How ‘splintered’ NDC can stay in opposition for 16 years

I was extremely surprised when I heard and read about the deep seated
divisions in the NDC Party, in the sense that some of us were made to
believe that conflict is alien to them. "Conflict is only synonymous
with NPP", they proclaimed.

"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand (Mark 3:25)."

Likewise, a family splintered by prolonged enmity will fall apart.
Let us admit, much as the preceding principle has some validity, it is
somewhat impossible to avoid conflicts within a team or a group.
Indeed, teams or groups are synonymous with conflicts or
fragmentations that can be managed over a passage of time. The fact
however is, team conflict is an interpersonal disagreement between
members of a team or group. Needless to state that conflict more often
than not, impacts negatively on team performance.
Apparently, team conflict may occur when the balance between
perceptions, goals, or/and values of the team is upset and members
aren't willing to work together towards achieving the shared goals and
values. Although each team or group member has his/her own interests
and values, a team member is expected to follow values of the team.

Suffice it to stress that when there is dissonance between the values,
needless or irrelevant cleavage may then emerge.
It is, however, worth emphasising that team conflict could be either
functional or dysfunctional. Functional conflicts are disagreements
that do not affect team performance significantly, and, the team often
remains functional and able to achieve the desired results.

On the other hand, dysfunctional conflicts are those cleavages that
arise between team members that often disrupt teamwork and prevent
team members from achieving the shared goals.
It is also worth stressing that team conflicts or divisions are not
limited to a particular team or group.
Truth be told, conflict is rather a team or group phenomenon which may
be resolved through efficient management.
It is for this reason that I refuse to accept the NDC faithful
ridiculous assertion that it is only the NPP Party that boasts of team
conflict. Clearly, the ongoing accusations and counter accusations
amongst the NDC Party faithful tell a different story contrary to what
they have told us previously.
Until their recent tug of war, we were made to believe that conflict
is alien to the NDC Party. Obviously, we were deceived by the NDC
faithful. Somehow, their heated conflict is disastrously
disintegrating the party. They have been living in a denial all along.
They concealed the pernicious conflict whilst in government.

Then the humiliating 2016 election defeat rekindled the conflict.
Apparently, a section of the aggrieved supporters could not hide their
arousing disgust over the unpardonable events which led to the
humiliating 2016 election loss.
The prominent among the disgruntled supporters is the Ex-President and
founder of the party, J. J. Rawlings.
The extremely unhappy former President Rawlings has since been aiming
accusing fingers at the non-performing and corrupt NDC leadership for
the election defeat.
Ex-President Rawlings's relentless accusations invariably infuriated
the brassbound NDC faithful, who discourteously and
uncharacteristically decided to revenge by tearing their founder
former President Rawlings into shreds.
Consequently, the disgusted supporters came out and vehemently
repudiated such allegations and rather accused Rawlings as the one who
has been indulging in corrupt practices.

Surprisingly, however, some supporters have gone to an extent of
spurning Ex-President Rawlings and challenging him to evidence his
claim as a founding father. Ironically, Dr Obed Asamoah, an NDC Party
stalwart, has publicly told Ghanaians that former President Rawlings
is not a founder of the party contrary to their party constitution.
He, however, maintained that Rawlings could not have been the founder
of the party in the sense that he was an active army officer during
the registration of the NDC Party. In fact, the NDC apologists are
committing political suicide, or worst still, they are living in a
denial for refusing to accept the fact that former President Rawlings
is really revered by the foot soldiers more than any other member of
the party. After all, it was the ideals of former President Rawlings
that gave birth to the NDC Party.

More importantly, Rawlings managed to bring a lot of supporters to his
corner. It would thus seem bizarre for anybody to suggest that former
President Rawlings is currently irrelevant in the NDC Party. As a
matter of fact, former President Rawlings still commands respect among
the foot soldiers within the party. And, most likely, some of former
President Rawlings's loyalists will be aggrieved over the NDC
leadership's shenanigans towards him. Unfortunately, however, the
NDC's boisterous supporters who are not privy to their party's history
have been upbraiding Rawlings all the time for expressing his
grievances over the rot in his party. Let us face it, the ongoing
tussle between Mahama faction and Rawlings faction will not inure to
the benefit of the NDC Party. You may believe it or not, the fact
however remains that both former presidents command a sizeable number
of supporters. To this end, the continuous disagreement between the
factions could only deepen the cleavage and thereby keeping NDC in
opposition for a very long time.


By: K. Badu, UK.