Former President Jerry John Rawlings has said the choice that the delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will make at their congress in Tamale this weekend will determine the direction of the party. He said their decision would indicate whether the party would grow stronger or collapse and asked the delegates to let their conscience work. In a pre-conference message to the delegates, former President Rawlings, who is also the Founder of the NDC, called on the delegates to elect people of integrity in order not to jeopardize the future of the party. “I call on delegates to elect people of proven integrity who have paid their dues to the party. Let us not be intimidated by people who seek office because they have direct links to so-called powerful people in government or the party,” he stated. The conference will, among other things, elect new national executive and make amendments to the party’s constitution. Former President Rawlings said the delegates’ failure to vote and take decisions with their conscience could spell the doom of the NDC, adding, “If we assume that being in power is an exercise in perpetuity, we are mistaken. We will be creating the opportunity for an alternative movement to grow and take over from us if we fail to uphold the ideals for which the people voted us into power.” The former President said the delegates, who were expected to deliberate on a number of proposed changes to the party’s constitution, should ensure that the process proved to all Ghanaians that events of the past few months were aberrations and not a sign that the party was veering towards corrupt election practices. He said the congress was about the strength and structures of the party, saying if the executive was not in touch with the party beyond the manifesto, then the executive could jeopardize the future stability of the party, which in turn might not be able to put future executive into government. “The party needs to hold the government together and ensure that it develops policies that protect the ideals of the NDC,” he said. Former President Rawlings noted that the NDC was in government at a difficult period in the world economic history and that those who identified with the ideals of the party recognized that it was borne out of the quest for people’s power and desire to get involved in national development. He accused some candidates in the just ended constituency, regional, women and youth elections of abusing the process through the distribution of large sums of money to sway delegates to vote in certain directions. He said vote buying was alien to the party and had created a situation where the party had become the laughing stock of its opponents and a painful reminder to its ordinary supporters who have sacrificed for the party through some very difficult periods. He said “the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was booted out of office primarily because it failed to protect the people and introduced a process of property-owning democracy. Let not the NDC carve that same path.” Former President Rawlings commended the membership of the party across the country who overwhelmingly voted with their conscience. Source: Daily Graphic