By Patrick Biddah
An aspiring Greater Accra Regional Chairman hopeful of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Michael Tetteh Kwetey, has promised to stop the diversion of funds meant for party activities.
He said, he has personally donated monies to the course of party activities which ended up in private pockets.
Describing these elements within the party at the regional level as greedy, Mr Kwetey, promised to restore that integrity and dignity .
Mr Kwetey who made this remarks after filing his nominations to contest the NDC Greater Accra regional chairmanship, indicated that few party leaders have been greedy.
“My intelligence shows that monies donated by individuals including myself to fund party activities at the region always end up in the pockets of few greedy leaders and had never been used for the purposes of such donations”, he revealed.
The party under the leadership of Mr Joseph Kobina Ade Coker, he noted has lost integrity and discipline which has led to many businessmen shying away from donating or supporting the party in the region. This, he has therefore promised to rectify if elected.
In his view ,if nothing was done about this image of the party donors will continue to run away from the party and it could affect the NDC dearly especially in terms of resources and finances in executing its campaign ahead of the crucial 2024 general election
“I promiseto bring back “integrity, discipline and dignity” within the rank-and-file of the party in Greater Accra when elected by delegates as the next regional chairman of the party in the region”, he promised.
“The reports of polling agents compromising their stance because they are hungry will be a thing of the past when I win. I side with them for collecting money from the NPP”, he said .
“This compromising position by polling agents ,simply means that some elements at the top are misappropriating funds meant for grassroots activities. Why should that be allowed to continue?” he queried.
Mr Tetteh Kwetey, maintained that for the NDC to be able to wrestle power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), there was the need for the party to restore its integrity especially in the Greater Accra region .
He disclosed that loads of his business friends were willing to donate to support the party’s cause, but for accountability issues have remained reluctant.
“The performance of Ade Coker has fallen way below the belt, a reason why the NDC is currently in opposition,” he claimed .
Continuing, he said Mr Coker was only able to win 13 seats out 34 in the Greater Accra Region, a performance he described as abysmal.
“In 2016, NPP had 21 seats, NDC had 13. He was able to raise it to 20 making President John Dramani Mahama to win the region but could not win the presidency. That is against the notion that anyone who wins the Greater Accra wins the presidency. In 2020, he [Ade Coke] only tried to recover the seats he lost in 2016”, noted Mr TettehKwetey.
According to him, he will ensure unity within the rank and file of the party from the branches, constituencies and the region. This, he said will make the party attractive and vibrant to wrestle power from the governing NPP in 2024.
He said he was going to ensure that under his leadership as the Chairman, the party will win Greater Accra with a wide margin of the votes come 2024 general elections.
He charged delegates to vote for competent people who can work in the interest of the great National Democratic Congress to bring back the party to power and not to vote base on tribal lines or who can pay more money or dole out goodies.
On this score, he appealed to the delegates within the Greater Accra Region to give him the mandate to help restore NDC’s to ensure that the party wins power from the NPP in 2024.
