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Politics of Friday, 24 March 2017

Source: classfmonline

NDC didn’t cherish power – Afotey

Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo

Kpone Katamanso MP Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo has said members of the erstwhile Mahama government did not treasure the political power they had, hence their failure to work hard enough to win the 2016 elections.

According to him, although this is not the time to apportion blame for the defeat of the NDC members of the then government failed to value political power.

His comments follow recent outbursts by some leading members of the NDC blaming some personalities and happenings within the party for the defeat at the polls.

Speaking in an interview with Emefa Apawu on Class 91.3FM’s 505 programme on Thursday March 23, Mr Afotey Agbo said: “People are coming out to react, they are coming out to give some comments but some are not correct and others, even if they are right, this is not the time to apportion blame, this is not the time to accuse people.

“Whatever happened in the [election] somehow is about human character, it is about people who have been in power for eight years, and at a point they cherished no more the power they had.”

Meanwhile, Kofi Adams, National Organiser of the NDC, has said the decision of some leading lights of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to openly criticise the actions of the party and some persons within its ranks following the NDC’s loss in last year’s elections reflects their inexperience and immaturity.

According to him, a committee has been put in place by the party to carry out a post mortem as to why the NDC lost the elections, hence, all concerns must be directed at the Professor Kwesi Botchwey-led committee.

His comments follow recent remarks made by some leading members of the party that the conduct of some members of the John Mahama government resulted in the party’s defeat.

The immediate past chairman of the opposition NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, is reported to have said on Starr FM: “I wasn’t surprised [the NDC lost]…because when they (delegates) voted me out in Kumasi they voted the party out. It was a done deal [that the NPP will win]. I am not superstitious, but I came to the party with my own style…and I had a way of relating to the people.

“Nobody involved me in the campaign, I involved myself… No, I wasn’t invited… I tried to get access to the president and I didn’t get access. When I noticed things were going wrong, I tried and tried and tried but I didn’t get access, so I mobilised myself…and did what I could do.”

Similarly, a former National Organiser of the NDC, Yaw Boateng Gyan, has said most of the executives disrespected the electorate.

“The other issue has to do with the way and manner our people were talking to the electorate…very arrogant and disrespectful. How would we have appealed to the voters?” he wondered in an interview on Abusua FM.

“Some of us couldn’t talk because they said we had been voted out of the executive position of the party and so we shouldn’t talk… A lot of things went wrong.”

However, reacting to these comments in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Thursday March 23, Mr Adams said: “A committee has been set up to listen to the concerns of all party members. The committee members are made up of eminent men who were not part of the executives and so we should allow the committee to work and put out their final report for all of us to work with.

“The accusation and counter accusation now will not help because if at the end of the day these accusations are not captured in the final report, then it means you have defamed somebody. I believe strongly that the way some of the leading members of the party are speaking is not the best, it doesn’t give indications of any experience, it doesn’t give indications of any maturity. I believe that they need to behave a little bit more maturely.”