A leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Kwabena Duffuor, is set to launch an NDC grassroots empowerment and a self-financing project dubbed the “NDC Ahotɔ Project” for the grassroots.
Ahotɔ means relief in the Akan language.
In a statement, the project manager stated that the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who is one of Ghana’s few business magnates, makes it clear that the main aim of the project is “geared toward setting up micro-businesses in all the 275 constituencies in order to create the much-needed but currently unavailable local funding for the day-to-day running of the NDC party at the grassroots level”.
This initiative, according to the statement, “is a direct response to the recommendations of a business feasibility studies commissioned by Dr Duffuor and carried out by a team across the country”.
“It was to establish the most feasible and sustainable business idea capable of helping to finance the NDC party activities at the local level”, the statement said.
The former finance minister in the erstwhile NDC government of Professor Evans Atta Mills, the statement noted, “bemoans the present situation where the responsibility of raising resources for grassroots activities of the NDC is either left in the hands of branch and constituency executives whose work for the party is purely voluntary”, thus, “affecting their personal businesses and families; or in the hands of sitting MPs who are also overwhelmed by financial demands of their constituents, is not a sustainable way for financing a modern-day political organisation”.
“This project, which is yet to be implemented, is meant to lessen the burden on MPs, relieve local executives of the huge financial difficulties they face in running the party”, the statement clarified.
“It is believed that the NDC Ahotɔ Project will create a medium for the local party machinery to be financially self-sustaining through regular income streams to help support their ongoing initiatives”.
“It is also to empower and reposition the NDC and make it battle-ready for election 2024 and beyond”, the statement explained.
According to the project manager, the NDC Ahotɔ Project will mainly be about micro-businesses focusing on social events such as funerals, naming ceremonies, marriage ceremonies, durbars, political campaigns, and rallies, which are mostly outdoor activities.
The nature of these activities places high demands on the use of plastic chairs, canopies, public address systems, power generators, podiums, and mobile toilets among others.
“A local rental business of the accessories owned and run by the party at various constituency levels, will create employment opportunities and generate income which will bring relief (Ahotɔ) to the grassroots”, the statement mentioned.
“Dr Kwabena Duffuor is, therefore, sponsoring and financing all the 275 constituencies with all the equipment and accessories necessary to set up a rental business”.
The pilot phase of the project is set to be launched at the Ashaiman Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday, 7 April.
