Eight months after the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) suffered a humiliating defeat in the December 7 general elections, the party says it has begun a healing and reconciliation process nationwide.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeated the NDC’s John Mahama with over one million votes and also snatched a lot of parliamentary seats from the NDC.
This led to tensions between leadership and supporters of the party over the cause of the defeat.
This led to the formation of an election review committee chaired by Prof. Kwesi Botchway to ascertain what went wrong and make recommendations.
A statement signed by Vice Chairman of the NDC’s Council of Elders, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu said they have started implementing the recommendations.
The statement said as such a team has been tasked to visit the various regions to ensure the success of the healing process.
“As part of the process of implementing the salient recommendations of the election review committee in resolving the internal conflicts and differences, the council has put in place teams to visit the various regions and team up with regional representatives to undertake the process of healing and reconciliation.”
“And for the avoidance of doubt, the process of healing and reconciliation has commenced within the Council of Elders itself, Functional and National Executives as well as other leading members of the party. Council entreats and urges all members of the Akatamanso family to remain calm and fully support the process of healing and reconciliation,” the statement added.
According to the statement the decision was decided in a meeting held on August 22, 2017 under the chairmanship of the party’s founding father Jerry John Rawlings.
Cease fire –NDC to disgruntled members
On the internal wrangling in the NDC, members of the party were admonished not to vent their anger in the media.
The statement stated that the “… Council invites party members to desist from ventilating their grievances in public through the electronic, print and social media etc and thereby bringing the good name of the party into disrepute.”