Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, National Chairman of the NDC, has strongly defended his nationwide thank-you tour.

He insisted it was a necessary party assignment and not an early campaign to position himself for the party’s 2028 presidential race.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Asiedu Nketiah dismissed suggestions that the tour was a disguised bid for higher office, describing such claims as either ignorant or mischievous.

“Those who said that were either ignorant about how a party is run, or they were simply being mischievous,” he said.

He argued that if the tour had been a campaign, it would naturally have been followed by an election.

“If I was campaigning, at the end of every campaign, what happens? Elections. Since I finished three months ago, have they brought the ballot paper for us to cast the vote?” he asked.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah said his primary responsibility as National Chairman is to keep the party united and ensure members support the government to succeed.

He said he could not ignore the growing frustrations among party supporters over appointments, recruitment, and other issues, especially amid reports of planned demonstrations against the NDC government.

“It is work that ought to be done, and I’ll continue doing it,” he said.

“So anywhere I feel there is a need to reach out to party members and then deliver the right messages, I will not be listening to those who are making that noise at all. I will do my work because if that work never gets done, I am the first to be blamed.”

He added that refusing to intervene would have amounted to a failure of leadership.

“So if I sit there as national chairman and I hear that party people are disgruntled about ABC appointments, recruiting slots, and the other things, and people were even trying to organise demonstrations against our own government, I sit there to fold my arms. I’ll be a stupid chairman.”

He said the tour helped calm tensions within the party.

“I thought that I should go down there and quench the fires, and so far, I’m happy that once I went around, all the fires were quenched.”

Responding directly to claims that the tour was intended to boost his visibility ahead of 2028, Mr Asiedu Nketiah insisted he never used the platform to promote himself.

“If I want to project myself, it will not be through a thank-you tour, because did you hear me saying anything about myself?” he asked.

He argued that he was already well known within the party.

“Who in this party is better known than Asiedu Nketiah? So what is the need to go and show yourself for people to see that you are Asiedu Nketiah? Who doesn’t know me? Everybody knows me.”

Instead, he said, his message throughout the tour focused on urging patience over appointments and recruitment while reminding supporters that not everyone could be accommodated.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah also said the tour fulfilled a promise he made during the 2024 campaign when he visited grassroots communities to canvass votes for NDC parliamentary candidates.

“I went to the villages and asked them to vote for us, and promised them that after the voting, I’ll come and thank them,” he said, adding that traditional leaders, opinion leaders and residents appreciated that the party had honoured its pledge.

Touching on criticism that the tour was the President’s responsibility, he declined to engage in a public dispute over remarks attributed to others.

“I don’t know about that, but even if he was referring to me, it means he got everything wrong on that occasion. And if, as a party chairman, one of your MPs gets something wrong, you then just get out there fighting and chanting and insulting back and so on.”