After settling down to do self-retrospection concerning the narrow defeat suffered at the hands of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 general elections, a new wave of tension is said to have erupted within the ranks of the country’s largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
This follows news of a well sustained effort by the former Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr. Joseph Yamin, to unseat the National Organiser, Mr.Hamidu Akamba in the party’s yet to be announced national elections.
In an interview with this newspaper, Mr.Yamin, a one-time Deputy Ashanti Regional minister during the previous John Mahama administration, said he is yet to make a formal public declaration about his intention to contest for the office of the National Organiser in the party.
He, however, said it is public knowledge that he comes along with an attractive brand that is rooted in a genuine determination to offer leadership capable of boosting confidence among the party’s base.
Responding to social media publication to the effect that news of his coming into the race is breeding uneasy calm on the party’s national front, Mr.Yamin, who once served as the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC and failed in his bid annex the regional chairmanship position barely two years ago, admitted that the name ‘Joseph Yamin’ is a household name in Ghana politics.
He was, however, quick to add that as a disciplined NDC member he is not oblivious of the guidelines governing the work of the party and as he put it; ‘No directives are given for party members to openly express interest in contesting party positions and, therefore, he was not ready to make any formal public comment about his intentions as captured in the social media”.
He noted that NDC is a well focused party desirous of perusing workable alternative policies and programmes to make it the obvious choice in 2024.
In a separate interview with Mr.Hamidu Akamba, he rubbished the claim that Joseph Yamin’s intention to contest for National Organiser’s position has sparked tension at national headquarters.
He said the national leadership of NDC is currently pre-occupied with efforts to strengthen the party structures at all levels to make NDC more solid on the ground.
On whether or not he is indeed threatened by Yamin’s candidature, he said if it is true that Mr. Joseph Yammine has made public his intention to contest national leadership position, then he (Yamin) appears to be jumping the gun because measures are yet to put in place for elections at the branch level, before the constituency, regional and national levels.
The timetable for elections, according to him, has not yet been fashioned out, hence the talk about elections is pointless.
The National Organiser reminded members of the NDC to be guided by the fact that leaders at all structures of the party were given a four-year mandate to serve the party and this mandate should be the central focus.
The National Organiser, however, maintained that there are clear manifestations that his work as a grassroot man is not in doubt.
Mr. Akamba said the rumours of internal apathy in the party have come from members of the New Patriotic Party.
He said he is not surprised that the current government appears clueless on how to fix the country’s increasing problems, because NPP did not even secure the mandate of Ghanaians in the first place.
From C. K Clement, Kumasi
The post Akamba’s Position Under Threat appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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