I WRITE today’s piece with a very heavy heart. My heart bleeds for this nation. The bleeding stems from the fact that the country’s only hope, the Great Elephant, is being killed slowly. Yes, those riding on the Great Elephant have, once again, started playing with the self-destruction button.
They have forgotten so soon how bickering and in-fighting made them hand over power to the eagle-headed Umbrella on a silver platter in the 2008 polls. The perks of power have made them so comfortable that they’ve forgotten how the struggle for power by 17 aspirants served as a catalyst for their loss in the 2008 polls.
As I mused sometime back, when heavy clouds are gathering and you have clothes hanging on the drying line, the wisest thing to do is to hurriedly remove the clothes. You also hurriedly call your carpenter to fix your dangling roofing sheets, don’t you?
Unfortunately, the exact opposite is what we are seeing in the Elephant’s camp. It is when the weather had frowned outside with rains threatening to pour that you see them hanging their clothes on the drying line and irrationally removing their roofing sheets.
In case you are still wondering, the so-called Alan-Bawumia power struggle is what I refer to. It is just absurd that such a struggle has started so early. President Nana Dee is just about to finish the second year of his 2nd term and hell has already broken loose among the contesting parties. I still cannot fathom how a party that lost its grip on the country’s Legislature will engage in such self-damaging action.
Need we remind those engaging in the political madness that the success of the party’s next flag-bearer is dependent on Nana Dee’s 2nd term performance? Are they oblivious of this fact or they are simply engaging in political foolhardiness?
The economy is in shambles and our compatriots are complaining. Is that not enough reason for members of the ruling party to be circumspect in their utterances and actions in the flag-bearership contest? Were I a leading member of either of the groups, I would start asking about progress of work on the ‘Agenda 111′ hospitals. This is because the completion of the said 111 hospitals would increase the chances of whoever leads the party in the 2024 polls, despite the current economic difficulties
As a sympathiser of the party, I have my favourite candidate. I definitely will use this medium and other platforms to promote my candidate. But I’ve resisted that temptation for now because that is the wisest thing to do.
Like all two-party systems, where only two parties dominate in an election, the only alternative to the Elephant in this country is the Umbrella. But the hopelessness and the wanton looting of the country’s resources witnessed under the reign of the Umbrella between 2009 and 2016 make me shudder to even imagine seeing Zu-za back on the Presidential throne. This country cannot survive another “create, loot and share” scheme.
It is thus unfortunate that a critical look at the happenings in the camp of the Elephant does not also inspire any hope. The bickering, name-calling and vicious in-fighting in the name of Presidential leadership do not give a picture of a party thinking of the downtrodden. Indeed, what shall it benefit a Kukrudite to win the flag-bearership contest only to create division in his party and lose the presidential throne to President Ogwanfunu?
It’s obvious that those engaging in the needless power struggle have forgotten President Kufuor’s wise counsel: “Let’s unite as a party. I have said this before; I would rather be a messenger in a winning party taking over government, than be a proud General Secretary of a losing party which would be in opposition.”
Suffice to say many party folks are not enthused at the way some Nana Dee appointees treat them, but they are still content to have the opportunity to visit such appointees. Obviously, such an opportunity wouldn’t even be there if the party wasn’t in power.
I therefore humbly add mine to the voices entreating all members of the Osono family to heed the call for unity and sacrifice, because the cry of the he-goat that finds the butcher’s knife at his neck is tragedy.
See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!