Central Regional Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Nana Richard Asiedu, has issued a stern warning to party aspirants, cautioning that destructive campaign tactics during internal elections threaten to undermine the party’s stability and future election prospects.
Addressing party members during an internal vacancy-filling exercise, Prof. Asiedu urged candidates across all levels to maintain discipline and avoid personal attacks that could leave lasting divisions within the governing party.
“The advice I would give to our opponents within that is the NDC aspirants is that when you go to the grounds, you have to preach what you can do and what you can help the party to achieve, but not to denigrate and destroy the image of others,” Prof. Asiedu warned. “If you do so, after the elections it will be difficult to reconcile with the opponent.”
Keeping the Focus on the Main Opponent
Prof. Asiedu reminded candidates that internal primaries are strictly organizational procedures to fill executive vacancies, stressing that the party’s true battle lies against the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), not fellow comrades.
“Our common enemy or major opponent is the NPP,” the Regional Chairman emphasized. “We are NDCs, and we are doing what is described as an internal party vacancy filling. So you can’t destroy your own colleague or your friend and later go back to the person to move forward.”
He cautioned that malicious rhetoric used during internal contests would inevitably haunt the party during national elections:
“If it happens so, it will affect the unity that we are searching for. It will affect us moving forward; it will delay us in the progress for winning the elections. So I beg everybody along the chain from the branch, from the constituency, the region, national, and the presidential primaries period everybody should be circumspect in whatever he or she says so that it will not come back to haunt us in the elections.”
Protecting Electoral Gains
Alongside his call for internal decorum, Prof. Asiedu highlighted the operational turnaround executed under his leadership, pointing to significant growth in both parliamentary and presidential figures across the region.
“I came with my team to meet 13 parliamentary seats, of which I increased it to 18 plus one, including coming 8-plus seats,” Prof. Asiedu noted. “And also increased the presidential constituencies from 4 to 21. I think with this, if we are able to consolidate on our gains, we can go higher and higher and remove the Central Region from the strings of being a swing region.”
Reflecting on the financial and structural sacrifices made to stabilize the party, the Regional Chairman affirmed his commitment to permanently cementing the NDC’s dominance in the region:
“When we came, we met a very weak party lack of finance, things were very difficult. But you have to put in a lot of resources, especially for myself, to make sure that the party stands firm. With the kind of help and support given in terms of leadership, there should be no way Central could be described as a swing region. It is one of my major aims to make sure the region becomes a stronghold.”
