Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Our initial reaction to the poor performance of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the polls last Saturday was that of outright condemnation of the leadership of the party.
We initially decided to join the chorus of the blame game and to pass the buck to those in charge of the affairs of the big Elephant Family. Some of our compatriots support the claim that the Akufo-Addo government did not give a listening ear to the sufferings of the people.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by John Mahama, capitalised on the economic difficulties to incite the people against Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
At a certain stage in the campaign, common sense departed most of the people to the extent they became emotional about our challenges regardless of the global challenges. Some of these people, especially in the strongholds of the NDC, compared Ghana’s circumstances to some of the poor economies and war-ravaged countries in the West African sub-region.
The NDC chorus of economic hardships gained support in the media circles and civil society groups who were loud about claims that President Akufo-Addo had created a cabal of family and friends to “create, loot and share.” And while Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia had succeeded to make the electioneering issues based, the opposition elements capitalised on the challenges facing the people without prescribing the solutions to the problems.
The NDC succeeded in raising expectations during the run-up to the polls, and gained electoral advantage over the visionary leaders of the NPP who accepted that their woes were as a result of the failure of President Akufo-Addo to deliver.
Thus on election day, some members of the NPP decided to vote with their feet by simply refusing to vote or demand money as a condition to vote.
The outcome is what we saw on Saturday when the NPP members handed over power to the NDC. On our streets, in the communities, markets and pubs, the NDC brainwashed the people to believe that the return of John Mahama to Jubilee House will bring an end to their daily toils.
We do not want to be prophets of doom, but we can bet our last pesewa on the fact that soon the chicken will come home to roost and the people will begin to groan out of unfulfilled expectations from John Mahama’s promises.
It is in this vein that we want to interrogate the appeal from Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to his party people to avoid the blame game but to unite in preparations for the future. He intimated that the NDC did not win the elections, but it was rather the NPP members who handed over power to the opposition party. Mahamudu Bawumia therefore called on the people to regroup quickly by avoiding name calling and an attempt to lay the blame at the doorsteps of anybody.
While the blame game is necessary for us to understand what went wrong, we should rather spend time on how to build from what we call “the ashes of war.”
What the NPP has experienced over the last few days is the near annihilation of the party at the polls, and it was like the party was at war, and that explains why all the party leaders must rally Mahamudu Bawumia for the task ahead.
The NPP lost the battle last Saturday but not the war to continue to find solutions to the country’s economic challenges to make Ghana part of the comity of nations implementing the policies underpinning the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
We therefore call for concerted action to put the NPP again on the winning spree before the next elections in 2028.