The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is on fire a days to its National Congress. The opposition party will hold its Congress to elect new national executives this Saturday.
Some revelations contained in a leaked audio about the 2020 election petition, and in-fighting between four of the national executives are the issues the party is saddled with at the moment.
It has been established in the audio that contrary to claims by the rank and file of the NDC, the party had no evidence to back the petition against the 2020 Presidential Election.
FAILED COLLATION
In the audio alleged, but not officially conformed to be the voice of the incumbent General Secretary of the NDC, who is also vying for the position of National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, someone is heard saying that the NDC was able to electronically collate five out of the 16 regions when the system broke down, the reason they had no figures to challenge the Electoral Commission in court. The voice is heard explaining further that after the system failed, they resorted to a manual collation.
The voice spoke in Twi and was heard saying that the incumbent National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, elected himself to lead the team to do the manual collation, but that was an indefensible document. According to the voice in the audio, documents they gathered were presented to Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata to lead the NDC to pursue the case in court, but he said those could not make a good case.
In fact, the revelation has given meaning to why General Secretary Asiedu Nketiah was unable to tell the court what figure the NDC presidential candidate had in the polls. Readers may recall that when he was asked, he responded that the NDC had not brought that to the court.
However, Tsikata believed the EC had breached some provisions and that if the party got the Commission to provide its figures in court, the NDC would have a good case, the voice narrated.
MAHAMA & OFOSU-AMPOFO FACTIONS
The 14-minutes audio also spoke about how Ofosu-Ampofo allegedly looked down on former President Mahama, by calling his bluff. According to the voice, Mr. Mahama had wanted the party leadership to hold on with the Director of Election and IT Elections until a flag bearer was appointed, arguing that the presidential candidate must have a say in that.
This request, according to the tape, was made through Julius Debrah, but Ofosu-Ampofo is alleged to have said that Mahama was not the leader of the party, and that he, with the authority as the Chairman, would go ahead to elect. This position of the Chairman triggered a fight between an alleged Mahama faction and an Ofosu-Ampofo faction, which were at the meeting, but the male voice in the audio said he sat quietly to listen to all of them.
The voice alleged that some national leaders of the NDC had some under-dealings with their political opponent, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and could not be trusted going into the next elections. Unfortunately, no particular name was mentioned in relation to the said allegation.
Meanwhile, General Secretary Asiedu Nketiah is yet to come out to deny that the voice in the audio is his, and the National Chairman, Ofosu-Ampofo, is yet to respond to the allegations.
OPARE-ADDO & SAMMY GYAMFI
The other two national executive at each other’s throats are the re-elected National Youth Organiser and the incumbent National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi.
In the run up to the National Youth Organiser election, Sammy Gyamfi, who had worked with George Opare-Addo, also known as Pablo, openly supported Brogya Genfi, but he lost.
After the polls, the loser took to social media to allege mal-practices leading to Pablo retaining his seat.
In an interview yesterday with Accra-based Adom FM, Pablo voiced out his side of the story, in which he debunked allegations that the ruling New Patriotic Party had funded his campaign.
Pablo told the host that he could not reveal secrets on air, but some people in the NDC must explain the source of their wealth.
Pablo had alleged that he literally contested Sammy Gyamfi in this election. In a Twitter post by Sammy Gyamfi moments later, he promised to give a befitting response to George Opare-Addo.
He posted that “I committed no crime in supporting Brogya Genfi over you in the just-ended National Youth Organiser election. If this is the route you want to take then bring it on. At the right time you will get a befitting response to all the lies and gibberish you have been spewing since yesterday.”
