No matter what anybody says or thinks, Professor John Evans Atta Mills has not rushed home from Canada just for a nice holiday. It is obvious that his return was triggered by panic amongst his supporters following Dr. Kwesi Botchwey’s declaration of intent to join the contest for the presidential candidature of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Clearly, Professor Mills is in fore the most difficult battle of his political carrier. His opponent is a former law lecturer of the University of Ghana like him. They both claim to be adherents of the Nkrumah political tradition and they come from the same region.
Both Professor Mills and Kwesi Botchwey have several questions to answer when it comes to party loyalty. Only two years ago, Dr. Botchwey told a radio interview that he has never been a member of the NDC and will never be. He said if he had to join any political party, it would either be the Convention People’s Party (CPP) or the National Reform Party (NRP).
Professor Mills on the other hand became openly identified with the NDC only in 1996 when he was adopted as the vice-presidential candidate of the party. Throughout his association with the NDC, Professor Mills has not missed an opportunity to point to his CPP background and to hoist his Nkrumaist credentials.
The main problem with Professor Mills’ bid for the 2004 presidential candidature is that he has not been very active in the party since he lost the presidential election in December 2000. Many party faithfuls expected him to take issues with the NPP administration and to demonstrate that the NDC would do better if given another chance.
Unfortunately, according to “The Insight”, Prof. Mills has true to nature adopted an approach, which emphasizes peaceful co-existence rather than confrontation. His departure to Canada has also not been very helpful, the paper suggested, adding, he has not been around when the most controversial issues have flared up. Some NDC hardliners also see Prof. Mills as just an extension of the Rawlingses and do not think that he can hold his own in the turbulence of Ghanaian politics.
Both inside and outside the party, there is a growing perception that Professor Mills may not be financially well endowed. The salient point of the Mills campaign are that everybody accepts that he is not a regular politician who will lie and cheat in order to hold onto power.
He is affable and easy to approach. When it comes to policy options, there is not much to choose between the law professor, fellow combatant, Dr. Botchwey and president Kufuor. They are all star pupils of the IMF/World Bank school.
All of them will pursue policies, which will lead to the mass retrenchment of labour, the massive devaluation of the cedi and the liberalization of internal and external trade.
