Politics of Sunday, 18 November 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-11-18
Johnson Asiedu Nketia has retained his position as the General Secretary of the NDC
Johnson Asiedu Nketia has for the fourth consecutive time been elected General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in a landslide victory against his only contender, Koku Anyidoho.
The 61-year-old seasoned politician, popularly referred to as General Mosquito, beat his only contender, Koku Anyidoho, nicknamed ‘The Bull’, (a Deputy General Secretary of Operations), who campaigned heavily to unseat his boss.
Asiedu Nketia was reelected when over 9,000 delegates of the party converged on the Trade Fair Center, Accra, to elect national executives for the next four years.
In the build-up to the Congress, some persons including Mr. Anyidoho appealed to the delegates to vote against Asiedu Nketia, claiming that his re-election would lead to the party’s defeat in the 2020 general elections as it happened in 2016.
Even the National Treasurer of the party, Alhaji Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, described Asiedu Nketia as a dictator and accused him of destroying the NDC with his style of leadership.
But out of the total votes cast, Mr. Nketia convincingly polled 7,695 votes, as against Koku Anyidoho’s paltry 1,624 votes, according to provisional results available to Citi News.
NDC’s 9th delegates congress
At the 9th Delegates’ conference of the NDC, some 65 aspirants vied for various positions to steer the national affairs of the party.
Many of the party stalwarts including former presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Dramani Mahama attended the conference.
Other political parties such as the NPP, PNC, CPP, PPP and the APC, also delivered solidarity messages.
Profile of the General Secretary-elect
Johnson Asiedu Nketia was Member of Parliament for the Wenchi West constituency for 12 years, from 1992 to 2000.
When Ghana decided to change to the constitutional rule, Asiedu Nketia was elected to the Consultative Assembly which drafted the 1992 constitution. His performance at the assembly earned him the accolade “Heavy Weight”.
In 2007 he attended the conference “Peace, Nonviolence and Empowerment” – Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century.
Under his leadership rose a renewed re-invigorated NDC ready to match the NPP boot for boot in what was named the “Mother of all Elections” in 2008. The result of the election is a matter of history now.