Kwesi Botchwey Committee presents NDC defeat report today

The much-awaited report of the Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee that probed the 2016 election defeat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be presented to the party today at the Party’s headquarters .

The Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Koku Anyidoho, confirmed thisin an interview Friday.

Mr Anyidoho said barring any last-minute hitch, the report would be presented to the party today.

Following the abysmal performance of the NDC in the 2016 election, the party constituted the committee early this year and tasked it to investigate the circumstances that led to the party’s defeat.

The committee was expected to submit its report within three months.

However, the committee could not meet the deadline since it could not start its work on schedule due to some internal mechanisms that needed to be tackled before commencing the task.

The committee was also tasked, among other things, to make recommendations for the restructuring and reorganisation of the party to position it for Election 2020.

Already, members of the NDC are waiting with bated breath for the report of the committee.

Request for extension

Mr Anyidoho told the Daily Graphic that the committee requested an extension of time in order to meet some individuals and groups that had expressed interest to meet the committee to share their thoughts, concerns and opinions on why the party lost the 2016 election.

He said considering the reasons for the extension, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party decided to accede to the request because it was reasonable to do so.

“‘We granted the request because the more people the committee met, the better the healing process we are looking for,’’ he said.

According to the deputy general secretary, he had a strong feeling that the committee was doing a good job by allowing the rank and file to comment on the defeat.

Neglect of grass roots

Mr Anyidoho noted that it had emerged that the grass roots of the NDC felt neglected and disconnected from the rank and file of the party.

He stated that in order to correct the ‘’disconnection between the top and the bottom’’, the NEC had started going around the branches to reorganise them before moving to the constituency, regional and national levels.

He said the NEC adopted the ‘’bottom-up approach’’ as a critical and best option to rebuild the party to recapture power in Election 2020.

On the issue of those jostling for the position of the flag bearer of the party for Election 2020, Mr Anyidoho said: ‘’We want the reorganisation of the branches, constituencies, regional and national levels in place first before we talk about that.”