Former President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his neutrality in the NDC’s upcoming national executive elections.
According to the party’s 2020 flagbearer, his current role as the ‘father of the party’, precludes him from rallying behind a specific candidate.
Addressing a gathering of party executives and stalwarts in the Upper West Region, he stressed that he does not support any of the candidates, currently vying for national portfolios.
He stressed that the party must unite its ranks ahead of the 2024 polls, hence urged party members to be mindful of their conduct in the upcoming polls.
“I’m the father of the party and so me, I don’t have any preferences. Anybody who’s fighting for a position in the party is a person who has served the party. And I leave it to you to make that choice.
“And when you make that choice, we’ll work with who has won and who hasn’t even won, we’ll bring them on board,” Mr Mahama emphasised.
The upcoming national delegates conference will take place on 10th December, 2022, in the Ashanti Regional capital of Kumasi.
Eligible party delegates will elect a new crop of executives to man the affairs of the party at the national level for the next four years.
Meanwhile, ahead of the contest, the Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has said that elements within his own party are behind his leaked audio tape, based on which he is currently standing trial.
According to him, he has been to court on 70 separate occasions as a result of the internally orchestrated treachery.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on Adom TV, the embattled Chairman told host, Daakyehene Nana Yaw Asante, that the leaked audio is an evidence of how cruel the NDC can be when they want to destroy one of their own.
Substantiating his claims, he said the in-house traitors secretly recorded his comments in a closed door meeting and leaked the recording to the New Patriotic Party for him to be prosecuted.
“When NDC wants to disgrace you, they first tag you as anti-Mahama.”
In addition to tagging an individual as anti-Mahama, he said some elements within the party can travel all length to cause disaffection for someone they do not like.
“My own party folks recorded me at a meeting that I held with the party, with the people and went to sell the recording to the NPP, for which reason I’m standing trial. I’ve been to court 70 times,” he said.
Following this development, some supporters of the NDC have expressed disgust over the comments of the party’s National Chairman.
According to his critics, his sentiments are unnecessary, as they will wreak more havoc for himself and the party at large.
Others have, however, sympathized with him, and expressed solidarity with the alleged treachery he was subjected to.
In their view, the revelations by the NDC Chairman is understandably from a place of pain, and therefore he should not be chastised.
Currently, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo’s role as the NDC’s National Chairman is also being threatened by the decision of the party’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia to unseat him.
In what has been described as the main contest in the party’s upcoming national delegates election, Mr. Asiedu Nketia is frantically taking steps to take control of the party as National Chairman ahead of the 2024 general election.
Touching on this development, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo said the move by Asiedu Nketia to unseat him is politically inexpedient.
According to him, notable personalities within the party, including the party’s Council of Elders and the NDC’s 2020 flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, all made efforts to prevent the contest, but to no avail.