The Founder and President of the Atta Mills Institute, Samuel Koku Sitsofe Anyidoho, has called for reforms in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to re-position it for power in 2024 and beyond.
“The NDC needs to review its constitution just as we are calling for the review of the 1992 Constitution because there are certain clauses that are obnoxious and not helpful when it comes to party unity and cohesion,” he said.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Anyidoho cited some clauses which needed redefinition such as what was anti-party conduct.
“What does anti-party conduct really mean?” he asked.
Review
He said the NDC needed a constitutional review to redefine some of the articles and clauses in order to avert a miscarriage of justice or a wrongful verdict when applying them to members for alleged misconduct or anti-party conduct in the era of freedom of speech or right to talk.
Mr Anyidoho, who was Head of Communications under the Presidency of Professor John Evans Atta Mills from 2009 to 2012, said he was on “a redemption mission to make the NDC great again to secure political power to the glory of the founding father of the party, Jerry John Rawlings, and other fallen heroes.”
Expulsion
Mr Anyidoho, who has been expelled from the party for alleged anti-party conduct, said the open clauses in the NDC constitution could be “abused and capriciously and whimsically used because some people just sit down and say because they saw you the other day walking with somebody, they perceive you to be an enemy of the party, so it is anti-party conduct and some people will go and petition the party. Whether the petition has meaning or not, they say it is going through a process; that is not how the system works.
“What really is anti-party? And so for me, in times and seasons in organisations, families, and nations people begin a certain crusade. In the beginning, it may seem like madness, but once it is born out of good faith and a genuine heart, many people will eventually buy into it,” he stated.
He acknowledged that “change does not come easily because people will resist change especially when it may expose them in one way or the other as they benefit from the status quo.”
Mr Anyidoho, who still holds himself as a member of the NDC, promised to use all the internal mechanisms to redeem his image in respect of the claims that he has been expelled from the party.
“I’ve been in the NDC since 1992 and we have worked hard at the presidency and the national headquarters of our great party. In all of these, we had President Rawlings as a leader, President Mills as a leader and President Mahama as a leader. We are in opposition and the constitution mandates the National Chairman to be the leader of the NDC,” he said.
He said he was “a card-bearing member of the NDC, a loyal member as such, so I am not going anywhere and I will attend any programme the party organises.”
Background
In an August 11, 2021 letter, the NDC, through its Deputy General Secretary, Ms Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, indicated that the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) had set up a Constitutional Review Committee to collate proposals from stakeholders.
The proposals, which will be laid before the National Executive Committee (NEC) for approval, are to be submitted by August 31, 2021.