I belong to the school of thought which says we should give people a long rope to hang themselves. I wonder what those who have been chastising Dr. Bawumia for delaying in the selection of his running mate will feel now. The Akans say when a woman keeps long in the bathroom; she is washing herself very well.
From the very day Dr. Bawumia was elected as the flagbearer of the NPP, there was no doubt that he would have to choose his running mate from the Ashanti Region, the heart beat of the New Patriotic Party. The tradition of the NPP is Busia\Danquah\Dombo Dynasty, so when Bawumia was elected as the flagbearer of the Party we knew the dream of the Dombo side to be honoured had come.
Dr. Bawumia could not choose his running mate from the north because it would have spelt doom for the party so when he chose Hon. Matthew Prempeh as his running mate, everybody was happy. It was a dream come true.
In 2020, Mr. Mahama, the presidential candidate of the NDC, ordered his hooligans to hit the streets to demonstrate and cause havoc because according to him, having won majority of parliamentary seats from many regions, it stood to reason that he too had won the presidential election. How childish.
He acted like a child whose balloon had busted. You see such a child crying as if heaven is about to fall. The truth is that the votes Nana Akufo-Addo garnered from the Ashanti Region alone cancelled all the gains of Mr. Mahama from the other regions. That was the more reason why Mr. Asiedu Nketia could not present the results the NDC collated to the Supreme Court to peruse when he mounted the witness box.
Anyway, any idiot can mount the witness box at the Supreme Court (apology to Mr. Asiedu Nketia). And when Mr. Mettle Nunoo, an experienced politician who represented the NDC at the Strong Room, saw that Mr. Mahama had lost the election, he quickly rushed to the office of the EC to drink tea without biscuits (sic!). He knew the die was cast so there was no need for him to waste his time at the Strong Room.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Bawumia might have consulted extensively before choosing NAPO. The NEC which also accepted NAPO knew why they did so. I was surprised when some MPs from the Ashanti region like Andy Appiah Kubi, a person I have never met before but really like him kicked against the choice. Well, everybody has his or her own reason for doing things but at a crucial time like this I was expecting these gentlemen to hold their fire for another day.
As for members of the NDC who cried wolf when NAPO was chosen, I did not see any reason in their stance. If for example Kotoko and Hearts of Oak have a crucial match and Kotoko supporters say they do not want the goalkeeper Hearts decided to field, what do you my dear reader is behind such a move by Kotoko supporters?
It stands to reason that Kotoko supporters fear the goalkeeper chosen by Hearts. Either than that, what was their problem for kicking against the choice of the goalkeeper of Hearts? If the goalkeeper chosen by Hearts is not good, Kotoko should rather thank God for small mercies rather than crying over the choice of Hearts.
When it comes to political chess game, Mr. John Mahama is always found wanting. During the 2020 electioneering campaign, he went to the north and told the people there that they should vote for him because he is a northerner like them and that Nana Addo is an Akyem and not part of them. So many people kicked against him but I held my cards on my chest because I knew the right time will come for me to have my say. After all, who am I Angel Gabriel for?
Today Dr. Bawumia, a northerner is the flagbearer of the NPP, and John Mahama who is also a northerner and the flagbearer of the NDC are all contesting. What will Mahama say again? Is he going to say Dr. Bawumia is not a genuine northerner?
The advantage Dr. Bawumia has over Mr. Mahama in the northern regions is that the Mamprusis, Dagombas, Nanumbas and the Mossis who are predominant in the north are all from one grandfather. To those of you who are not from the north, you may not know. If you touch a Dagomba man, you have touched a Nanumba, a Mossi or a Mamprusi man. The Gonjas stand alone and have no relation whatsoever with the four tribes mentioned.
So when Mr. Mahama went to the north to make that unfortunate statement he did not know that he was treading on a slippery ground and that at the appropriate time, nemesis will catch up with him. That is why the sages say when you throw a ball against the wall, it comes back to you.
When Mr. Mahama chose Prof. Jane Naana Agyemang as his running mate one more time, I did the sign of the cross. He did not even look at the fine brains in the Volta Region to choose a running mate because he knew whether he chooses one from their World Bank or not, they will vote for the party. He also might think with the death of JJ Rawlings, the founder of the NDC, the people of the Volta Region do not matter anymore because he might think Rawlings or no Rawlings, the people from the Volta Region are committed to the NDC.
He might harbour the funny idea that a new NDC has come so to hell with the Voltarians. After all, did the current Chairman of the NDC, Asiedu Nketia, tell Ghanaians that the dog (Rawlings) has been chained so anyone can enter the house? He doesn’t know that the human mind is dynamic. Just look at how cordially Dr. Bawumia was received when he visited that region recently. I believe the NDC can hear the clock ticking.
The Asante Kingdom stretches as far as the Bono, Ahafo, Bono East and parts of Volta Region. In fact, it is the only kingdom with more than twenty paramount stools and still counting. NAPO, a royal from Asante will be welcomed by all these people, and so he is bringing on board a whole load which will go a long way to complement Dr. Bawumia’s advantage in the north.
NDC communicators have no moral right to call me “tribalistic inward looking” like they tagged the late Victor Owusu, the flagbeaerer of the Popular Front Party, who said the people of the Volta Region were “tribalistic inward looking”. They started it by telling anyone who cared to listen that the NPP is an Akan Party and as such they do not care a hoot about other tribes.
That statement went straight into the subconscious minds of the Zongo people and northerners in general who continued to vote massively for the NDC until Mr. Kufuor chose Alhaji Aliu Mahama and President Akufo-Addo topped it up by choosing Dr. Bawumia as his running mate. You see how the law of Kama works? What goes around comes around.
But on a more serious note, how will the battleground look like in the run-up to the 2024 General Election? I shudder to broach this issue. Full Stop.
Eric Bawah