The Ashanti Regional Women's Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Gloria Huze, has said that the enemy going into the 2024 general elections is not one that is within the party, and as such, her National Women’s Organiser, Dr. Hanna Bissiw, should focus her arsenals elsewhere.
Reacting to the statement made by Hanna Bissiw after she, Gloria Huze, picked up nomination forms on behalf of one of the aspirants in the race to become the NDC’s flagbearer, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.
Huze had led some grassroot members of the NDC to pick the forms on behalf of the former Minister of Finance, but had been called out by Hanna Bissiw thereafter, stating that her action was without the support of the national government.
“My attention has been drawn to a deplorable and unacceptable action by the Ashanti Regional Women's Organiser, Gloria Huze, in the upcoming flagbearer race.
“She is on record to have led a delegation to pick up the nomination form for a Presidential Candidate Aspirant in the name of the Ashanti Regional Women's Wing.
“I vehemently and categorically disassociate the wing from her conduct and wish to state emphatically that her conduct is not in any way a representation of any parts of the wing either in the Ashanti Region or across the other 15 regions in the country,” parts of the statement copied to GhanaWeb read.
But in a response, Gloria Huze has stated that what she did do so on behalf of the women’s wing of the party.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to set the record straight, I led NDC grassroots members whom I was representing, NOT the Ashanti Regional Women’s Wing NOR the Women Wing of our party as it is being alleged.
“I have clarified my statement on several platforms including radio stations among others,” she said in a disclaimer.
Gloria Huze further stated that while she is quite surprised at the response by Dr. Hanna Bissiw, she expected that the focus would rather be on how the NDC can rather reclaim power from the incumbent New Patriotic Party.
She stated that beyond the internal differences they have, she expects that such energies would be directed at their external opponents as the goal is for the party to win power in 2024.
She, therefore, apologized for any errors she may have committed, while calling for moderation in the way such matters are handled in the party, so as not to escalate tensions and tear the NDC up from within.
“I wish to indicate to all party members that we have a common enemy to gather our arsenals for but not ourselves, irrespective of our preferences in our internal elections. At the end of the day, every one of us is needed at the table and on the field to push our common agenda of removing the NPP from power. This will be critical regardless of our individual preferences.
“We should therefore exercise moderation and not attempt to escalate verbal slips to make a whole issue that has the tendency of creating avoidable disunity. Whilst I acknowledge my verbal slips and apologize for whatever inconvenience it might have caused, I believe my clarification should put the matter to rest,” she added.
Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has picked up nomination forms to contest the position of the flagbearer of the NDC, and is expecting to face off with the former president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama.
Meanwhile, catch the latest GhanaWeb TV Election Desk interview with Francis Addai-Nimoh, as he discusses his plans to become the NPP's flagbearer, below: