- “As for the people of Ashanti Region, if even you tar their roads with gold, they will still be ungrateful.” – JDM , 2016
- “Vote for me because I am a northerner like you and your brother.” – JDM, 2020
- “As for the NDC we don’t discriminate. We see our brothers from the north as one of us. You, mark my words. If the time comes for the NPP to elect a Flagbearer, they will not vote for Dr. Bawumia because he is a northerner.” – JDM, 2023.
Mr. Mahama, the former president of Ghana is not current as far as tribal politics in Ghana is concerned. He still lives in past glory. The days when the NDC used the lies of the NPP being an Akan party is gone with the wind. Times have changed and people have wised up, except John Dramani Mahama who still lives far away in Mars. The era when the NDC was able to play on the intelligence of the Zongo communities and the Northern Region are gone forever. The people have seen the light.
The NDC, led by JJ Rawlings, ruled this country for eight years with two vice presidents who happened to be Akans from the Central Region. The late Professor Mills chose John Mahama as his running mate amidst serious protests from the rank and file of the party. If Mills had not died untimely and the time came for the NDC to elect a flagbearer, Mr. Mahama would have been shown the gate because the people from the Volta Region were poised to grab the flagbearership position. According to them the place was and still is the ‘World Bank’ of the party.
The late Professor, Albert Adu Boahen, chose Mr. Roland, a Northerner, as his running mate in 1992 but because the party boycotted that year’s election, Ghanaians have all too soon forgotten.
When Mr. Kufuor held the baton, he chose Mr. Ekow Nkensen Arkaa as his running mate because Rawlings had beaten up Arkaa at a cabinet meeting. Out of anger, the CPP family joined the NPP to form the Great Alliance. That was the more reason why Arkaa was chosen as the running mate to Mr. Kufuor. The next time around, candidate Kufuor chose Alhaji Aliu Mahama from Yendi, a Northerner and a Muslim for that matter. For the first time in the political history of Ghana, a Muslim held the Holy Quran to swear the oath of office as the Vice President of Ghana.
Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, also chose Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate in 2012, repeated the doze in 2016 and won the Presidential election by more than one million votes. Again the Holy Quran was used to swear the oath of office by Dr. Bawumia. Nana Addo repeated the magic in 2020. Today, a northerner and a Muslim from the NPP in the person of Dr. Bawumia, has been elected as the flagbearer of the NPP.
After a hectic campaign, Dr. Bawumia won fourteen out of the sixteen regions of Ghana. In fact, he won all the Akan regions except the Central Region where Kennedy Agyapong comes from. Even then, while Kennedy Agyapong had 10,000 votes, Dr. Bawumia, a Northerner, garnered 6,000 votes. The Akans in Ghana had to choose between black and white with no gray so they chose Dr. Bawumia. So now, what is shameless Mahama telling Ghanaians again?
I wonder if this desperate politician has SHAME in his lexicon.
When Nana Addo was handing over the flag to Dr. Bawumia, speeches delivered by the other contestants, particularly Kennedy Agyapong, touched my heart. They all displayed maturity and proved to cynics that the NPP is unbreakable in the face of the current scheme of things. It was Henry Ford who said, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.” The time has come for togetherness, as President Akufo-Addo told the gathering.
Dr. Bawumia should pause to reason that even though he has unconvincingly won the primaries, an achievement is bondage. It obliges one to a higher achievement. One quality which Dr. Bawumia has and which I admire is his humility coupled with humour. No matter how good you are, when arrogance raises its ugly head, Mother Nature will put you back into your box. The guy is sober, respectful and above all intelligent. The economic whiz-kid should avoid complacency and watch his advisers. The man is lucky but he also made his luck. He has a pool of fine brains surrounding him and he should seize the opportunity to make the best of them.
Even though John Mahama is a Northerner, he is not a zongo boy like Dr. Bawumia. Mahama’s attempt to play the Northerner card has woefully failed, so it is time for Dr. Bawumia too, to play the zongo card. John Mahama is married to a woman from Nkroranza in the Bono Region, so his wife too is not a zongo woman like the wife of Dr. Bawumia. It is payback time. I am a zongo boy, so I was very happy when the Akans threw John Mahama’s tribal politics to the dogs and voted massively for Dr. Bawumia
This should send a clear message to John Mahama that, the era of playing the tribal card in Ghana is gone and gone forever.
The NDC has been using the Aliens Compliance Order introduced by the late Prime Minister, Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia, to put sand into the eyes of the people of the Zongos. It is noteworthy to mention here, that greater majority of people living in the zongos are descendants of the aliens who were affected by the Order. The NDC were smart because they knew the Aliens Compliance Order affected aliens living in Ghana then.
They capitalized on that to poison the descendants of their expelled grandparents, that when the NPP come to power, they will repeat what Busia did and the people of the zongo bought the idea.
Today, from the time of the former President Kufuor to current President Nana Akufo-Addo, no alien has ever been deported. In fact they have held and still hold sensitive positions in government, the Civil Service, military, police and almost all sectors thereby, proving the NDC wrong. The NDC has nothing to say again as far as the Aliens Compliance Order is concerned. John Mahama is very dangerous as far as the unity of Ghana is concerned. So this Bole/Bamboi bully, the One Nation, One People and One Destiny national slogan is rubbish. Yoo. We are watching!
By Eric Bawah