No Retreat, No Surrender As General Mosquito Rallies Support To Unseat Chairman

The move by Johnson Asiedu Nketiah (General Mosquito) to take charge as the leader and
Chairman of the National Democratic Congress party (NDC) has been boosted by the
spirited attendance of the opposition party's bigwigs at his campaign launch, Tuesday
October 25.
General Mosquito who is currently the General Secretary of the NDC is seeking to up his
ante by becoming the pinnacle of the party's administration.
And he appears to be enjoying a massive support from senior party officials across the
party’s structures, most of who crowded the event as if they have been whipped in line.
This open support is making the re-election bid of the incumbent Chairman, Ofosu Ampofo a
daunting task.
The battle between the longest- serving General Secretary, and the incumbent Ofosu
Ampofo for the chairmanship is fraught with edgy feelings within the main opposition party.
While the skeptics fear the contest has the potential to divide its front ahead of the 2024
general elections, others have described it as a necessary competition that should put test
the rivalry of arguably the two most experienced political hands in the party.
But Asiedu Nketiah who has been the NDC’s General Secretary for seventeen (17) years
seems to have kick-started his bid on a higher note; launching his campaign barely a week
after he declared his intention to fight for the chairmanship of the biggest opposition party
in a grand style as he has never before done in his past contests.
The NDC is undergoing a re-organization which it hopes to elect new executive to steer its
affairs in the next four years.
The party last weekend, undertook elections in the constituencies across the nation with a
few hitches.
Regional elections are expected in three weeks’, to be climaxed with a National Delegate
Congress on December 18 th .
Asiedu Nketia in his keynote speech promised major reforms if elected Chairman of the
party, including capping the terms of party office holders and ensuring policies to reduce
the cost of organizing internal elections which has become a source of worry to political
watchers
With a grandiose ceremony well-attended by prominent persons representing the power
brokers of the party, there are clear signals that ‘General Mosquito’ is gaining an upper
hand over his former Boss, Ofosu Ampofo who is struggling to convince the party base that

he is capable of leading the NDC to defeat the governing NPP party led by his kinsman,
President Akufo Addo.
Aside the rich resume of his contender, Chairman Ofosu Ampofo is faced with a huge task of
convincing the rank and file of the NDC that the party lost the last general elections fairly
and that he did all he could as a chairman to prevent the defeat which was pronounced by
the Supreme Court of the country.
“With tact and courage, there is no way the NDC would have been defeated in the Ayawaso
West Wagon elections…. “- General Mosquito fumed in his launch speech pledging that if
elected as the chairman of the party, he would win the 2024 general elections for the party.
Having been tagged as a ‘lame duck’ Chairman, Ofosu Ampofo has been accused by the
General Secretary of his party as wearing a cap of mistrust following his withdrawal of the
NDC from the violence- ridden Ayawaso West Wagon election which the NDC was tipped to
win at the time.
The withdrawal which was considered a betrayal by other party officials followed violent
attacks on the NDC supporters by militia’s unleashed by the governing party
during the Ayawaso by-election in 2018. The attacks were roundly condemned by party
loyalists as cowardice for which the leadership must take responsibility.
But, the General Mosquito says Chairman Ofosu Ampofo bears the sole cross for that
decision, revealing also that the chairman defied the counsel of all other decision makers in
the party not to withdraw from the election.
Among other things, Ofosu Ampofo is also accused of showing little or no support when the
party battled the ruling government in parliament for the ultimate speaker’s position which
it won by electing Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin as the speaker of the august house.
With Fearless, Courageous and Trustworthy as his theme, ‘General’ Asiedu Nketiah has set
the tone for what would reveal a lot more about the character of the two combatants.