NDC�s National Delegates� Congress; Best Ever BUT�

The National Delegates� Congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) finally came to an end Saturday, July 10, 2011 in the Brong Ahafo regional capital of Sunyani with delegates opting for continuity instead of change. Dubbed �the Congress of all Congresses� by political analysts and the media, it was the history making nature of the event that drew the huge interest. A former first lady was contesting a sitting president of a political party founded by her husband and from all indications from the organizers of the congress; everything was under control few days to the grand event, except ONE major issue, PRESS ACCREDITATION for the congress. The congress, which has enjoyed all the media attention in the last few months, became a nightmare for the very people that have made so much noise about it. Most media men from Accra and the Sunyani were shocked to realize that they did not have their promised accreditation ready on their arrival on Friday morning and had to resort to practically �beg� some congress officials to issue them with their cards. So sad was the situation that even on Saturday morning when the opening ceremony was taking place, some media men were still seen struggling for their �entry tickets� to the Coronation Park, venue for the congress Some pressmen were extremely furious about what they were going through in doing their jobs and blamed the communication team of the congress for the hiccups. �I had to travel from the North to Accra over a week ago and take a picture and paid money to come here again only to be told that my accreditation could not be printed, this is crazy,� was the �beef� of a journalist from the northern region. Most affected by the lack of coordination for accreditation was what organizers of the congress referred to as �local press�, the media people in and around the Sunyani, most of whom were told not to worry because they will be catered for at the congress venue only to be stranded like their counterparts from Accra. A congress official who wanted to remain anonymous conceded to the shortfall with the media accreditation saying �we know this is the one area we didn�t do our job well but apart from that I believe everything else went well� Unfortunately, not even an official apology was issued by the organizers to all the journalists who were affected by this poor organization all in the name of giving �free� publicity to the NDC. For a party that has organized congresses over and over again, it was very unfortunate to experience such a blunder in a congress that went well in other aspects of organization. Let�s just hope that next time, ladies and gentlemen of the inky fraternity do not suffer in their line of duty to the nation.