NDC’s Dela Coffie writes, “The Rise And Fall Of The “New NDC”/ John Mahama…..

The NDC, being the direct descendent of the AFRC and PNDC came into being in June 1992 after the ban on active party politics was lifted by the PNDC regime. Being a brainchild of a true revolutionist, the NDC have its ideological orientation rooted in Marxist/Leninists/ Rawlingsist ethos.

Flt Lt JJ Rawlings successfully led the party to two consecutive electoral victories in 1992 and 1996 and passed on the mantle of leadership to his protege – Prof. John Evans Atta Mills.

And somewhere in 2001 after the electoral loss of the NDC, the party under the chairmanship of Dr Obed Asamoah embarked on a reorganization of its structures. And in the midst of the reorganization came the mantra “the new NDC”

The idea behind the new NDC as it were was to shed the image of the Jerry John Rawlings led NDC and its June 4 and 31st December antecedents. Sadly, leadership threw away the baby with the bath water- the very foundation, principles, ideals and idiosyncrasies upon which the NDC was founded went right out the window with the “old NDC”. By this singular act, leadership had alienated NDC’s goose that lays the golden egg.

Then again, how the new NDC was given a free pass by the rank and file of the party to slid into ideological identity crisis beats my gumption. It got so bad that the founder’s beliefs in what the NDC is about became diametrically opposed to that of the “new NDC.” For instance, whereas the founder has been consistent with his public commemoration of June 4 and 31 December anniversary, the “New NDC” disassociated itself from these events while in government even though in opposition, they had no difficulty joining thousands of adherents to celebrate it.

Well, John Mahama took over the leadership of the “new NDC” after the demise of President Mills.

And as expected, Mahama didn’t disappoint. The overt, covert and outward rejection of the NDC values and the total desecretion of the founder under his watch can not be overemphasized.

Indeed, what happened under Mahama’s watch as the leader of the new NDC cannot be swept under the carpet if the party hopes to regain power in the near future.

As the leader of the NDC, he failed to make structures work within the party – the party affairs was run from the presidency, instead of being run from the party’s headquarters. And this culminated in the party structures becoming weak, abused and ignored. The party structures that metaphorically represent its wheels that move steadily to mobilize its members and floating voters to win elections were no longer functioning as expected and instead, political campaigning was reduced to sloganeering and opulence.

The Mahama record as a leader of the NDC is a scandal. We need to come to terms with this basic fact and step up our game. Under John Mahama there was no political correctness with regards to our day to day politics. Till this day, the NDC does not have its own internal collating of the 2016 elections complete, and this is because Mahama refused to pay attention to basic details.
Mahama clearly lost track of himself as a leader of the NDC. More of us feels he’s a spent force and support the call for him to step aside while we look at the long term prospect of the party beyond him.

John Mahama will be remembered for lots of political gaffe. The most childish of all was his rants about those wanting to see his back to wait and that 2016 wasn’t far away. And as faith would have it, 2016 did come and he has exited.

So in effect, John Mahama lost with his “New NDC,” and bringing him back as the leader of the party is not compatible with the return of the NDC to power. Let the rhetoric stop. Let those who believe in the ideals of NDC rise up – the ideals for which Rawlings stand for and represent, are the ideals that will return the party to power and not any popular rhetoric and “Kumbaya” fantasy.

All of that said, we must collectively call it a day on blind unquestioning loyalty and our resistance to a new leader emerging to clean up the Mahama mess. Again, we must come to sober realisation that Mahama’s failings was his own doing and no lessons seems to have been learnt after the 2016 disaster.
The NDC actually suffered exponential power of the Pareto Principle in 2016 election – the 80/20 principle.
We should concentrate on the 20% who caused 80% of our problems. That’s strategic thinking and it also calls for new direction and leadership.

The NDC must stop eating itself alive from the inside. We all need to research and comprehend and make our brain work to come up with the best judgment on the way forward.
And while we are at it, let’s stop kissing the feet of the emperor who wears no clothes. There is no prudence in that enterprise. Truth is, Mahama era is over.

Let’s open up the party and allow leaders with principles to emerge. That way, we can be sure of our return to power at the earliest possible time.

I shall be back!!!”