Public Agenda

"NDC double talks on reformists", says a headline in the inside pages of the Public Agenda. The accompanying story says the fourth delegates' congress of the NDC held at Sekondi in the Western Region recently, ended with no clear-cut policy on the Reform Movement except threats to those who dare join the group. The Public Agenda says this came against the background of the fact that a challenge posed by the group to break away from the ruling party, was one of the key issues of discussion at the congress. According to the paper, leaders of the NDC were apparently divided over how to deal with the reformists. It says while the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, Dr Tony Aidoo and some other close associates who are seen as hard-liners, argued for a tougher line of action, the moderates, including the President himself, opted for a more accommodating approach. "We must be willing ... to extend a hand of reconciliation to those whose actions might have infringed party solidarity", The Public Agenda says the "Leader and Founder" of the party, asked the leadership to set up more departments at the NDC Headquarters in Accra and "recruit and appoint cadres and activists to leadership positions". This is a crucial demand by members of the Reform movement, the paper adds. GRi