According to the founding father of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), if Ghanaians come to realise the full scale of the rot in the Mahama administration, they will never forgive the party, which will make the return of the party to power in 2020 a difficult task.

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According to him, the NDC government displayed "crass" display of wealth when many Ghanaians were disillusioned.

He made the comments when he addressed the 35th-anniversary celebration of the 31st December Revolution at the Black Star Square in Accra on Saturday.

"God’s given direction for leadership are the principles of integrity, probity and accountability. These principles are embedded in the collective conscience of the grassroots. There was a gaping disconnect between leadership and the masses as the latter was left disillusioned. To make matters worse the ordinary man felt even more insulted by the crass display of wealth by people who should have known better," he said.

"If the masses knew about the detrimental effects of the greed and avarice perpetuated by some of our own people in leadership they would never forgive us. Examples abound all around us. You need not stretch your imagination at all. If we all don’t do some careful introspection and openly show remorse for the betrayal of the people’s trust we might not recover in time for the next election," he added.

To rejuvenate in time for next election, the former president asked the silent majority in the party rise up and activate the process that will clean the party of "evil" persons.

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"Let me assert my firm belief that the intrinsic ability of the NDC to rejuvenate and recapture the moral high ground is in no doubt. But it lies with the silent majority who would have to rise up and activate processes that will cleanse us," he said.

"We owe it as a duty to restore and protect the legacy that we fought for from the beginning," he concluded.