A viral video clip showing Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the former finance minister in the John Atta Mills government, together with unidentified members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), urging Ghanaians to join the opposition party is causing a stir in the Umbrella Family.
The one-minute and twenty-one-second (1:21) clip features Dr Duffuor and six other individuals from all walks of life telling viewers what the NDC means to them.
Viral clip
The clip opens with a woman, who is showed with two children. She declares that what the NDC means to her is that, when her child grows up, “they can be anything they want to be”.
Next, a young woman posing as a student says that what the NDC means to her is that when she finishes university, she “will get a job”.
The clip also shows a driver’s mate, a chief and a market woman describing what the NDC means to them.
Duffuor’s move
The clip ends with Duffuor as he describes what the NDC means to him, extending a call to Ghanaians to reach out to branch executives to get an NDC membership card.
“What the NDC means to me is that everyone in this country will have the opportunity to achieve the Ghanaian Dream,” Duffuor is seen and heard saying in the video clip.
Multiple sources in the NDC have confirmed that Dr Duffuor has ambitions to become the party’s flagbearer in the 2024 elections.
Unsanctioned
However, the national organiser of the NDC, Joshua Akamba, is reported to have said that Dr Duffuor’s initiative has not been sanctioned by the party leadership.
Speaking during a radio interview, Akamba said such drives usually go through an approval process by the top leadership of the party.
“There is even a mix in communication, if he is calling all to come and register. The question is, where will they register in their branches? There is a reorganisation happening at the branch level.
“There is a migration of our data. There is a roadmap and a constitutional review. There will be a conference on our constitutional amendment before the next elections, and Dr Duffuor is supposed to be involved.
“So, if we are all guided by this, we will have a conclusion on the matter. But if we go this way, it is not good conduct. The people with him are not advising him,” Akamba said.
Meanwhile, the communications director of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, is calling on the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the party to issue “guidelines or a statement to guide the timing for such campaigns”.
“Much as I don’t have any difficulties with anyone desirous to be a leader or officer of the party campaigning for same, I think the timing for this campaign ad is wrong and inappropriate,” Gyamfi said.
“If we allow things like this now, it can distract us and create needless problems for the party internally and externally. This is particularly so when the party’s name, logo, colours etc are being used for the ad.
“Those who wish to contest for various internal positions must be told to put the party’s interest first and wait for the right time to start their campaigns.
“I will humbly suggest that FEC considers issuing some guidelines or statement to guide the timing for such campaigns,” Gyamfi added.
Wilberforce Asare
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