Veep fears for NDC

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday November 8, 2010.
Vice President John Dramani Mahama appears to have predicted the downfall of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2012 with his frank assessment that the current cracks within the ruling party could send them back into opposition.

In his candid opinion the rift between President John Evans Atta Mills and former President Jerry John Rawlings who is the founder of the NDC is killing the party and underscored the need for NDC to take a careful look at the phenomenon and deal with it with the needed urgency.

He admitted that from the way things look the NDC will bear the brunt of voters at the polls in 2012.

Speaking on Radio Ghana’s ‘Behind the News’ programme in Accra last Thursday the Vice-President said “it is an issue that creates a difficulty for us (the NDC) because it gives the impression of a party that is not united and solid and often that can affect your chances electorally.”

Highlighting on a wide range of issues, the Vice President ruled himself out of the race to lead the NDC in 2012 stating categorically that he will not contest President Mills for the 2012 presidential slot.

“Let me say this very emphatically that I will not contest President Mills for the Presidency…at whatever time that President Mills stands for the Presidency I would never run against him,” the Veep stated.

Mr. Mahama said he will rather support President Mills to excel in his first term in office so he can win convincingly a second term.

“For now my commitment is to work with President Mills and ensure that he has a successful Presidency. Professor Mills has indicated that he wants to run for a second term and so I want to support him to make a success of the first term and be able to have a second term in office…the constitution says he is entitled to two terms in office so if the man says I will utilize my second term, there is nothing wrong with that, of course he has to go to the party for endorsement which I am sure the party would endorse him and if he goes for a second term he would win”, he said.

He said added that managing former President Rawlings was a challenge to the party, as some of his open criticisms on the Mills-led government are too stinging and generalized.

He asked the party to find ways and means of addressing Mr. Rawlings’ concerns as his comments do not augur well for the NDC.

“It gives the impression of a party that is not united and solid and often that can affect your chances electorally. So it is an issue that the party needs to confront and deal with. He has some grievances and if I pick some of the issues that he normally raises, one is about justice, you can’t just pick people and put them in jail, you need to go through a process to prove their guilt”.

The Vice-President defended the NDC government’s management of the economy and waded into the debate why government was not spending enough insisting that the economic gains that have been achieved by the government were being eroded by the debt incurred by the Kufuor administration.


Vice-President Mahama said government’s expenditure has been geared towards servicing the debts that was generated in the past while some new programmes, which form 30 per cent of the overall government expenditure, are being implemented.

On the accusations of the government’s neglect of flood victims in the northern parts of Ghana, Mr. Mahama said it was unfounded saying that the government has been working to find a lasting solution to the crisis.