<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings has been analyzing what he says are the causes of the humiliating defeat his party suffered at the hands of its main political opponents \u2013 the New Patriotic Party (NPP) \u2013 in the recent general election.<\/p>\n
The NDC lost both the presidential and the parliamentary elections to the NPP, with the main opposition candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, elected president with 5,716,026 votes, representing 53.85%, to\u00a0 beat incumbent John Dramani Mahama, who garnered 4,713,277 votes (44.40%), with a difference of over 1.2 million votes.<\/p>\n
The wind of change also swept through parliament, with the NPP taking control of the legislature by winning 171 out of the 275 seats, while the governing NDC managed to get 104, leaving the NDC in a state of shock, as accusations and counter accusations are being traded over the defeat.<\/p>\n
Arrogance<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though the NDC has set up a 13-member committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the defeat, former President Rawlings claims that impunity, arrogance, disrespect, corruption and opulent display of ill-acquired wealth could not be overlooked as some of the causes for the NDC government\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n Mr Rawlings, who appears poised to take over the party, celebrated the 31st<\/sup> December \u2018revolution\u2019 with a few cadres in government, as the current appointees were conspicuously missing.<\/p>\n Some of the few faces at the event were Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, outgoing Greater Accra Regional Minister; Samuel Nuamah Donkor, former Health Minister; Goozie Tannoh, who is said to take over the NDC leadership as the next flagbearer; Hudu Yahaya, former NDC General Secretary and Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, former National Security Coordinator.<\/p>\n Corruption<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking at the Revolution Square in Accra as part of events to mark the 35 anniversary of the infamous 31st December uprising, Rawlings stated, \u201cI don\u2019t think I was the only one who saw the writing on the wall. Many people from our very own party I believe could see the writing on the wall that we were going to lose this past election. It was obvious a long time ago that we wouldn\u2019t make it. Our general negativity, impunity, disrespect and corruption were taking us further and further downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, \u201cWe lost the elections way before the 7th<\/sup> of December because we persistently and unrepentantly stayed on the slippery slope to the humiliating defeat, despite the several warning lights right in our faces.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed, \u201cAbout the time when most were living in the painful reality with stress and anger, that\u2019s when some of us chose to be more impervious to reality. We had lost so much goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n Promptings <\/strong><\/p>\n Even that, he said, \u201cI kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well. But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us.\u201d<\/p>\n He seemed pained by the fact that \u201cthe genuine and true founders and elders (warriors and youthful fighters) of what has transformed into the NDC were being disregarded and disrespected way back from 2008 after victory was delivered on a silver platter.\u201d<\/p>\n For him, \u201cThe NDC\u2019s painful and massive rejection at the polls is indicative that we have lost the moral high ground that sets us apart from others\u201d, even though he said, \u201cGreat lengths were taken to draw the attention of the party\u2026\u2026\u2026.. but none of it will be tolerated or accommodated.\u201d<\/p>\n Empty Pride<\/strong><\/p>\n With the passage of time, the former president noted, \u201cA few selfish and greedy characters soon began to jump on board and there were some good people, very good people, but leadership and the command structure did not empower them to override those who were destroying the party and the government.<\/p>\n \u201cI have worked with good people all my life. I have worked with bad people all my life. Some wicked, some with character defects, but-evil natured people must be kept away. Some of us, however, do not seem to have the cognitive intelligence to recognize their presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Delusion <\/strong><\/p>\n The man could not fathom why and how leadership of his own party was feeling smug and comfortable because they thought the hidden division in the NPP\u2019s leadership was going to work in their favour.<\/p>\n He exclaimed, \u201cHow so wrong could we be? How could we have for one minute made the mistake of thinking that the disloyalty at the senior leadership level was going to percolate into the grassroots of the NPP?\u201d<\/p>\n Stressing that God\u2019s given directions for leadership are the principles of integrity, probity and accountability, Rawlings noted, \u201cThese principles are embedded in the collective conscience of the grassroots. There was a gaping disconnect between leadership and the masses as the latter were left disillusioned.\u201d<\/p>\n To make matters worse, he revealed that \u201cThe ordinary man felt even more insulted by the crass display of wealth by people who should have known better.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the masses knew about the detrimental effects of the greed and avarice perpetrated by some of our own people in leadership, they would never forgive us. Examples abound all around us. You need not stretch your imagination at all. If we all don\u2019t do some careful introspection and openly show remorse for the betrayal of the people\u2019s trust, we might not recover in time for the next election.\u201d<\/p>\n Advice <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe oppressive machinery will not desert us voluntarily. We need not shrink from honestly facing the conditions in our party and country today. This is the time to pre-eminently speak the whole truth, frankly and courageously,\u201d he admonished.<\/p>\n \u201cBut rather than facing the obvious truth about why we lost, Rawlings once again has to be made the scapegoat of their failures.\u201d<\/p>\n Conviction <\/strong><\/p>\n The former president was, however, of the conviction that \u201cThis time around our people have seen through it and we would embark on the right steps to regain our moral high ground.\u201d<\/p>\n That, he said, was because of \u201cthe moral high ground that we have abandoned and on which the new leader is now standing,\u201d [referring to President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo].<\/p>\n By Charles Takyi-Boadu<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings has been analyzing what he says are the causes of the humiliating defeat his party suffered at the hands of its main political opponents \u2013 the New Patriotic Party (NPP) \u2013 in the recent general election. The NDC lost both the presidential and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-336124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n