More Sacrifice Is Needed From Akufo-Addo To Unite NPP

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wpid-Nana-Akufo-Addo.jpgTwo things need to be checked for democracy to take root: how power is (a) achieved and (b) exercised.

How power is achieved must be held in check through competitive elections so that the party that wins power does so not as a matter of course. Democracy suffers if one political party is destined to win every election. It is the boding possibility that a party can lose the next elections that makes politicians more accountable to the electorate.

Then having won power, how the power is exercised must also be checked to minimise its abuse.

Strong political parties play a key role in ensuring that these two objectives are met. They control how power is achieved by challenging each other and offering alternatives so that the electorates have a choice. They control how power is used by scrutinising government policies and offering alternatives. Thus, strong political parties are indispensable for democracy and by extension, good governance.

It is on the basis of this that one must be worried about the current happenings in the camp of Ghana?s biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). With the economic conditions of the average Ghanaian worsening, one could look at the NPP for some hope; that, perhaps, they can take over in the next elections and show Ghanaians what they can do. Alas, what do we see?

The party is trying very hard NOT to win the next elections.

Writing in the then Ashanti Independent newspaper in October 1994, I. K. Gyasi observed:

?[O]ne sees nothing but an unseemly bickering and jockeying for leadership [in the NPP] right in the open, instead of behind closed doors. Everyone?s knife is out, not against the NDC but against one another. I have said it before, but let me repeat that one of the problems of the NPP? is a congenital inability to suppress big egos.

I think those words are true today as they were when he wrote them twenty years ago.? Everybody in the party thinks himself big and no one seems ready to sacrifice for the common good of the party.

Following the recent attack on the party Headquarters buy thugs believed to be sympathizers of the party, various statements have been issued from leading members of the party, calling for calm. Among them are former President Kufuor, the 2008 and 2012 presidential candidate of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo as well as Mr. Alan Kyerematen, who is believed to be the main challenger of Nana Akufo-Addo to lead the party in the 2016 elections.

Just yesterday, former flagbearer aspirant, Dr. Arthur-Kennedy, also issued a statement, condemning the recent attacks on the party hierarchy. He then alleges, without proof, that those behind the recent disturbances in the party ?are being organized, encouraged, inspired and motivated by or on behalf of the 2012 Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.? While conceding that Nana Akufo-Addo may not be able to control the actions of those who engage in such acts, Dr. Arthur-Kennedy wants the two times flagbearer of the party to ?forthrightly condemn violence and insults and dissociate himself from those who traffic in them.?

This statement was met with a swift response from the office of Nana Akufo-Addo. The response, signed by Oboshie Sai Coffie, alludes to the fact that Dr. Arthur-Kennedy received only one vote in the 2007 presidential primaries of the party and that it was Nana Akufo-Addo who brought Dr. Arthur-Kennedy ?out of political obscurity?. The statement concludes that the mercy of the Lord should touch the heart of Dr. Arthur Kennedy and ?channel his negative energy? into more useful things.

While I cannot imagine Nana Akufo-Addo being behind the recent attacks, a careful reading of Dr. Arthur-Kennedy?s statement shows that he himself is not convinced that Nana Akufo-Addo will do that. However, he believes that those doing that may be doing it ?on behalf of? Nana Akufo-Addo, hence his call on him to condemn those acts and disassociate himself from those who do that.

The reason I do not believe Nana Akufo-Addo will be behind such attacks is the fact that given that he is the one most likely to win the NPP primaries, he is the one who stands to lose most if the party is divided. So I struggle to understand how Nana Addo will do such a thing.

However, it is very plausible that his supporters, who believe (rightly or wrongly) the current party leadership is being unfair to him, may commit such acts ?on his behalf? although he may be unaware of such moves beforehand. The question that needs an honest answer is: of all the flagbearer aspirants, who are those who engaged in the attack on the party headquarters likely to support, given the recent happenings within the party? I leave the reader to judge for his or herself.

Now, the very reason why I think that it is absurd to link Nana Akufo-Addo directly to the disturbances (because he stands to lose if the party is divided) also makes me a bit disappointed with the statement that came from his office yesterday. Because he is the one who also stands to gain the most if the party is united, much more is expected from him in the quest for a united party. Dr. Arthur-Kennedy may wrongly attack Nana Akufo-Addo, but one expects the response from the office of Nana Akufo-Addo to be more reconciliatory. Nana Akufo-Addo should sacrifice for a united party.

King Solomon, according to the Bible, had to decide who the true mother of a child was because two women were claiming ?mothership?. The rest of the story can be found in 1 Kings 3: 24-27:

?Someone bring me a sword.? A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered,

?Cut the baby in half! That way each of you can have part of him.?

?Please don?t kill my son,? the baby?s mother screamed.

?Your Majesty, I love him very much, but give him to her. Just don?t kill him.?

The other woman shouted, ?Go ahead and cut him in half.

Then neither of us will have the baby.?

Solomon said, ?Don?t kill the baby.?

Then he pointed to the first woman, ?She is his real mother. Give the baby to her.?

In this Biblical story, we learn that the mother of the child, who stood to lose (most) if the child was halved (killed), was prepared to let go her child so that the child may live. However, the other woman, who had nothing to lose if the child was killed, insisted the child should be halved.

Whoever wins the NPP primaries stands to lose more if the party is divided. For those who are more likely to lose the primaries, they cannot be bothered (that much) if the party is divided. So this is the time for the real mother of the child (the likely winner) to stand up and sacrifice: stomach all the nonsense so that the child may live (the party can be united). The likely candidate to win the NPP primaries is, in my view, Nana Akufo-Addo. He should stomach all the nonsense thrown at him for the sake of a united party, which will be a credible alternative to the present government.

The greatest disservice the current crop of NPP leaders can to do to Ghana is to divide the party and then lose the 2016 elections. Ghana?s economy has been taken hostage and is begging the NPP to come and rescue her. Will the party respond by rising above individual egos?

By Kwabena Antwi-Boasiako

[email protected]

Dresden, Germany

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