John Mahama: God will punish NDC if…

Vice-President John Mahama         The Vice-President, John Dramani Mahama, has expressed disappointment at the current power wrangling bedeviling the ruling National Democratic Congress, and warned of glaring defeat come the 2012 elections if things stay this messy. He said for the party to emerge unscathed from the power struggle, a lot will depend on how the party manages the disagreement and how it builds consensus. “Unfortunately, I wish to say and I am afraid, that we are not managing our disagreements properly, and if we continue like this…if any of these things started happening from next year into 2012, I am afraid God will punish us.” The Functional Executive Committee (FEC), the highest decision-making body of the NDC had to dedicate a greater part of a press conference meant to announce programmes for the commemoration of NDC's 18th anniversary since its formation, to the issue of power wrangling. A statement read by its General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, condemned the development, which it said undermines President John Evans Attah Mills. He noted that some unnamed party bigwigs are behind the bickering aimed to unseat, also, some Members of Parliament, for the 2012 elections. Mr Mahama observed that the “serious disagreement at the highest echelons of the party” is a bane to the success of the party and appealed to all to pipe down. “Our destiny is in our own hands. We can either hold it and nurture it or we can throw it away into the mud and let kids trample on it, it rests on us,” he cautioned on Thursday at Tema. The Vice-President could not hide his indignation at the turn of events in the party, and emotionally remarked, “I must say that the current situation in our party is quite a sad one.” He reminded the NDC of the good old adage that says a body divided upon itself cannot stand, and also the fact that there is strength in unity, to elaborate his point. Mr Mahama, however, conceded that in every human institution there is bound to be disagreements. “God did not create us the same, He made some tall, some short, He made some fat, He made some slim, He made some dark, He made some fair. And some with big ears, some with small ears, some with fat noses, some with small noses. “The same way he made our minds. Our minds are skilled with attitude and ideas that we have activated over the years that we have grown up… But we agree that there is a certain ideology or organization that can lead us, but it doesn’t mean when we join that organization we will all think the same.” He also advised the party’s footsoldiers and cadres to ease their demand for reward because they assisted the party to come to power, noting that the party promised “to improve the life of Ghanaians, and we didn’t say to improve the quality of life of NDC party faithful and supporters”. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana