PNC and NDC alliance? It’ll be betrayal of Hilla Limann, says Ndebugre

By Ebenezer Hanson

Hon. John Akparibo Ndebugre, the firebrand People’s National Congress (PNC) Member of Parliament for Zebilla in the Upper East Region, has declared that a coalition or merger or an alliance between the PNC and National Democratic Congress (NDC) will amount to the betrayal of the ideals of Dr. Hilla Limann, the Founder of the PNC.

According to him, the historical antecedents of the PNC and that of the NDC are diametrically opposed to each other and therefore the two cannot work together.

“ PNC was founded by Dr. Hilla Limann, President of the Third Republic; NDC was founded by Jerry John Rawlings who violently overthrew the Limann administration after which he was detained for quite a while and subsequently consigned to his private house at the Teshie/ Nungua Estates.

“Dr. Limann was denied privileges due a former president under the 1979 Constitution for the whole period till his death and Ex-President Rawlings did not reconcile with Dr. Limann before he died in anguish. So it would amount to betrayal of Dr. Limann ideals to take the PNC to the NDC by way of alliance, coalition or merger, ” he expatiates.

Hon. Ndebugre was, in an exclusive interview with the Public Agenda in Parliament last Tuesday, reacting to a recent statement by Dr. Edward Mahama in the media, which suggested that the PNC would possibly consider forming a coalition with the NDC.

Besides the above reason, Hon. Ndebugre, who worked with the defunct Rawlings-led Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), has three other reasons why the PNC should not align itself with the NDC.

He disclosed that he is one of the several members of the PNC who do not recognize Dr. Mahama as the flagbearer of the PNC because the meeting that purported to have made him a flagbearer was not a duly constituted national congress. “ So congress was invalid and together with others, he is in court challenging that congress.” He admits that he recognizes Dr. Mahama as a member and 2004 flagbearer of the party, member of the national executive and the national standing committee. “ But as a single member of these committees he does not have the capacity to make such a pronouncement,” he stresses.

The Zebilla MP further contends that, granting the congress was duly constituted and Dr. Mahama was properly elected flagbearer he still lacks the capacity to unilaterally declare that he is taking the party into a coalition.

“ A decision to go into a coalition or an alliance or a merger with another party is a very serious policy decision that only the national delegates congress of the party has the capacity to take. If even such a congress was held, no such decision was taken. All he was doing was acting unilaterally and unconstitutionally and such an action cannot be sustained,” emphasizes Hon. Ndebugre.

The last leg of Hon Ndebugre’s four-prong argument is electorally laced. He submits that the PNC remains strong only at the expense of the NDC, and further observes that PNC is strongest in the Upper East and Upper West Regions. He notes that from 1992 to 2004, in both the Presidential or Parliamentary elections, the NDC was the next in contention wherever the PNC won.

He justifies his point statistically. He recalls that in the 2004 Parliamentary elections, he won the Zebilla seat by beating the NDC contestant by barely 15 votes. He said the NDC candidate could have won if he had not; and the trend was similar to the Bolgatanga and Sissala West. Additionally, he pointed out that, the only candidate who contested the Sissala East, which the PNC won, was an NDC candidate.

“A coalition, merger or alliance involves trade offs, and with the NDC being the stronger opponent, where will be the trade off ? ” he asks. He notes that the neither the NPP nor the CPP is in contention in the said constituencies; and it makes sense to engage in a trade off with a party that has a weaker support base in these constituencies.

To him what Dr. Mahama wants to do is to offer the PNC to the NDC to swallow or otherwise absorbed. “ And that will be the greatest betrayal of Dr. Limann.”