Kwesi Pratt Jnr
The Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has called on President John Dramani Mahama to sack appointees of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who are pursuing their personal ambitions of succeeding him instead of supporting his efforts to deliver on the party’s promises to Ghanaians.
Speaking on Pan African TV, Mr. Pratt alleged that growing internal power struggles within the governing NDC have created unhealthy competition among appointees, distracting them from helping the President achieve his vision.
According to him, rivalry among ministers who have been appointed by President Mahama to help him fulfil promises made to Ghanaians has replaced teamwork and cooperation within government.
“What they have now is competition and not cooperation, and it is a very dangerous thing to happen. Everybody has a dagger to stab the other so that they become President.
“It’s dirty, it’s nauseating and I wonder why President Mahama continues to allow this to happen. I can’t believe it. If you go into the government machinery, some departments and agencies are not working well. The excuse being given is that some people are withholding support because of presidential ambitions,” he stated.
Mr. Pratt indicated that the alleged jostling for succession in the NDC is undermining the government’s ability to fulfil its campaign promises.
He asked the government why top officials within the party are jostling to succeed President Mahama after 17 months in office instead of the desire to govern the country.
“The mandate is for four years and you have entered the 17th month. How many of the key promises have been achieved? They are not focused on achieving the promises but are focused on achieving reckless ambition,” he stressed.
According to him, some officials claim they were unable to discharge their expected roles in office due to failure to support certain individuals who are allegedly aligned to ministers with presidential ambitions.
“Do you know the excuse they give? ‘We are not getting financing for our project because the Finance Minister is interested in becoming President, and because he knows I won’t support him, he doesn’t want me to succeed.’ It’s all over the place.
“The buddy-buddy things you see ministers doing are all superficial. Deep down, everybody has a dagger to stab the other so that they become President,” he added.
Mr. Pratt, however, commended Haruna Iddrisu and Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang for publicly expressing their desire to support President Mahama to succeed instead of their personal ambition.
“That is why my respect for Haruna Iddrisu has increased because when all this started, he came out publicly to say he was not interested and that his agenda was to support Mahama to succeed.
“That is also why my respect for the Vice President has gone high. Anytime she is asked whether she wants to become President, she says her priority is to support President Mahama to succeed and deliver the promises made to Ghanaians,” Mr. Pratt noted.
He argued that anyone who hopes to succeed President Mahama after his tenure would only become successful if the current administration succeeds.
“Their becoming President is contingent on the success of this administration, not on their handsomeness or beauty, but on satisfying the people of Ghana,” Mr. Pratt stressed.
He, therefore, called on President Mahama to reorganise his team and ‘crack the whip’ if he intends to fulfil his promises to Ghanaians.
“If President Mahama is serious about delivering on the promises he made to the people of Ghana, then he needs an entirely new team focused on the job and not on personal ambition,” he stated.
“It is so sickening. It’s unbelievable, and I hope President Mahama will crack the whip. It is time for them to go. I hope he will get a team that will work with him to the finishing line, a team that will be loyal to him and share his vision to the last day in office, and not a team that will dump him in 18 months and say he is a lame duck.
“Leadership does not arise out of self-declaration but out of commitment to a common goal,” he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mustapha Gbande, has also dismissed suggestions that the party is preparing for internal succession elections.
“Is the party up for election? Who said the NDC is going to go through elections? What if we don’t open the party up for elections? In the NDC, we don’t do elections. The NDC is a tradition founded on consensus building. We are not the NPP,” he said.
Mr. Gbande, who is also the Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, further cautioned party members against allowing succession debates to create divisions within the NDC, while urging members of the party to align their vision to President Mahama in order not to lose any future elections.
“It is creating suspicion among us, and I will not allow anybody to align me with anybody with short visions.
“There are two clear things we are doing; we have to satisfy the party people and ensure the party succeeds,” the Deputy General Secretary pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter all that is happening, because anybody who becomes a leader of the party without President Mahama will lose,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah