All those who think the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will break up after the recent brouhaha at the party?s headquarter are chicken-hearted.??If it were in the olden days when men were called to arm themselves and go to war, they would not have been invited.??What is happening in the NPP is just a storm in a tea cup and in a matter of time it would be weathered.
Ghanaians do not look back like historians do.??In the run-up to the NDC Sunyani Delegates? Congress what did not happen???Mr Rawlings was the first to fire the salvo and took the then sitting President, late Professor Atta Mills, to the cleaners.??He told Ghanaians that the Mills administration was not performing well and that Ghanaians were suffering.??He said Mills had surrounded himself with greedy bastards, evil dwarfs and babies with sharp teeth.??Party gurus in the NDC did not spare the good old professor the bashing and name calling.??With derogatory remarks such as ?Enko yie?, ?Atta Go Slow?, ?Atta Nika Nika?, ?Atta no gas? etc, they teased the old man.
Then the wife of the founding father of the NDC, who also played an important role in the formation of the party, joined the fray.??When she made her intention to run for the flagbearership race of the NDC, hell broke loose.??Those were the days we heard of mushroom associations like FONKA, OLONKA, GAME, etc, all in support of either Mills or Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.??The political water was seriously muddied and heaven seemed to fall down.??In those days Madam Betty Mould Iddrisu, the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, told Ghanaians that no single person can say he or she was the sole founder of the NDC.??She said they were all founders of the party and that anyone who boasted that he was the only founder of the NDC was day-dreaming.??This was in direct reference to Rawlings who was then referred to as the sole founder of the NDC.
Then the day of reckoning came.??Residents of Sunyani, the peaceful and quiet Brong Ahafo regional capital,?saw what they had never seen.??Security men and women took over the town and made it look like a warzone.??For reasons best known to the NDC,?soldiers and policemen were drafted from Accra, Tamale and beyond to make sure the town was secure for the Delegates? Congress.??The organisers of the Delegates? Congress made sure Nana Konadu and Mr Rawlings were humiliated on that day and their plans worked to perfection.??After receiving a hero?s welcome outside the venue, just when Rawlings and Nana Konadu were about to enter the Coronation Park where the congress was taking place, Asiedu Nketia signalled that people should stand up for prayers.??As a result of this cunning plan, Rawlings and his wife were not received the way people normally did anytime Rawlings was ushered in during any meeting.??The man and his wife had no choice but to walk quietly to their seats and wait for what was next on the programme.
Anticipating a ?boom boomerang?, Asiedu Nketia and his co-conspirators made sure the microphone did not work properly when Rawlings was finally given the opportunity to speak. This diabolic act was obviously aimed at preventing the delegates from hearing what Rawlings had to tell them.???And so Mr Rawlings was heard shouting on top of his voice: ?Hello, can you hear me?????Hello?, ?Hello?, whilst striking the microphone with his bare knuckle. The most embarrassing situation was when Nana Konadu was given the chance to address the delegates as a candidate.??Ministers and party gurus who were sitting on the dais were heard calling her names which forced her to retaliate by saying she thought as ministers, they were honourable men and women.?On that day, Rawlings and his wife stormed out from the congress grounds before the closing prayers. On her return to Accra, Nana Konadu, the iron lady, started planning and in no time she conceived and delivered a new political party called the National Democratic Party (NDP).??That party has been duly registered and as sure as the sun will shine over the Sahara desert tomorrow, the NDP will contest the 2016 general elections.
I have decided to recount these events as a consolation to the supporters of the NPP that what is happening in the party today, in comparison with what happened to the NDC in 2012, is a kid-glove which will not hurt.??If the NDC, with all the insurmountable problems that rocked their camp prior to the 2012 elections, is in power today, even though through vote thievery, I do not see why the NPP cannot jump this low hurdle.??My conviction is that after the election of a flagbearer, all will be well.??I am sure Ghanaians in general are crying for a change, but that change will come at a cost like the one we are seeing in the NPP today.
The reason why I am not in the least disturbed is that what is happening is an ?Accra Disease?;?NPP supporters?living outside Accra are united and working hard to bring the party to power.??In some constituencies that yours sincerely visited, people have even started going from house to house, voluntarily campaigning for the NPP.??These people do not campaign, using the name of Nana or Alan.??To them the issue is NPP coming to power to assuage them from the harsh economic realities of our time.??Those macho men in Accra who always slug it out at the party?s headquarters have become a laughing stock to these people at the constituency level.??As they (the macho men) sit in Accra and flex their muscles, people have put their noses on the grindstone to make sure the NDC is booted out of power.
Mr Paul Afoko, the National Chairman and Mr Freddie Blay, the 1st?National Vice Chairman, have key roles to play to restore sanity to the party at trying moments like this.??Mr Afoko is the first northerner to become the National Chairman of the NPP.??His election at the Tamale Congress brought to an end the tag of an ?Akan party? which has been sewn and used to clothe the NPP over the years.??Even when the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama was chosen by Mr Kufuor as his running mate and subsequently served as the Vice President of Ghana in the eight years of Kufuor?s government, the NDC did not stop that nonsense.??They insisted that the vice presidency was a ceremonial one and that until the NPP elected a northerner as a flagbearer or National Chairman, they would never stop tagging the NPP as an ?Akan party?.??And so when Mr Afoko got the nod, some of us heaved a sigh of relief because the chapter of ?Akan Party? had finally been closed.??Mr Afoko is at the threshold of making history because from all indications the NPP will wrestle power from the NDC.??If that comes to pass, he will be the first northerner who happens to be the first chairman from the area to bring the NPP to power from opposition.??If Mr Afoko is able to achieve that feat, his name will be written in gold and people from the north will forever sing his praises. Mr Afoko, history is beckoning; so make hay while the sun shines.
Mr Freddie Blay, a lawyer, politician and businessman, has a lot to offer the NPP as the 1st?Vice Chairman.??He has certainly bridged the gap that existed in the early days of post independence Ghana between the UP and the CPP.??As former CPP MP, the man from Ellembele has come all the way to become the 1st?Vice Chairman of the NPP, thereby disabusing the minds of hawks in the CPP that the enmity between the CPP and UP is so cemented that nothing can bring them together.??That is why Mr Blay must work so hard to earn the respect of both the CPP and NPP.?They say one good turn deserves another; and so when Mr Blay, who the NPP supported to win the Ellembele seat on two occasions, decided to join the NPP, I was not surprised.
Two days after the Super Congress where Nana proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is the most popular candidate in the NPP flagbearership race, anyone who has the intention to contest the gentleman in the forthcoming Delegates? Congress should rethink.??I do agree that a political brain is an emotional brain and as such losers will be embittered, but the gospel truth is that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is unbeatable as far as the flagbearership race is concerned.??People should learn to hang the boots when their heels are bruised.
Have you ever puffed Don Lino Africa Cigar produced in the Dominican Republic with tobacco grown in Cameroon???Try one and see how smooth it is.??Here I go again, doing my own thing.
By Eric Bawah
