The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has stated that the National Democratic Congress's (NDC) singular act of conceding power after losing the 2000 elections demonstrated its democratic objective by agreeing to presidential terms as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.

He affirmed that the singular act of the NDC, as a political party, in giving up power after losing the 2000 election, was what sowed the seeds for the germination of democracy in the country.

He recalled the doubts at the time: “People were wondering, will he [President Jerry John Rawlings] go? Will he not go?

Even when he said he was going, they didn’t believe that he was going. Even when he said the NDC would give up power if we lost the election, they didn’t believe that we would give up power.”

Speaking at the NDC’s 34th anniversary celebration and flag-raising ceremony at the party’s headquarters in Accra last Wednesday, Mr. Ayariga stated that the NDC recognised that while Ghanaians were already experiencing good governance under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), the country had to become democratic.

“When it comes to establishing democracy, when it comes to deepening democracy, I am confident that the party has already achieved that objective; to agree to limit your term of government in the Constitution was a radical decision to take,” he stated.

 “And to go back to the political wilderness, not to disintegrate but to reorganise and come back as a political force. To recapture power. That just finished it.

The establishment of this democracy is indeed a function of the history and success story of the NDC,” Mr. Ayariga added. 

Government control

The Majority Leader said that, after successfully establishing and deepening the nation’s democracy, the NDC’s next major project must be to figure out how to “control its governments” so that the party never loses power again.

He said the party was formed to carry forward the project of ensuring good governance under a democratic dispensation.

“The team that focuses on building institutions must never be lost on us as a political party. The party was formed to carry forward the project of ensuring good governance under a democratic dispensation. Thus, this became the object of the party,” he said.

Mr. Ayariga urged the party leadership to “do some more thinking so that we can figure out how to effectively control our governments when we form them so that we will never get out of office again.”

Remember June 4

He charged all NDC leaders to remember the party’s origins. 

“If we remember at all times that the reason why we sit where we sit is to continue to serve the interests of the ordinary man, we will never lose power again.

The ordinary man, the ordinary person must be at the very foundation of every action that we embark upon as leaders,” he said.