Fiifi Kwetey, the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has been accused of inciting the people of the Volta Region to do everything in their power to prevent their children and youth from making independent political decisions and to force them to accept the NDC despite all of the obstacles the party faces that might make it unappealing to the region’s younger generation.
In an undisclosed location in the Volta Region, the former NDC Propaganda Secretary and current General Secretary made the call while addressing a group of NDC supporters as part of the party’s flagbearer’s sensitization campaign ahead of the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
“It looks as if it is wrong for us, Volta people, to take NDC as a religion. There is nothing wrong with that. Some of our young people from Volta, think it is something of pride to say as for us we are not like our fathers and uncles, we believe we should not [just accept something they believe in, and that it is something of pride to choose to be independent minded].
“This party [NDC] may not be the perfect party. It may not be a party that has always delivered on all its promises, but it is our responsibility to ensure that our children remain loyal to this commission to be able to make it better, Fiifi Kwetey is heard saying in a voice recording.
“If you watch what happens in Ashanti and the Eastern Region, they understand that their party must be their party, and nothing changes. Somehow, they appreciate that they must not forsake their party because this must become a religion. Your religion may not be the best, but that is your religion, and it is your responsibility to make sure you fix it, ” the NDC chief scribe added.
“I think we must let our people [Voltarians] appreciate that this is who we are. If you go to America today if you go to New York State, the democratic party is like a religion, through rain or shine, that is your political party. If you go to California, it is the same. If you go to places where the Republicans are, it is the same. There is nothing wrong with it, Mr Kwetey further stated in the audio recording.
This is the second time Mr Kwetey has made such ethnocentric comments. In a previous instance, during a regional retreat for NDC executives in January 2023, he urged Voltarians to treat the party like a religion and worship it like “God.”
Already, a lot of people had condemned these comments. The NPP Volta Regional Chairman, Makafui Woanya, has rejected the idea of blind loyalty to a political party in response to criticism of the remarks made by Woanya.
Woanya underlined that the NPP’s ability to get support from the populace will depend on its accomplishments in the area.
