“The clock is not only ticking but it is banging and we must act now”- Kamala Harris, US Vice President.
By now anyone who has been reading this column knows my trademark. I refuse to keep my opinion to myself. I say it as it is, even if Heaven will fall and Rome burns to ashes.
Those who are trying to cow me down on social media should remember no one fights me and survives. I have the skin of a crocodile. I don’t write for fickle-minded guys.
I write for my cherish and objective readers. I get ants in my pants whenever I see evil camped anywhere and I bluntly call that evil by its name. That’s me, your boisterous and irrepressible Earth Angel Gabriel. You dare not drink from my poisoned chalice because I can spit fire!!
Former President Kufuor had performed so well as the President of the Republic of Ghana for eight years.
He picked the country from ashes following eleven years of stultifying brutal and bloody military regime and eight years of quasi -military regime clothed in democratic dispensation and made Ghana a proud nation, coming out from the cold.
When his tenure of office was about to end, there was the need for the NPP to go to Congress to elect a Presidential Candidate for the party. That is where the folly started to unfold.
Because of the sterling performance of Kufuor, stalwarts in the NPP thought if even a monkey from the Buaben/Fiema Monkey Sanctuary was fielded as a Presidential Candidate, the party will scale through easily.
So, seventeen members of the party picked nomination forms to contest the NPP Presidential Primaries. That was the biggest mistake that the party did and they paid dearly for that.
They failed to understand that consensus building is part of democracy. Everybody wanted to replace Kufuor.
As the seventeen candidates traversed the country to campaign for the votes of the delegates, monies and other goodies were thrown about as if a branch of the World Bank was located in the NPP party office.
That was when Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng, a candidate got the nick-name, Alan Cash. Nana Akufo-Addo won the primaries but sadly, the harm had already been done.
In those days, only ten delegates from each constituency constituted the electoral college and so it was easy to pay monies and other goodies to them.
Greater majority of the NPP faithful became peeved because they did not get anything from the aspirants. They felt sidelined when the monies and goodies were distributed.
They continued to harbor pain in their hearts till Election Day where they became apathetic to the election. In fact, many NPP supporters did not go out there to vote.
They said if you are a delegate and you have received your monies, go there and vote for the party to come to power.
Nana Addo would have won straight away but because of apathy we had to go for a second round. The late Professor Atta Mills won by a mere forty eight thousand votes.
In fact, the NPP delivered victory to Mills on a silver platter.
When the seventeen candidates were crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country to campaign for votes, many of them had no message but to destroy the images of other contestants as they are doing today.
They threw mud at each other and so after the primaries many of them did not have the moral right to go out there to campaign. It was a matter of dog eat dog.
Monies that could have been used to buy pick-ups, motorbikes and other logistics for campaign were recklessly spent on the few delegates.
It seems to me history is about to repeat itself one more time if care is not taken. So far, ten candidates have picked forms to contest the flagbearership race.
Some of the contestants who are in the race know pretty well that they are nowhere near success but for one reason or the other they are in the race.
Some have axes to grind with the party hierarchy so they just want to muddy the waters and turn the apple cart upside down. Imagine some candidates telling delegates that the Nana-led administration is a failure.
And these are the same men who are pleading to delegates to give them the nod to lead the party. How stupid, infantile and irresponsible statement. Is the NPP serious as a political party seeking political power?
The leadership of the party at the national level must sit up and be proactive before serious harm is done to the party.
My cherish reader, permit me to school some of these candidates who have all too soon forgotten the experience of the party as far as Presidential Primaries are concerned.
During the 1998 NPP Presidential Primaries held at Sunyani in the then Brong Ahafo Region, about six stalwarts of the party, including former President Kufuor and current President Nana Akufo-Addo contested.
On the day of the election which was held at Christ the King Parish Hall at Sunyani, supporters of all the candidates conducted themselves in such a civil manner that, you never heard anyone insulting a candidate.
For example, whiles supporters of Nana Addo were shouting ‘change’, those who supported Mr. Kufuor were shouting ‘no change’.
As for Reverent Kodua (where is he now?), his few supporters could be heard singing religious songs to signify that when delegates voted for him, the God of Israel will deliver Ghana from the shackles of Rawlings (sic!).
It was joy all over the place. The focus was grabbing political power from the NDC. Nothing more, nothing less.
At the end of the day, Mr. Kufuor won and as delegates and supporters were leaving the venue, they sang one song together: “Kukurudu Ewoso woso”.
When the electioneering campaign started, all the candidates who contested the Primaries joined the campaign team. Mr. Kufuor won the election. When he was forming his cabinet, all the contestants, apart from Rev. Kodua were given ministerial portfolios.
Nana Akufo-Addo was for example appointed as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. He was later given the Foreign Minister portfolio. He proved his mettle so well that eventually he became the President of Ghana and still holding that enviable position.
So you see, tarnishing the image of your fellow contestant will come back to haunt you one day. Family members don’t wash their dirty linen in public.
President Akufo-Addo made a statement at the Kumasi Delegates Conference which was held at the Kumasi Heroes’ Park two years ago which is more relevant today. He said, ‘it is for the NPP to lose the 2024 elections’.
In order words, he wanted to tell the party that looking at the performance of the party in government, the party will win the 2024 election if members put their house in order. From the way some aspirants are talking, is that how to put a house in order?
We talk of ‘Breaking the 8’ as if it is a done deal. To break the eight, the party needs to work hard, avoid infighting, stay focused, propagate the good news of the Nana Addo-led administration, put shoulders to the wheels and above all, avoid complacency and sheer pomposity.
Yes indeed, it is for the NPP to lose the 2024 elections!!! I have pressed my mental delete button so that nobody can disturb me with any comments. Full Stop!
From Eric Bawah