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Opinions of Monday, 30 January 2012

Columnist: The Informer

NDC Primaries; End Justifies the Means

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has at the weekend nearly brought its Parliamentary Primaries to a successful end.

Every chip has fallen where they belong; as ends justify the means. The conquerors savour their victories in grace and the vanquished, in good faith. But there exists wealth of lessons people i.e. politicians should learn from the unfolding scenario.

When the Informer would congratulate the NDC for organizing the primaries in transparently fair and peaceful manner, the paper would go a bit further to advise politicians or those who have the opportunity to serve in political offices, to be steadfast, graceful and honest, dealing with people through whose magnanimity they were blessed with those office.

A lot of incumbent Members of Parliament were voted out in the foregone primaries, not because their opponents have outwitted them in the doling out of gifts and money; but because they failed to deliver in the general interest of the constituents. Indeed, had it come to electoral favour resulting out of doling out of gift and money alone, many of those losing their parliamentary seats now wouldn’t have lost them. Indeed, in some of the constituencies, the local delegates were given mouth-watering largesse by sitting MPs, ranging from real cash through textile to building material, i.e. bags of cement and roofing sheets. But still the delegates rejected them, because parliamentary business is not to neglect the constituency till last minutes to another elections time only to attempt to bribe your way through.

For this we congratulate delegates, who though, took the givers’ money, still voted with their brain.

The NDC has, indeed, proven to be fully fledged political party now; and its delegates to the local primaries, were politically resolute to the point. This has been a good omen to the party, because the picture became clearer that around the country, a lot of the party structures were neglected, though there had been sitting MPs; a situation which always invoke fear of a dying party. The clear picture, therefore, was that the party needed a grassroots change, and radically so, and which in many cases had happened. So, the bigger battle line has been drawn now!