A National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopeful and a 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has criticised a drive towards what he called “showmanship” in the party.
He was speaking on Eyewitness News in relation to the Asawase NDC’s hailing of John Mahama as it paid his GHc 20,000 fee for a nomination form.
The Asawase delegation spoke highly of infrastructure development brought to the area under John Mahama.
But Mr. Bagbin stressed that Mr. Mahama was not solely responsible for the gains made by the NDC government.
Persons advocating for Mr. Mahama to lead the NDC in the 2020 polls are known to cite infrastructure development under his government as a reason to elect him as flagbearer.
“When I hear people talking about records and they are referring that record to an individual, I know that they are lost in the whole system. The system is not one of individual showmanship. The system is anchored on a group of people who have formed an institution called a party. That is the record of that party in government and people must get the discourse right.”
“When there are failures, it is the party as a group that takes the blame… when there is credit, the credit should go to everybody,” Mr. Bagbin added.
He suggests further that attribution of party success to one individual is why Mr. Mahama is the clear frontrunner in the NDC presidential primary race, with the other aspirants lagging sorely behind.
“That [hailing individuals] is how people are tempted to proclaim the concept that we are implementing and I think that is why we are having these problems,” the MP observed.
Boycott by other aspirants
Mr. Bagbin is among seven other aggrieved aspirants in the NDC flagbearer race that have boycotted the processes for the presidential primaries.
In a petition, they accused some members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) of bias towards Mr. Mahama.
Alban Bagbin, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Stephen Atubiga, Nurideen Iddrissu, Goosie Tanoh, Kojo Bonsu, and Elikplim Agbemava, are the aspirants that are signatories to the petition to the Council.
In addition to Professor Joshua Alabi, they have described the fees for nomination forms and filing as unreasonable.
In the petition, the nine aspirants proposed that fees for collection of forms be GHS 5,000 whiles the filing fees be GHS100,000.
The aggrieved aspirants also feel the filing fees and other guidelines for the primaries “appear to have been designed to favour of that same aspirant,” who is implied to be Mr. Mahama.
Support for Mahama
Mr. Mahama has had NDC supporters from all walks of life rallying around him.
Some 96 National Democratic Congress legislators have purportedly raised over GHc 600,000 for Mr. Mahama’s bid to become the NDC flagbearer, according to the Kumbungu MP, Ras Mubarak.
Scores of supporters also lined-up at Mr. Mahama’s office at Captain Hooks in Cantonments to donate towards his campaign on Monday.
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citinewsroom
