Paul Adom-Otchere has offered historical perspective on the NDC’s internal leadership transitions following a tense on-air confrontation with party elder Ato Ahwoi.
He traced the party’s succession dynamics back to the era of Jerry John Rawlings to explain the roots of Ahwoi’s strong reaction.
“This will be the first time that the NDC has to go through a succession process through a fully democratic way,” he noted on Good Evening Ghana, highlighting the unique nature of the current transition discussions.
He described the selection of a new presidential candidate as the “bitter pill of democracy” that every party must swallow, likening it to a necessary but uncomfortable stage in political evolution.
Adom-Otchere pointed out that Ahwoi played a central role in managing the party’s first major succession in the late 1990s.
To avoid internal turmoil after Rawlings’ final term, Ahwoi and his allies championed the infamous Swedru Declaration, which paved the way for then Vice President Professor John Evans Atta Mills to become the party’s flagbearer.
“Ahwoi seized the opportunity to bring in Professor Mills as the running mate of Rawlings… and later as the endorsed presidential candidate,” he recounted.
That decision, he explained, was strategically aimed at preventing factional fighting but also triggered one of the biggest breakaways in the party’s history.
Discontented members, particularly supporters of Goosie Tanoh, eventually formed their own party.
By drawing this historical line, Adom-Otchere suggested that Ahwoi’s intervention during the recent broadcast is rooted in his long-standing belief that internal contests should be tightly managed to preserve party unity.
“I can clearly understand where Uncle Ato is coming from,” he said.
