NDC Preparing Grounds For NPP Return � Barrick

A LEADING Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has raised a red flag over current happenings in the party. He said due to certain actions and inactions of the NDC, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the its flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo are having a field day to run over the ruling party in the run up to the 2012 general elections According to Namburr Berrick, Coordinator of the Konadu Campaign team, he would not be surprised if Nana Akufo-Addo won next year�s general elections because the NDC has given the NPP the opportunity to over run it, especially in the media. He said �I�m not sure Nana will become President of this country if not by courtesy of us, courtesy of what we are doing, because we give opportunity to them on a daily basis to the point where we even go on television and cannot debate effectively with them.� Mr. Berrick who was addressing NDC members in Ho last week during former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings� Volta Regional Thanksgiving Service added that the actions of some ministers of state and MDCEs are resourcing and empowering the NPP to wage a stronger campaign to win next year�s election instead of the other way round. �If it is money, we don�t have enough money to challenge them even though NPP is in opposition. Even now our attitudes and actions are sending money to their side, so we don�t have money�.. Most of the contracts are going to the NPP people and the NDC members are not getting the contracts. More so we are giving the juicy ones to the NPP,� he said. He also noted that Nana Addo�s recent takeover of the media landscape and his lecture at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra is gaining ground and acceptance from the majority of Ghanaians. �There is no way Nana Addo should go and visit fishermen for them to hail him. NDC swept all 14 seats in the fishing communities but now we are losing them,� he added and lamented the use police and tear gas to disperse fishermen who had the right to express their concerns. He said he expected the MMDCEs to handle such situations diplomatically and more humanely instead of using force and cannot fathom why party members were being victimised, sidelined and intimidated because of their affiliation to Nana Konadu or for raising legitimate concerns about issues affecting the party and government. Berrick added that three months after the NDC presidential primaries, people go to process MASLOC loans and are refused because they are supporting Nana Konadu and FONKAR. It is important for the leaders of the party, especially those with political power to desist from using force, intimidation, victimisation and money to command power within the party because it will not work, he said. �We must deal with the people and stop thinking that we can use money to win elections especially when we won by 40,000 votes. If you win by that narrow margin it is only fair for us to team up and work together instead of fighting each other.� Mr. Berrick noted that it was also odd for a group of people within the NDC to hold a press conference to suspend and ban fellow members when the party needs numbers to win the upcoming elections. The firebrand former MP noted that currently there is a lot of voter apathy among NDC members across the country and called for unification or the worst in 2012. �Many people are saying I won�t vote for NDC again,� he said and recounted an experience he had with a tailor who had left the NDC. �He is a very popular tailor, an NDC man somewhere�we got to his place and there was Nana Addo�s calendar hanging there. Why? Because he had already made up his mind not to work for NDC again. We had to talk to him to remove it. Let�s just hope that he didn�t only remove the calendar but also the NPP out of his mind so that he can put the NDC back in his mind,� he said.