J.J. to lead NDC campaign

The campaign coordinator for President John Mahama’s election bid, Mr. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, has intimated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder will campaign for the party to win the December elections.

Rebuffing a claim by Mr. Kofi Apraku, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that the NDC will lose the December elections because of divisions within its ranks, Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah said the NDC is now one big family.

“The NPP can simply tickle themselves and laugh I am happy all the parties you mentioned have all come back under the umbrella as one big family,” Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah, who is also the Deputy Minister for Local Government, said.

He added, “Of course you listened to our founder; he will campaign for us for December. You have listened to President John Mahama; he has promised to work with everybody in the NDC and we all know he is a great unifier”.

Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah said the NPP wants some form of consolation to keep their campaign alive.

In last Thursday issue of The Finder, the 2008 manager of Nana Addo's campaign said utterances by members of the NDC showed that the party was divided and heading toward defeat.

“The NPP are just deceiving themselves. As we speak right now, Google Alan Kyeremanten's name and see for yourself. It's there big and bold- 'Alan for 2012' he and so many people in the NPP are campaigning. As for us we do not see politics as a boxing about where all depends on an individual, but rather like a football match where it takes a collective effort and everybody on board”, he stated.

But the interim national chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Dr. Josiah Aryeh, in a separate interview, also told The Finder that former President Rawlings is headed in the NDP direction since the principles he espouses are the core values around which the NDP was founded.

“We are going to court him to campaign for the NDP and we know he will because he believes in social justice and accountability, and so do we. I have had meetings with him, but I will not disclose the content to you.”

Dr. Josiah Aryeh stressed that the former President will not campaign for the NDC.

“He would not be on the NDC campaign because even when the wind blows you know that the wind is headed east or west, but being who he is, he would not campaign for the NDC as it appears they are just drifting on the ocean”.

Dr. Josiah Aryeh said the media misconstrued what the former President said in Ho last week when he met the Volta Regional House of Chiefs.

He said the NDC should do self introspection since “this is the second time that the former President had openly condemned corruption and corrupt individuals in the NDC”.