The 21-member manifesto committee of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said it will engage former President Jerry John Rawlings as part of moves to gather input and feedback in putting together a comprehensive campaign policy document for the party ahead of the 2020 general election.
Mr Rawlings, the founder of the NDC, about a month ago, was reported to have cast doubts on his party winning the 2020 general elections.
The Ghanaian statesman also accused some members of the leadership of the NDC of monetising the party.
“And we say it’s a democracy? When money is at play? How can I be the Founder of such a party? This thing was borne out of fire…I didn’t come here to give you indigestion. I want you to also know and understand where I come from. I am not the one who has shifted. Meanwhile, those who have changed and declined and gone down are the ones who are throwing the most stones at us,” Mr Rawlings bemoaned at the National Cadres Conference which was held on the theme: “Effective Mobilisation for Victory 2020: The Role of Cadres” in Kumasi in September this year.
But the newly-commissioned manifesto committee of the NDC says it will, as part of its feedback mechanism, commence a dialogue with Mr Rawlings and other party structures on the factors which should be considered to win victory for the NDC in 2020.
The Chairperson of the NDC manifesto committee, Professor K. Danso Boafo, in an interview with Blessed Sogah, host of Class91.3FM’s State of the Nation, stated that Ghanaians are taking the comments of the former president out of context.
He revealed that the manifesto team will be drawing on the experience of Mr Rawlings in order to prepare a formidable manifesto and present it to the people of Ghana ahead of the 2020 polls.
Professor Boafo said: “He [Rawlings] agrees the party has a problem but he never said 2020 is a no, no. You’ve to know the person and his background is not in politics, he’s a military person and he spent most of his time in the military than in party politics, so, his style and whatever wasn’t shaped by a political party, it was shaped by the military, so, personally, if he comes out to say what he thinks is wrong with the party, you can’t stop him.
“If the party is supposed to be democratic and everybody is entitled to freedom of speech, why do you want to curtail his freedom of speech? We’ll engage him, we’ll engage everybody from the founder to the national executives. He has a wealth of experience, he can direct us, under him, several manifestos were written so he knows quite a bit about manifesto writing and at every stage when manifestos are drafted, we send copies to him…”
