[ 2011-07-19 ]

Dr Obed Yao Asamoah was a leading member of the NDC

Obed Asamoah: Deserting NDC contributed to its improved internal democracy
Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, founder of the Democratic
Freedom Party (DFP) has said that his leaving the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) to form his own
party has contributed to the improved internal
democracy the ruling party is currently enjoying.

The former leading member of the NDC, who deserted
the party in 2006, said he left because the party
was at the time not democratic enough.
However, he has indicated his willingness to
reunite with the NDC after he said key members of
the party, including ex-President Jerry John
Rawlings and President J.E.A Mills called on him
to return to the party.

In an interview with Peace FM on Monday, Dr Obed
Asamoah explained he has now had a change of mind
because the NDC has demonstrated through its
recently held Sunyani congress - which re-elected
President Mills as the flag bearer - that it has
improved as far as internal party democracy was
concerned.

He admitted that contrary to his earlier stance
that President Mills was not a strong leader – a
notion he said was widely held during the 2008
election – the President has proven beyond
reasonable doubt that he is his own man and that
he can stand up to ex-President Rawlings.

Reacting to comments by some pro-NDC newspapers
– Daily Post and The Ghanaian Lens - which
accuse him of being a traitor because he ruled out
Mills as being a president of this country during
the last election, Dr Asamoah explained that
“…With regard to the comments I made in 2008,
those comments have been overtaken by
events…those comments were based on perceptions
which were widely held that
Professor Mills was a poodle.”

“But we have seen what has happened, he’s been
able to stand up to President Rawlings in Sunyani
and I think one has to revise his note on that
issue…”

Commenting on what he was bringing to on board, Dr
Asamoah recalled that he was instrumental in
setting up the party, instrumental in the success
the party chalked in the 1992 and 1996 elections
as well as in reorganizing the party after the
NDC’s defeat in the 2000 elections.

“I think that my contribution to the party has
been positive and it depends on what role I am
assigned. I believe that I can make a
difference,” he stated.

Speaking to accusations that he is going to sell
the NDC to its greatest "enemy" - the New
Patriotic Party NPP - since he switched camp when
things weren’t going well for the NDC, Dr
Asamoah said “well, those people must think the
NDC is very naïve that they are going to allow
themselves to be sold down the drain to their
opponents”.

He insisted that his party’s support for the NPP
in the 2008 election was solely and personally for
its flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and not
a commitment to the NPP as a party.

“I fell apart with some of the leadership of the
NDC in the past, particularly President Rawlings
because of issues of internal democracy and I
believe that even in respect to that it is because
of my actions that the NDC has improved upon its
record. So even that was a positive thing and I
think they should look at it in that way.”

“I am not going to sell the NDC to the NPP and I
don’t believe the NDC is so naïve that they
would tolerate that,” Dr Obed Asamoah winded
up.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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