Wednesday,
May 20, 2015
Folks, I will stick my neck out again to
comment on happenings in the NPP, damn the personal attacks that its buffs will
unleash on me as usual. After all, what haven't I seen or felt before from them
anytime I take them on? Phew!!!
We have had enough from the NPP camp to
conclude that it is better at projecting its angelic face outside Ghana than it
does at home. Charity seems not to be beginning at home for it, given the
on-going head-butting and nasty incidents here and there to threaten its ranks
and once again portray its flagbearer, Akufo-Addo, as not a unifier.
While his party burns at home and face-saving
rhetorical manouevres are enacted by the main actors (whether those in the
Akyem faction or the Asante cabal---forget about the Dombo appendage, which is
nothing but an afterthought to massage the feelings of our compatriots of
Northern Ghana extraction who have been unwittingly exploited for political
leverage by the "Kabonga"), Akufo-Addo is on a grand tour of European
countries to create the mistaken impression that all is set for him to become
Ghana's President at the end of Election 2016.
The NPP National Chairman, Paul Afoko, has
already expressed optimism to put him in power while Akufo-Addo himself has
asked for unity to help him accomplish his childhood ambition of becoming Ghana's
President "at all costs", propelled by "Yen Akanfuo",
all-die-being-die!!
Yet, the still waters are running deep within
the party. No matter how much plastering is being done, the truth remains that
all is not well and the NPP's public posturing and persistent calumniating of
the Mahama-led administration won't necessarily translate into political
capital. That is why I consider the huge international fanfare surrounding
Akufo-Addo's showing as laughable.
Just as he did before the 2008 general
elections, he is out, projecting himself to the world to create the impression
that he is at the cusp of setting foot on the land of milk and honey. Until he
hastens slowly, he will be caught pants down again.
Now, to my main beef. The agenda being pursued
by Akufo-Addo on this tour of five European countries is really huge. As
reported, he has already met the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and is
billed to visit other countries ( The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy).
In Germany, we are told that he also met with
the CDU’s Volkmar Klein to share ideas at an event in Berlin organised by the
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the development foundation associated with the German
governing CDU party, a sister party of the NPP. (The CDU as "a sister
party" of the NPP? Interesting!!).
But that is not all. We are told that in The
Netherlands, he will pay a working visit to the Regional Education Centre in
Amsterdam, where he will see at first hand the operations of the Dutch
technical and vocational school system, and also address NPP townhall meetings.
In Belgium, he will deliver the commencement
address at the graduation ceremony of the prestigious Centre Européen de
Recherches Internationales et Stratégiques (CERIS) on “Ghana: Present
Challenges and Future prospects”.
In France, he will pay a site visit to KUHN
group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of specialised agricultural
machinery, meet Ghanaian students and executives of NPP, before departing to
his final destination of the tour, Italy, where he will take part in Parma,
from May 28 to May 31, in the NPP’s quadrennial International Conference, which
brings together all NPP overseas branches to deliberate on the future of the
Party. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomeP…/NewsArchive/artikel.php…)
A grand and tall agenda for Akufo-Addo, which
is enviable by all standards for an opposition party flagbearer seeking ways to
make himself relevant.
Truth be told, this tour is commendable,
especially if one reads deeper meaning into its public relations benefits and
political expediency (to hob-nob with the NPP followers not resident in Ghana
but who will do all they can to either be in Ghana at the time of the elections
or use their connections to influence voters at home to do their bidding).
Of course, ROPAAL hasn't been ratified for
Ghanaians resident outside the country to vote; so, why concentrate on Ghanaians
living in other countries and not those residing in Ghana with the power to
vote? I see a round-about kind of politicking going on here.
And the NPP has numerous international
branches all over the world, far more than any other political party in Ghana.
It has had these branches since its metamorphosis from the Danquah-Busia Club
to the NPP in 1992. And these branches make a lot of noise in the media to
create the impression that the NPP is formidable and the only party to
"save" Ghana. Much ado about nothing, if the outcome of Elections 2008
and 2012 is anything to go by. What will they do to change the dynamics at
Election 2016?
Building international networks for the party
is good but it won't put the party in power. The NPP remains unattractive to a
large extent because of what it is, built on elitism and ethnic or sectional
politics, which is why it can't have a huge national swathe. Let its buffs
prove me wrong here!!
For the flagbearer of an opposition party to
go to this length is eye-popping; but the reality is that such visits usually
don't translate into anything politically beneficially, especially if things
fall apart for the party at home and its centre cannot hold.
Akufo-Addo is known for making statements
touching on party unity only when outside the country (as he has done on this
visit) while doing nothing practically necessary to patch differences at home.
Why is he like that?
For the records, many explosive utterances
have been made by leading members of the NPP to damage the party's interests,
which he either openly supported (as was the case of Kennedy Agyapong and
Osafo-Marfo's ethnocentric inanities) or kept mum over to reinforce negative
impressions about him as a divider and not a unifier. Yet, he is quick to talk
about (party) unity whenever outside the country. Is he really serious?
When Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong were
under siege in the Upper East Region recently, Akufo-Addo was in Ghana but kept
mute. While his house burns at home, he remains nonchalant; but given the chance
to fly out of the country, he has found his tongue to comment on burning issues
in his own party. Why will he do so outside and not inside the country where
his voice could make the difference better? Is this man really serious?
In any case, I hope that he will see the need
to do more at home to grow his party than bluffing on foreign trips as if he is
already ensconced at the Presidency. Between the alleys of Mount Sinai and the
land of milk and honey is a long, tortuous distance that only the well-equipped
traveller can traverse. No Moses is ever destined to taste of that milk and
honey.
Building the party at home for it to appeal to
voters (and for it to be voted up) matters more than puffing oneself up to
attempt rubbing shoulders with those already up the pedestal of political pomp
and pageantry in other countries!! Surely, pride will precede the fall that
dooms ambitious politicians of Akufo-Addo's type. My take, and I have no
regrets for it.
I shall return…
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