Ladies and gentlemen of the press:
We have invited you here this morning because there are critical issues that occurred during the flag-bearership contest which, in our opinion, needs correcting, not only for the NDC Party, but for the integrity and credibility of Ghana’s democratic process.
You will recall that, among other things, we embarked on this journey months ago to:
· protest the denigration of the core principles of our party,
· to restore power to the marginalised grassroots of our party and
· to bring inspirational leadership to the country at large.
The marginalised, but deserving, grassroots of the party needed a courageous and able voice to speak for them. Nana Konadu stepped up to the challenge when no one within the leadership of the party was willing and bold enough to do so. Their excuses were ‘it is against the status quo, don’t rock the boat, it is unconventional.’
Like truth standing all by herself, she stepped out in courage. She challenged the leadership of the party and spoke out for the voiceless within our party. She spoke out against disunity. She agitated for the inclusion and restoration of the party’s principles, seeking to restore strong and decisive leadership to the centre of NDC governance and to the country at large.
She knew the journey was not going to be easy. First came the slanderous statements, the impugning of her motives and integrity, the disrespect and sometimes outright contempt for her person and family, but like a true patriot and person of conviction, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings stood on principle and spoke her mind with boldness, damning the threatened consequences of ostracism and victimisation.
These threats of victimisation and ostracism were real and present and were strongly reflected and culminated during the electoral process. The NDC Electoral Committee was composed to achieve a lopsided view point. The whole process was orchestrated and skewed in a way that prevented the contest from being free and fair.
· For one, the attempted introduction of regional voting was intended to identify the voting pattern of the delegates. Obviously, this was designed to victimise non-conformers.
· Secondly, there was the deliberate attempt by the NDC Electoral Committee to exclude the
National Electoral Commission from conducting the elections. It was only after the threat of legal action from our legal team that the party brought them on board. By which time the integrity of the process leading to Congress had long been compromised, at least psychologically. The input and process having been tainted, the outcome is logically bound to be tainted.
Ladies and gentlemen, throughout the process it was clear that delegates were being coerced by inducements, the misuse of the fear factor and threats to vote in a particular direction.
It is hard to comprehend.
Our opponents have already begun to dismiss the charge of the fear factor. For those who sat in the stands and participated in the process (delegates and agents), it was actual and real. In the last two days, we’ve received direct reports from well over 200 delegates who were not granted accreditation to enter the Congress grounds and thus not allowed to exercise their franchise to vote.
The adoption of tactics alien to the NDC, which includes the deliberate impoverishment of the people, was calculated to make them vulnerable and susceptible to manipulation. Despite this clear campaign of fear, we persevered, believing that, notwithstanding the negative tactics, the delegates would demonstrate a high level of courage and honour by making a choice based on the facts and principles that are clear for all to see. Unfortunately, they had already been cowered into submission.
There was a calculated plan of intimidation, not only from government officials, but by an unnecessarily high presence of heavily armed security personnel all over the inner and outer perimeter of the Congress grounds and indeed throughout the Sunyani metropolis. Since the inception of the NDC, our party has recognised that our strength is our people. Yet during this Congress, we denied entry to our party faithful into the Congress grounds. What image do we project to the nation and to the world when we lock the strength of our party outside? Why should we do this? It was unfortunate that our party faithful, who are the backbone of the NDC, were denied the opportunity to participate in this historic occasion.
Nonetheless, the delegates appear to have made a decision: a presidential candidate has been elected. One thing still remains unchanged: With the support of the Founder and the grassroots, Nana Konadu, boldly and fearlessly stood up and challenged the denigration of party principles, the weakening of party structures and the dampening of the party’s revolutionary spirit. She boldly and fearlessly stood up and challenged the growing disunity, apathy and despondency resulting in the disintegration of our party.
The president has now openly and publicly conceded that these problems in fact exist.
It took courage and a willingness to speak the truth in the face of ostracism and victimisation to exact that admission. This is the victory of her stance of courage. Let all who have our party’s interest at heart take note. To those who believed in the cause, we salute your boldness. To the grassroots supporters, we thank you, we urge you to keep faith as we will continue to champion your cause in whatever shape or form.
Thank you. God bless you and Be Bold.
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings 