Kwashie Ebla eyes PNC chairmanship
A former National Executive Committee (NEC) member of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abubakar Sadiq Kwashie Ebla, has expressed his intention to contest the position of National Chairman of the party.
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Mr Ebla made his intentions known in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
According to him, his decision stemmed from the seeming lack of effort on the part of the various chairmen of the party to improve its fortunes over the years.
“I have been in the party for a long time now and I have witnessed the chances decline with time,” he said.
He said the founding father of the PNC, Dr Hilla Limann, won 6.7 per cent of votes in the 1992 Election, placing third.
Since then, he said the party’s performance had dwindled rapidly under Dr Edward Mahama to the extent that the party could now manage only a paltry 0.1 per cent.
Mr Kwashie Ebla, who was also a one-time Deputy Organiser and Acting Youth Organiser, said it was worrying that for the past six years the party had not commented, taken a stand or made a contribution on any major national issue.
He said the PNC was not visible in the public domain and attributed its invisibility to the lack of effective leadership.
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In March, the Standing Committee of the NEC of the PNC agreed that members of the party interested in contesting positions could go ahead to launch their campaigns.
The party is at the moment engaged in constituency elections, which will be followed with regional elections in June and those for national executive positions and presidential candidate by mid-August this year.
Mr Ebla said he had undertaken broad consultations before arriving at the conclusion to contest the chairmanship position of the party, adding that he had received positive reviews and encouragement to forge ahead.
He said when he gets the nod to become the chairman of the PNC, he would first sell the ideas of Dr Limann to the public to make them aware of what the man stood for and his vision for the country.
Secondly, he would go after party supporters who helped the New Patriotic Party (NPP) win the election in 2008.
“I will go after those who left the party to come back to the tradition of Dr Limann and Imoru Egala and ensure that they become proud of the PNC tradition.”
“I will even go down to the children of those who left the party, constituency by constituency, district by district and region by region,” he said.
He ascribed the party’s poor performance in elections to the fact that the party polling agents and communicators were not properly looked after.
He said when he takes over the reins as chairman, all that will change since the two groups are those that are in touch with the grass roots of the party.
In his view, as things stand now, it is important that the party is seen not to be Accra-based.
Under his tenure, therefore, he said, he would ensure that there was a change of venue, round the country for every NEC meeting.
“We need to encourage the party’s grass roots, organisers and communications team in order that they may convince floating voters, particularly the youth,” he said.
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According to him, having the youth of the country on the side of the party was very crucial. Under the circumstances, he said, he would work to revive the Tertiary Institutions Functionaries of the PNC (TERIF), which was the student wing of the party in tertiary institutions, and also reinvigorate the women’s wing and give it a front role to play in the affairs of the party in order to make it attractive to female voters.