Former President John Mahama has taken responsibility for the National Democratic Congress (NDC's) defeat in last December’s elections.

He said as the General who led the party into battle, he takes the “ultimate responsibility for our losing the election and so if it will satisfy those people, blame me for the loss.”

Tension continues to mount in the NDC four months after former President John Mahama lost his re-election bid in the 2016 presidential poll.

There has been a battle of blame with some supporters of the party pointing accusing fingers at some party members for their acts of omission and commission which led to the party’s defeat in the last elections.

A Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee was set up to investigate the reasons behind the party’s defeat.

But before the contents of the Committee's report are made public, the former President at a meeting with his former appointees recently, called on all those aggrieved to direct their anger at him because he led the party into the 2016 elections.

The former president expressed the hope that members of the party took advantage of the Prof. Botchwey committee to vent their frustrations and concerns rather than wash their dirty linen in the media.

"We have set up a committee that is supposed to go round and analyze the reason for our loss. People are not taking advantage of the committee; they are going on air and apportioning blame. But I’ve said that the cause of our loss is multifaceted," he said.

The former President said it is time for the party to do a careful analysis of the findings of the Committees, get the report and be able to break down exactly what resulted in our loss. 

"Yes we lost; we should have done some things better but let’s use this opportunity as a learning curve to be able to make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes that we did in 2016,” he said.

“I’ve been meeting with Functional Executive Council (FEC) and the elders; the chairman of the party is now the leader according to our constitution but all of us are members of the party."

Mr Mahama told his former appointees, "we’ve served at the highest level of government and so we have a role to play both as ex-president, ex-vice president, as ministers of state and our fortunes are tied in with the party.  

"We are committed members of the party so we must work to make sure that we put the party in a state where we are able to contribute to the progress of this country even in opposition by making sure that we provide the kind of opposition that safeguards the interest of the people.

"And that is why we need to rally around together as quickly as possible,” he added.