Monday, May 5, 2014
Folks, the NPP’s Maxwell Kofi Jumah is well known for his goofs, gaffes,
and gibberish; but he hasn’t made me laugh my heart out as loudly as he has done
with his current deceitful cunning: “NPP targeting
2 million votes in Volta Region” (See: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=308252)
This kind of flea-blown utterance clearly confirms the desperation in the
NPP camp. Probably, such a self-serving claim is designed to feed National Chairman
Paul Afoko’s “New Plan for Power.”
Truth be told, there is nothing wrong about choosing targets to hit; what
is clearly wrong about such a choice, though, is the reality behind it.
Why the Volta Region, particularly, and not the other regions with a
larger voter population?
I want to tell these NPP people outright that aiming at winning 2 million
votes in the Volta Region will be the most challenging or arduous task to
undertake. They won’t get it, no matter what they do. There is a historical reality that informs
what goes on between them and the electorate in the Volta Region, which won’t
warrant expending so much energy and resources chasing the mirage that may be
enticing them.
More clearly too, the rationale behind Kofi Jumah’s claim is ridiculous.
So also is his over-simplification of the matter. I will explain it all soon.
But first, let’s consider some facts concerning the previous elections (in the
Volta and Ashanti Regions) to suggest that if anything at all, the NPP’s
fortunes have shrunk, which calls for a sober reflection and re-strategizing by
them. There is nothing to prove to me that they have learnt the lessons taught
them by previous electoral defeats.
·
Results
of 2012 Presidential elections in the Volta Region:
Akufo-Addo polled 12.93%; Mahama
had 85.47%. As for the Parliamentary one, forget it because the NPP lost
miserably.
·
Results
of 2012 Presidential elections in the Ashanti Region
Akufo-Addo: 70.86%; Mahama: 28.35%
For the Parliamentary votes, the
NDC performed creditably well, winning 4 seats to the chagrin of the NPP
followers.
·
Overall
results: Mahama polled 50.70% as against Akufo-Addo’s 47.74% (which he
disputed, went to the Supreme Court, only to be told the bitter truth that he
wasn’t the choice of the electorate; and he sped off to London to re-strategize
for Election 2016.)
FLASHBACK:
In the 2008 Presidential
elections, Akufo-Addo polled 49.13% (4,159,439)
as against ex-President Mills’ 47.92% (4,056,634), according to
information available at the Electoral Commission’s Web site (http://www.ec.gov.gh/page.php?page=395§ion=51&typ=1)
In the run-off,
the table turned with ex-President Mills polling 50.23% (4,521,032 votes) and
Akufo-Addo getting 49.99% (4,480,446 votes) to secure victory, thanks to the Tain constituency, especially.
There
is much concerning popular votes to explain why and how the NPP lost. An
analysis of the pattern of voting for 2008 and 2012 reveals a progressively
significant rise in the quantum of votes given the NDC’s Presidential candidate,
especially, which accounted for the overall accomplishments in the polls.
Of
course, the NPP people may also point to some rise in the number of votes for
their cause in some constituencies in the Volta Region to justify their
optimism of a brighter electoral picture, which may be cited as enough to
support Kofi Jumah's utterance. They will, however, be over-emphasizing a mere
speck with which to deceive themselves. Such a perception is negligible.
NOW
AND THE FUTURE
So, Kofi
Jumah must revise his notes to know why the supposed backing given President
Mahama by Asanteman (as reported by the Enquirer newspaper) and President
Mahama’s claim that the NDC would work toward raising its tally of votes in
Ashanti Region to one million at Election 2016 cannot be deflected with the
lame declaration of intent that he has made.
True,
voters in the Volta Region (or Ghanaians, generally) are unhappy that the
government isn’t solving problems as expeditiously as they wish, but it doesn’t
mean that they will readily abandon it for the NPP. I have said it several
times already that more factors influence electoral decisions than these NPP
people are making us believe.
Those
in the Volta Region are not known historically as proponents of the
Danquah-Busia ideology or anything coming from there. They are not well
disposed toward putting into power a political party bearing that Danquah-Busia
flag. I needn’t explain this historical imperative because the records say it
all. They won’t all of a sudden troop to the Danquah-Busia camp.
It
is not for any reason that the Volta Region has all these years remained as the
NDC’s “World Bank”. The same applies to the Ashanti Region (the birthplace of
the NPP). But the voting pattern in the Ashanti Region shows that the NDC is
steadily making an inroad there, which might be the basis for President Mahama’s
optimism.
There
is no basis for Kofi Jumah’s optimism; and he will continue to throw dust into
the eyes of those holding the purse strings and financing the NPP if he makes
such assertions. There is a lot more for the NPP to do to make the kind of
inroad that will be deemed as threatening to the NDC’s interests in the Volta
Region.
A
major factor will be the kind of candidate chosen to lead the party to Election
2016. If the lot falls on Akufo-Addo again, the NPP will dance again to its own
dirge in that part of the country. Don’t ask me why.
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue
the conversation.
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