Oppong-Fosu pledges to rebuild NDC from Grassroots

Former Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Dr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, has formally declared his intention to contest the National Chairmanship of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), promising to restore the party’s founding values and overhaul its internal organisation.

Dr Oppong-Fosu said his vision for the party was anchored on “restoration, renewal and reset”, with a particular focus on strengthening the grassroots, promoting internal unity and moving the NDC away from what he described as personality-driven politics.

He made the declaration at a news conference in Accra after what he said were extensive consultations with party grassroots, regional caucuses, elders and other stakeholders.

He said his decision was motivated by a desire to serve the party rather than seek personal recognition, stressing that his candidature was about “conviction, service and sacrifice”.

Under his restoration agenda, Dr Oppong-Fosu said the NDC must return to its foundational principles of probity, accountability and social justice.

He said those principles should not remain “ceremonial words”, but should guide the party’s organisation, leadership and treatment of its members.

“Social justice must begin within our own political family. Everyone must have dignity. Everyone must have a voice. Everyone must have an opportunity to contribute,” he said.

He called for stronger links between the national leadership and the grassroots, saying branches and constituencies must remain active throughout the political cycle rather than becoming important only during elections.

“The branch must be the heartbeat of the NDC,” he declared, proposing greater investment in political education, research, technology, communication and data.

On renewal, Dr Oppong-Fosu said the party needed to prepare itself for what he described as a changing Ghana and changing world.

He said the NDC should deliberately prepare young people and women for leadership through political education, mentorship and training, while strengthening its organisational structures.

The former minister also proposed what he called a “reset” of the party’s internal systems, including improving communication, addressing the exclusion of members, repairing strained relationships and developing fairer systems for recognising members’ contributions.

He argued that the party should move from personality-driven and transactional politics towards a system-based organisation capable of surviving changes in leadership. “Individuals will come and go. Executives will change, but the NDC must endure,” he said.

Dr Oppong-Fosu also urged NDC members to stop comparing the party with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), arguing that such comparisons could prevent the NDC from focusing on its own development.

“We don’t have to continue engaging with the equalisation and the comparison between ourselves and the NPP. They are at zero ground. If we continue comparing ourselves, we’ll never move,” he said.

He said his approach to party leadership would emphasise consensus-building rather than confrontation.

According to him, internal competition was legitimate in a democratic party, but should not result in permanent divisions.

“There must be no permanent winners and no permanent losers. At the end of every internal election, the NDC itself must emerge stronger,” he said.

Dr Oppong-Fosu cited his experience in local government, public administration, Parliament, ministerial responsibility and international local-government engagements as evidence of his ability to manage competing interests and build consensus.

He recounted his involvement in bringing Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone local-government organisations together at the continental level, as well as his intervention in resolving a prolonged dispute within the NDC’s United States chapter ahead of the party’s 2019 congress.

He said those experiences had reinforced his belief that leadership required listening, consultation and the ability to bring competing interests together.

“Consultation is not weakness. Listening is not timidity. Consensus building is not indecision,” he said.

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