By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the weekend held its 10th National Delegates Congress at the Accra Sports Stadium to elect new national officers to lead the party for the next four years.
People from all walks of life attended the congress, including former President John Mahama and a host of party stalwarts.
The Good
Unlike previous Congresses, which witnessed pockets of violence, the 10th National Delegates Congress was incident free and quite colourful.
Both males and females were neatly dressed in their party colours, green, red, white, and black. Also, some gurus within the NDC like the out-going General Secretary and the new Chairman-elect, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah popularly known within the political circles as General Mosquito, was seen in a black “war smock” with patches of NDC colours (red, white, black and green) on a black pair of trousers and a black shoe to match, usual of him at such big party functions, the outgoing General Secretary auspiciously walked around the stadium amidst chants.
As he exchanged pleasantries with delegates and party supporters, weaving through the stands, Mr. Aseidu Nketia waved at the jubilant supporters, many of whom shouted in approval of his bid.
General Mosquito, “War Smock” drew rousing shouts, applause, and talks from the party faithful including the media at the venue as well as on social media.
Such “war smocks”, according to Native of Tamale and party supporter, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed in a chart with some media personnel at the event venue hinted that such “War Smock” signified victory, but, also shows a favorable omen for “The General” whose goal is a victory for the NDC in 2024.
One significant thing about the Congress is that the party made available lunch and supper for media personnel who covered the event. Again, no incident of heckling journalists was recorded this time around as it used to be in the past.
Also, the elections were incident free, unlike the violent disturbances that characterized the Women’s Organiser and National Youth Organiser congress held in Cape Coast on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
Immediately after the long speeches and solidarity messages from other political parties, the business of the day, the election of new national executives began.
And at the end of the voting new officers were elected to serve the NDC to secure victory in the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The Bad
The only negative that nearly marred the congress was the late start of the program. The advertised time for the start of the Congress was 10 am, however, the program began around 1 pm.
Again, the collation of results from just 17 polling centres took the staff from the Electoral Commission (EC), over four hours.
By the time the results were announced and the winners declared on Sunday, 17, December 2022, the majority of party members and sympathizers had left for their various homes.
One could clearly see fatigue written on the faces of the few people, especially the media personnel who stayed behind till the programme was over.
Another area that needs to be critically examined is crowd control on the part of the Ghana Police Service and other security apparatus.
Most of the entry points of the Accra Sports Stadium were closed, leaving just a handful of the over nine thousand (9000) delegates and party faithful to access the stadium.
With the sad incident of May 9, on our minds, the last thing our men and women in black could have done was to close almost all the entry points to the stadium, leaving a handful for such a huge crowd.
All in all, the 10th National Delegates Congress of the opposition NDC, held at the Accra Sports Stadium to elect new national officers to lead the party for the next four years, ended peacefully.