Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with heavy heart that I am writing to you today. I am hunched with emotion and my very soul is disturbed. Literally, you will be the Kingmakers when as delegates you will go to congress to elect a Flagbearer for the 2024 Presidential Election.
Whether the party can Break The Eight or not depends mostly on you. In other words, you can make or unmake the success of the party because you are going to choose the Warlord for the battle royal.
As you enter the polling booth on 4th November to vote, you should bear in mind what former President Kufuor told the party sometime ago. Hear him: “If your party is in power and you are even a messenger, you are more important than a General Secretary in an opposition party”. The Akans say woe betides he who has no elder. (Wo nni panin a due).What Mr. Kufuor said is something NPP delegates should seriously take into consideration particularly at times like this when the party is facing challenges within and the economy of the world, including Ghana is on a meltdown mode.
We have some delegates who are having their first experience as delegates who are going to vote to elect a flagbearer for the party. Some have the experience and know the tricks of aspirants who can sway them with money to the detriment of the success of the party at the General Election. These groups of delegates should by now know better.
This particular Delegates Congress is different and crucial and as such what happened previously should be thrown to the dustbin of history. Times have changed. ‘The Eight’ must be broken and as Dr. Bawumia said, “it is possible.”
What is most disturbing is that, the rumour mill is grinding louder and louder that the opposition NDC has an evil plan to pay “losing bonus” to delegates to vote against one particular aspirant who to them, is a torn in their flesh. Much as they try to besmear this particular aspirant with dirt, they fail. So the next option is to bribe some delegates to vote against the guy so that they will have an easy pass into the corridors of political power.
During the 2020 electioneering campaign, the NDC adopted a trick which worked to perfection and so they have the funny feeling that supporters of the NPP become gullible if you dangle few Cedis before their faces and lie between your teeth.
They set up a team led by Kwaku Boahen who was then their Deputy National Organizer. Kwaku Boahen and his team, made up of fine ladies and gentlemen who you cannot tag as untruthful and naked liars to go around Galamsey operation areas.
Their main aim was to poison the minds of these galamsey poor guys. The Galamseyers were tricked that if they voted for the NDC, the party, unlike the NPP will open the floodgates for them to operate without any harassment from soldiers.
They said they will let the Galamseyers to form groups so that the government will buy them excavators to operate at Hire Purchase terms. How juicy the promise was to these guys who are hired labourers! A few Cedis were distributed to them amidst the NDC song: “Mahama, Onapo, Onapo”.
They particularly targeted the strongholds of NPP constituencies where Galamsey is rampant. As a result, almost all the MPs in these areas lost their seats.
The trick took the NPP unawares so by the time the NPP went to dilute the poison; the harm had already been done. The Galamseyers, most of who were unschooled urchins had swallowed what Kwaku Boahen and his shameless, diabolical team told them, hook, line and sinker. No wonder they say politics is a dirty game.
So my dear delegates, do you see why you should be on the lookout?. The question is: Do you want to be a useful messenger in your party in power or a useless General Secretary in your party in opposition? DC Kwame Kwakye, the illiterate District Commissioner of Eastern Region when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was in power had this question to ask: “Do you want Forwardbility or backwardbility? And he added, “The road is your front” You know what the NDC did when they held the reins of power.
All the social intervention programmes introduced by the Gentle Giant were thrown to the dogs and Dumsor, mismanagement and naked corruption took over for four good years under this same Mahama who wants to come back.
They are always quick to tag the NPP in government as corrupt but when they came to power no NPP functionary went to jail. The NPP also accused the NDC in power as being corrupt and so when Mr. Kufuor held the reins of power he arranged some of them to court. At the end of the day about seven of them had time in jail when competent courts of the land found them guilty of being corrupt.
Meanwhile, Rawlings had admonished Mr. Kufuor to expand the Nsawam Maximum Prison because so many of his functionaries would be jailed. When the NDC took over power after Kufuor, many functionaries of the Kufuor regime were taken to court for corruption but none of them went to jail. They were all acquitted and discharged. You now see the difference between the two political parties when it comes to corruption perception? Today, about four persons who served under the Mills/Mahama regime, including Abuga Pele are languishing in jail.
So you see, my dear delegate, we are dealing with a very dangerous tiger. You dare not ride on its back because you will end up in its mouth. What is haunting me to the marrow is that if Ghanaians and the NPP for that matter do the mistake and the NDC comes back to power, the free SHS which is very dear to the hearts of Ghanaians will be cancelled. They kicked against it when the idea was mooted by Nana Akufo-Addo and they will never hesitate to throw it overboard.
Did you hear Mr. Mahama the other day speaking on free SHS? He said when he comes back to power, private schools will also enjoy free SHS (sic!!!) somebody who said free SHS will not be feasible and that Nana Addo was using the idea to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians is now telling us he will add private schools to the scheme.
Mahama? Fear him! When he says look up, you should better look down else you will be bitten by a snake. The man tasted political power and saw how sweet it was and so he wants it again by hook or crook. Excuse me while I go to my farm to contribute my quota in nation building.
By Eric Bawah