Threat From Ashanti Region � We Will Quit NDC

Snippets of information gathered by the Today newspaper in the Ashanti region offers indication of an imminent massive defection by followers of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). The paper learnt that the many NDC members and sympathizers who are planning to cross carpet would either join the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the New Vision Party (NVP) led by Prophet Daniel Nkansah. Their reasons follow the Kejetia terminal contract which was awarded to Freko FD Company Ltd., and the fact that the party has relegated their grievances to the background. �Today�s� underground scouting indicated that the aggrieved NDC members are not happy at all with the way leadership of the party has treated them so far looking at the kind of efforts they put in which saw the party winning the 2008 election. They lamented that instead of the party giving them jobs and contracts rather NPP members were the ones who were benefiting enormously under their government.�I can tell you many of us in the Zongo communities are tired of the lies of our Party so the leaders will be quitting the party soon,� a staunch NDC member in the Abuakwa Zongo area confided in the paper. Meanwhile, reports emanating from the Ashanti regional headquarters of the NDC suggest that the areas where the NDC will be hard hit by the defections are the Zongo communities where the party has a large support base. Not too long ago about twenty (20) NDC members denounced their long standing engagement with the party at a mini rally held at the premises of the Centre for National Culture. The defectors, who were mainly from the Abuakwa Zongo community, chastised the party executive for not being sensitive to their plights. Although the defectors during the mini rally did not disclose which of the political parties they will join. Today�s investigations have revealed that majority of them are now registered members of Daniel Nkansah�s NVP. Some of the disenchanted NDC faithful, who spoke to the paper over the weekend in Kumasi, divulged that after more than one year in office, national officers of the party were yet to recognize their efforts which ensured that the then NPP government did not rig the polls in the region. According to the supporters, what is irking them most is the fact that there are no structures in the party in the region where supporters can send their grievances for redress. �Even in the animals� kingdom where the strong survives, there are laid down procedures and set of rules. And I do not think we NDC members are living in the jungle,� one of the defectors bluntly told the paper. The defectors, who claimed to have now woken up from their slumber, included people who were used as polling station agents to man the ballot boxes for the party during the 2008 election. The growing tension in the party in the region, the paper�s findings established, is also in connection with the Mayor of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (MMA), Samuel Sarpong�s refusal to award the Kejetia terminal contract to one of the many companies owned by members of the NDC that turned up for the tender. Mr Sarpong, Today learned, received instructions from some power brokers of the Party at the national level, to hand the management contract of the terminal to Freko FD Company limited � a company the NDC gurus in the region believe has ties with the NPP. The owners of the perceived NDC companies obviously angered by the move of the KMA boss resolved to send a formal complaint to Castle, the seat of government, and the national headquarters of the party. However, the District Chief Executive for Atwima Nwabiagya in the region, Nana Asare Bediako, has advised Moslems, particularly those residing in the Abuakwa Zongo not to allow any political party to convince them into abandoning the NDC. He said it is an open secret that the NDC has a strong support base in most of the Zongo communities in the country and therefore urged them to be resolute to stand the test of the time.�You and I know that the NDC is Islam based and you must not allow anybody or group of persons to deceive you into following any political party that relegates the plight of Moslems to the background,� Nana Asare Bediako asserted. The DCE said this at a meeting between the Nwabiagya Constituency executives of the NDC, some opinion leaders, women groups and some youth of the Abuakwa Zongo last Sunday when speculations were rife that the NVP was making headways in terms of winning support in the Zongo communities in the region. However, the twenty defectors who were all Moslems from the Zongo branch of the NDC felt betrayed after working tirelessly to see the NDC recapture power again. They regretted having allowed themselves to be used for risky jobs by the NDC and resolved to rededicate themselves to their new found love, the NVP, which interestingly has a pastor, as its founder and leader.�Islam is the best religion, why must we now allow someone to deceive us into following a party that does not believe in it? In spite of all America�s schemes to root out Islam, it is the only religion that is seen to be multiplying by the day,� he added amid cheers of �Atagbir, Allah Akbar.� It was in this direction that he asked the Moslem youth not to be deceived into thinking that any individual or party in opposition could take care of their education doubting where that person would get the funds from. �Ask Goosie Tandoh and Obed Asamoah how tedious it is to organize a political party; he entreated them adding that �the NVP cannot last even to 2012 so all who allow themselves to be deceived by them will have themselves to be blamed,� the DCE cautioned.