Delegates need to be respected — Bagbin

Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, a leading contestant in the presidential primary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is continuing his gospel that executives and party members deserve to be rewarded for their sacrifices to the party.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Accra, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Nadowli-Kaleo affirmed his stance that politics was not charity and, therefore, even party delegates deserved to be shown appreciation for their contributions.

The ‘Cocoa season’ phenomenon

“The so-called ‘Cocoa season’ for delegates of political parties may seem unfortunate…I cannot speak for other parties but in my party, the NDC, I think that this cocoa season is the result of years of neglect of our own. When it is time for campaigns, we come to the delegates and ask them to work but immediately we come to power we forget everybody down there in the name of father for all,” Mr Hon. Bagbin said.

He added that “this is why the delegates have now created the so-called cocoa season when it is time for elections and you come and ask them to work, they expect their reward before the work. We have brought this on ourselves,”

According to him, “the cocoa season phenomenon was not healthy for Ghana’s democracy but I cannot condemn any delegate for it. Those to blame are we, the leaders, especially those who come to power and abandon their own party.”

The MP for Nadowli-Kaleo said the solution to the cocoa season phenomenon was to ensure that when the NDC came to power, executives and members of the party would also benefit.

Making a difference

Mr Bagbin has already made it clear that if he is voted flag bearer and goes on to win to become president in 2020, he will not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, who  abandoned the party, and that his presidency will closely collaborate with the party.

This close collaboration would create room for party executives and members to actively work and benefit from the party’s tenure in office.

Two weeks ago, Mr Bagbin lamented in an interview that the neglect that the party faithful suffered over the years extended even to the pro-NDC media, and that the party ought to do something about it.

NDC does not understand politics

“The NDC does not understand politics, no, they don’t. NDC looks at politics as if it is one sacrificial charity work. There are some pillars of politics and one is the media. Because if you are leading somebody, you must be able to communicate to convince the person. In governance that is done by the media. The NDC allowed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to capture the media “landscape and with the media you can influence people, dictate space. That is what is happening now in Ghana.”

“The second thing is that in politics, you really need leaders but you also need technocrats who will then anchor the political leaders. The NPP has taken the lead. And so you will see even in academia, the NPP has captured more people. Not that we don’t have but even those that we have, we don’t show them appreciation so they are leaving us,” Bagbin concluded.