forwarded to NEC in Accra.



While the anti-faction was concentrating on Prof Kwame Agyenim Boateng, the for-faction was seriously “recruiting” new branches for the Worcester congress. In an answer to an email/question by Virginia Branch, the Secretary unveiled the 9 new branches, allegedly formed overnight, in anticipation of the Worcester Congress to retain power by the for-faction. The mushroom branches (as described by the anti-faction) are: Houston, TX Branch; Dallas, TX Branch; Minnesota Branch; Delaware Branch; Rhode Island Branch; Connecticut Branch; Tennessee Branch; North Virginia Branch; and California Branch.



This is the last straw that broke the Carmel’s back! The anti-faction cried foul and pledged to resist any attempt to rig the election by “mushrooming” new branches overnight. This culminated into Hon Kofi Attor, who was still in town, calling an emergency meeting of Executives of NDCUSA on Tuesday 2nd July, 2013 at 603 South 21st, Irvington, New Jersey, NJ 07111 at 6pm EST; less than two weeks to the Worcester Congress.



At this meeting, the International Coordinator of NDC Chapters, Hon Kofi Attor, reached a consensus with the executives to allow 14 branches to vote and setup a committee to verify the other branches. He (Hon Kofi Attor) also allegedly overruled the attempt to pass a Vote of No Confidence in Kwame Agyenim Boateng with the excuse that his tenure is almost over and such a vote would soil his reputation but not on the merit of the allegations of the petition. The blanket check given by the Honorable empowered the for-faction to as with a speed of light hurriedly “verify” and clear all the 9 branches to be in good standing to vote and be voted for in the Worcester congress.



At the congress in Worcester



Please stay tuned to Part II of what actually happened at Clark University, Tilton Hall, 950 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts and why the police had to come in………