National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has called on the party to make ideas, policy and organisation the centre of its political competition as it prepares for its own national executive elections.

Mr Opare Addo said the NDC should resist any temptation to mirror what he considers an aggressive style of politics associated with some political actors, insisting that the party’s response to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) newly elected leadership should not be based on confrontation.

“The NDC must not answer the NPP by becoming the NPP,” he said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday, October 4.

His comments followed the NPP’s election of a new national executive team at its National Delegates Conference in Kumasi on October 3.

John Boadu was elected National Chairman, while Justin Kodua retained the General Secretary position. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover became National Organiser and Abanga Fuseini Yakubu was elected National Youth Organiser.

Mr Opare Addo said the NDC had an opportunity through its upcoming leadership contest to define the kind of political organisation it wanted to become, rather than allowing its internal elections to be reduced to a contest for positions.

He urged delegates to assess the party’s future in terms of its ideas, policies, organisational strength and intellectual capacity.

“We must compete with ideas. We must compete with organisation. We must compete with policy. We must compete with intellectual strength,” he said.

The NDC Youth Organiser also cautioned against political competition spilling into intimidation and violence, drawing a clear distinction between vigorous political mobilisation and actions that threaten democratic participation.

“There is a difference between being politically tough and being politically violent. There is a difference between mobilisation and intimidation. There is a difference between political competition and political warfare,” he said.

“And Ghana must never cross that line.”

Mr Opare Addo said the NDC’s forthcoming national executive elections should therefore serve as a broader conversation about the party’s political direction. He challenged delegates to consider not only who should occupy the various leadership positions but also “what kind of NDC do we want to build, and what kind of politics do we want Ghana to experience?”

Reflecting on the party’s recent history, he cited the NDC’s 2022 leadership elections as an example of an internal process that, in his view, helped reposition the party and broaden its appeal. He also pointed to the youth wing’s Green Army mobilisation as evidence that young people could be organised around political purpose and consciousness.

He warned, however, against a return to what he described as “personality, insults, factionalism and permanent confrontation”, saying such an approach would undermine the broader objectives of the party.

“The answer to aggressive politics cannot be greater aggression. The answer to political intimidation cannot be political intimidation of our own. The answer to violence must be a stronger commitment to democratic mobilisation,” he said.

Mr Opare Addo said the NDC should be prepared to compete vigorously while maintaining responsibility in the exercise of political power.

“We must be fierce in competition but responsible in power,” he said, adding that electoral victory should not become the party’s ultimate measure of success.

“Building a better Ghana is,” he said.