Yaw Brogya Genfi, the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) Deputy Director for special duties, has asserted firmly that the NDC does not engage in any sort of ethnicity-based politics.
He argued that the NDC adheres to democracy, accepting people from all backgrounds, as long as the electorate chooses the candidate. He said that the NDC would have continued to advance, had the delegates chosen one of the three Asante Region candidates that aspired for the flagbearer position.
Moreover, he claimed that the NDC is not particularly interested in any “Regional-ism” or the racial or ethnic heritage of any particular person since, once the public chooses to support a particular person, the party is forced to follow suit and unite behind the supported.
“President Rawlings is from Volta Region but we took him to elections and won twice. President Atta-Mills is from Central Region, we took him to an election and we won in 2008 after two defeats. President Mahama is from Northern Region; today Savannah Region, he served as President and today he’s our candidate.
“So, if tomorrow after President Mahama, an Asante or an Akyim or a Ga is interested in running for President and the delegates vote for him, the entire party will not have a difficulty in rallying behind him. What I’m saying is that we should not even go into ethnicity-based politics. I’ve been reading the newspapers and you see that consistently; the Vice President camp is painting a picture that his election will cure a certain stigma.”
Yaw Brogya Genfi
Mr Brogya Genfi further stated; “So, for them, it is negative to say that largely Akans support and will vote for you. For them, its negative for that perception to be out there. So, what do you do? If you vote for Bawumia, you cure that negativity.”
He however expressed his best wishes for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at its Super Delegates Conference tomorrow and reiterated that the NDC would not support any type of ethnicity-based politics, in contrast to some NPP members.
NPP Super Delegates Conference Not Needed
Additionally, Yaw Brogya Genfi said that the NPP Super Delegates Conference was not necessary.
He asserted that the NPP is simply being sentimental, as a result of what occurred in 2007, when 17 candidates showed up to compete for the position of flagbearer. The NPP, he said, only developed a different image after upsetting Ghanaians in 2007 by instituting the Super Delegates Conference.
“And because you were in opposition and not many people were filing for it, we didn’t really see how the Super Delegates have been in the past. But today, you’re in power and 10 persons have shown up. And between the Super Delegates elections and the main election, it’s just two months away. And nobody can use that two months to go across the country and speak to over 200,000 persons.
“And so, you’d see that the candidates are visiting the delegates for the Nov 4, whiles waiting for August 26. And it really doesn’t make sense, after going to campaign to persons that you will not appear to in an election. And so, it makes nonsense to this Super Delegates thing because the 961 persons who are going to vote tomorrow, I’m sure they will all vote again in Nov 4. So, where is the sense in this Super Delegates thing?”
Yaw Brogya Genfi
Furthermore, he asserted that the NPP should have reduced the number of candidates from 10 to 5 through its vetting process, rather than wasting time choosing 5 candidates from a pool of 10, and then conducting a second vote to choose the ultimate flagbearer.
“The Super Delegates system really for me, does not solve the problem that they want to solve. Only that they wanted to create a certain picture at the time. But time has really exposed that there is no relevance to it today.”
Yaw Brogya Genfi
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