“You and I can share the silence, finding comfort together the way old friends do. And after the fight and words of violence, we make up with each other the way old friends do. Times of joy and times of sorrow, we will always see it through. I don’t care what comes tomorrow, we can face it together the way old friends do.” – ABBA
I have decided to begin my epistle today with lyrics of ‘The way old friends do’ by ABBA, the Sweden Pop Supergroup. Those of us who used to attend discotheques and do the ‘Swinging Safari’ do remember very well this song which soothed our sorrows in times of broken hearts.
The most serious tactic the NDC have adopted and which is working to their advantage is to distract the eyes of Ghanaians from all the good deeds of the ruling NPP government and rather concentrate on anything, however petty, and shout from the rooftop to tell Ghanaians how bad the government is.
Because they have lined up too many lies, they do not spend so much time on a particular topic. They just fly the kite and quickly go to the next topic. Just look at the noises they made about the issue of LGBTQ. Since Ghana attained independence, LGBTQ has been in our status books but no government ever took the matter to court. Rawlings, the founder of the NDC ruled Ghana for almost twenty years but he never mentioned the issue of LGBTQ.
The best the late Prof. Mills could do was to tell Ghanaians that he will not allow LGBTQ in Ghana. As for John Dramani Mahama (JDM), he never mentioned the issue when he was the President and even shamelessly invited Mr. Andrew Solomon, his friend who is an international advocate of LGBTQ to launch his book for him here in God’s own country.
A Private Member’s Bill was laid before Parliament and it went through the full length to become law. Some people who thought there was something wrong with the law took the matter to the Supreme Court for interpretation and the NDC apparatchiks had ants in their pants, panting like a fish out of water.
A train ran into a KIA truck which was parked on the railway lines and hell broke loose. Meanwhile it was the NDC which collapsed the Ghana Railway Co-operation which is being brought to live by the current government at a high cost. You see them? Call them ‘Konongo kaya’ and you will not be far from right.
They vehemently kicked against the introduction of the free SHS and when it was successfully introduced with many students performing very well in the WASSCE, ungrateful JDM said the students bought ‘apo’, thereby, insulting the integrity and sensibility of our hardworking teachers. I don’t have enough space to recount all the wicked plans of the NDC.
My problem is with the NPP supporters who are being blindfolded and led astray by these power-hungry NDC leadership. I know two NPP dyed-in-the-wool NPP supporters who together led the 2000 General Election in my constituency to victory. They never left the NDC in peace and took them on seriously. In fact, they worked so tirelessly to bring the party to power in our constituency.
Today, they are at serious loggerheads and all of them have vowed to leave the NPP. One day, I met one of them and asked him why the two said they have left the NPP. He told me that in the run-up to the recent NPP Presidential Primaries, he supported one candidate while his friend supported another candidate.
I admonished him to forget everything because the party is bigger than two of them. I told him as old friends, they must throw everything overboard and join hands to help Dr. Bawumia come to power because old friends can easily patch things together since they used to do everything together and shared secrets.
The New Patriotic Party has come a long way but it seems some people who are supposed to know better are gradually falling into a trap set up by the opposition NDC unknowingly. I have had cause to write in this column that the NPP should wake up and open their eyes widely because the leadership of the NDC are communist-trained and they know how to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians for the sake of grabbing political power.
When Rawlings usurped power, he took many of them to countries like Bulgaria, Cuba, Libya, East Germany, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other Communist countries to learn the art of communist Propaganda. That was why when he later formed his NDC he chose to call his communication officers as Propaganda Secretaries.
Those who resign from their parties due to certain flimsy excuses should look back and see what happened to others who took similar decisions. If you are an NPP member and because of one thing or the other you are leaving the party, think again. The NDC will never accept you and neither will they make you know their secrets.
The galloping horse of Dr. Bawumia has stopped by your gate so you better jump on it or it will gallop away to return no more. Anyway, remember when the rain falls, it will not fall on one man’s house. Think!!!
By Eric Bawah