General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fifi Kwetey, says as part of his mission for building a formidable NDC ahead of the 2024 general elections, he wants to revive the patriotism of his party folk.

According to him, generally in Ghana’s political sphere, that deep sense of patriotism that had characterized the first political parties has been lost to parochial interests at the expense of the general development of the country.

He noted that this has been expressed in some of the very entrenched partisan positions the two major parties have taken on national issues without considering the interest of the citizenry that gave them power.

He said his new post as General Secretary of the party will help him reconnect the party to their strong-held value of patriotism and selflessness.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, he said, “A number of things have been of concern to me. I’ve been for example a bit disappointed by what I call very entrenched positions which I felt were too partisan and were not in the interest of the nation. That has been a concern to me. I believe we need to appreciate that the reason why we have political parties is to first and foremost fight to win power; it is much more than that.

“It is to fight and bring empowerment to people. It is to fight and bring transformation to our country. And to a certain extent sometimes I think we get so enmeshed in what we call the raw politicking that it almost becomes as if the only reason why political parties are there is to simply win power for the sake of winning power, and I’ve been concerned about that.

“I’ve been concerned that the parties, both parties, need to become much more patriotic, much more loving of our nation, much more desirous of making sure that the aim of the parties is not simply about winning power, but doing what it is that can actually inure to the greatest benefit of our [country].”

He further expressed concern about moves by certain elements within the NDC to make the party solely partisan rather than patriotic.

According to Fifi Kwetey, he will continue to fight such moves to ensure that the vision of the founding fathers of the NDC as a party of patriots is realized and remains constant.

“I have that concern when I‘ve heard some people in the NDC  express the view that listen some of what I call the plain lack of love for the nation and just pure love for partisanship should actually become the norm in the NDC and some of us have fought that with everything we’ve got. It’s a no.

“We can never reduce ourselves to becoming like NPP that’s thinking primarily about itself and doesn’t really care whether it’s good for country or not. I want to build a party that is in alignment with our anthem. And our anthem the first line goes ‘arise, arise for Ghana ye patriots of the land’. That tells us who we’re supposed to be, a group of patriots.”