NDC’s 2016 Defeat: We lost touch with the grassroots – Amenorwode revealed

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Agenda 2020: Our Train is still in the Volta Region

Mr. Joseph Amenorwode, NDC Volta Regional Chairman Hopeful

Mr. Joseph Zaphenat Amenorwode, former Volta Regional Minister under late President Mills has revealed that the major cause of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) defeat in the 2016 general elections was as a result of the party leadership losing touch with the branches at the grassroots.

In an interview with Awake’s Agenda 2020, the Volta Regional NDC [ads1]Chairman hopeful said every political party gets its victory or defeat from the branch level “so if you lost focus on the branches, there is no doubt that you will lose the election and that is what happened to the NDC”.

“We became disorganized because we forgot about our branches and we began to focus on thing that though necessary in political organization but were not inion to translating vote” – Mr. Amenorwode said

The former MP for Afadzato South  Constituency, however, rubbished claims by some members of the party that their defeat was caused by former President John Mahama who was seeking re-election in 2016.

According to him, the party’s 2016 defeat cannot be blamed on one particular person “in fact, we all played a role in that defeat” adding that he does not see the reason why John Mahama alone should be blamed though he was the leader of the party especially at the time that the party is focusing on its reorganization agenda.

He used the opportunity to tout former President Mahama’s achievements saying, John Mahama has chalked remarkable successes that no president of Ghana has been able to do in four years.

“Under President Mahama, almost every constituency in Ghana has seen some level of development and if anyone tells you President Mahama and the NDC lost the election because of non-performance, it is never true. It was because we lost touch with our people and they did not go to vote” – He added

For Mr. Amenorwode, the reorganization programme of the NDC and removal of the Ward Block in the party structures are two of the best initiatives that can reposition the party to recapture power in 2020.

Let Know a little about Mr. Amenowode:

Mr. Amenowode, a professional teacher, served as the member of parliament for the Hohoe South Constituency, now Afadzato South Constituency from January 2005 until 2016 when he resigned.

Mr. Amenorwode’s family hails from Ve-Deme in the Afadzato South District of the Volta Region. He attended the Hohoe Evangelical Presbyterian Secondary School (HEPSS) between 1966 and 1971 obtaining the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level.

He proceeded to Kpando Secondary School for his sixth form education, completing the GCE Advanced Level in 1973.

His undergraduate university education was at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he obtained the Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in 1979.

He continued for an extra year to complete a postgraduate diploma in 1980. In 1991, he obtained a master’s degree from the same university. He attended the Pratt Institute in New York City where he completed a Master of Professional Studies degree in Art Therapy in 1997.

Mr. Amenowode initially taught in the Ghana Education Service and later became a lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba.

Mr. Amenorwode in Politics:

Joseph Amenowode is a member of the National Democratic Congress. He first stood for elections in the Ghanaian parliamentary election in 2004, winning with a majority of 17,720 (75.6%) and taking his seat in the fourth parliament of the Fourth Republic. He retained his seat in the 2008 election. In 2009, he was appointed the Volta Regional Minister by the President of Ghana, late John Atta Mills, a position he held until he was dropped in a cabinet reshuffle by President Mills in early 2012.

In his last election, December 2012, he obtained 18,340 votes out of the 20,605 valid votes cast constituting 89.0% in the last elections and represents the National Democratic Congress and a member of the majority in parliament