The longest-serving General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, has warned that strangers who do not share in the ideals and ideology of the NDC will lead the party if the NDC does not discourage monetisation of its internal elections.
“The practice where the highest bidder is chosen by delegates to lead the party by virtue of their wealth and not their competence is dangerous for the future of NDC and if we do not discourage ‘moneycracy’ strangers will lead the NDC,” he warned.
Alhaji Yahaya explained that after 30 years of unity, stability, and development, the NDC is a social-democratic political party, founded by the late former President Jerry Rawlings, who was Head of State of Ghana from 1981 to 1993 and the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. He said the party was given its provisional certificate by the Electoral Commission on June 10, 1992, which granted it the right to operate as a legally registered political party.
He noted that the NDC had since marked June 10 as the founding day of the party, adding that the party has commenced processes to hold its internal elections to elect officers to steer its affairs at all levels in the next four years.
Alhaji Yahaya said currently, the party was registering new members and that exercise would pave way for the conduct of the branch elections from June 15 to July 1 2022.
He said the party would hold its constituency executive election in September this year, followed by the regional election in October, and then the national congress in November this year, and advised the leadership of the party to put measures in place to ensure no interested NDC member, supporter and sympathiser were not denied party cards at the branch level.
“No NDC constituency executive should deny any qualified person at the branch level a party card, the party is travelling into 2024 on the wheels of the branches, so take strong disciplinary action against any member who will campaign for ‘skirt and blouse’ ahead of the 2024 general election and any NDC aspirant who will campaign on a tribal and religious basis, should be disqualified,” Alhaji Yahaya directed.
GNA