Where Are You,Tarzan?

The United Ghana Movement (UGM) was one of the few political parties whose manifesto for the 2000 presidential election was very much related to the social, economic and political circumstances in the country and despite its abysmal performance in the polls, it endeared itself to Ghanaians, especially the intellectual class.

Its policies on energy, education, infrastructural development, the emphasis on making the human factor its main driving force of the country?s economic development and social improvement as contained in the party?s catechism was worth reading and assimilating.

The UGM leader,Dr Charles Yves Wereko Brobby,was virtually a human encyclopaedia expounding in-depth knowledge in so many subjects that it became a delight to hear him speak at rallies organised by the party.His literature on social and economic subjects was widely sought for by the public especially, the student population who used such information for their research work.

Even journalists learnt a lot from the articulation of ?Tarzan? which ranged from agriculture to providing for the well being of the girl-child.Since January 2001, the booming sound of Dr Brobby, which was heard on the airwaves and at rallies had fallen silent and the Ghanaian public is the loser.The man is no longer imparting his rich store of knowledge to the younger generation to enable them become productive and contribute immensely towards the future development of the country..

Contrary to the expectations of the supporters of the party and its sympathisers across the country who were strongly convinced that the UGM had come to stay and to groom itself to become a potent political force in the country, the leadership for reasons best known to itself, has remained dormant since the last elections.

The UGM leadership pledged its total and unflinching support for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the presidential run-off in the 2000 election after which its leader, Dr Wereko Brobby, was made the Energy Policy Adviser of the new Kufuor administration and then the Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority.

It beats my intelligence why the leadership of the UGM had kept its supporters in suspense and had not informed them on developments in the party as if they do not matter or simply exist.

The fact is, the inactivity on the front of the UGM has had manifold and varied consequences which could easily lead to its total demise.. In the first place, the mass of its members will defect to other political parties since its leadership, from the constituency to the national level, have become moribund. The last time that the writer visited the national head office of the party near the DHL office , the place was completely deserted .

In addition, its offices in the regions and the districts cannot be maintained which imply that landlords would rent such offices to other organisations or political parties. The national leadership has also treaded a dangerous path in that the good people of Ghana will not take them for real if they resurface in the near future to seek the mandate of the electorate to occupy positions of trust and responsibility in the country.

The UGM was born out of the frustrations of the inability of the then opposition party to clinch unity to oust the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from power in the 1996 elections. The question is, now that the NDC is no longer in power, does the UGM find it necessary to operate as a functional political party to better the lot of the people ?

Or has the UGM leaders recognised that the mass of its policies had been fulfilled by the Kufuor administration and for that matter it will be an exercise in futility to continue to articulate its views to the electorate to be considered and voted into power in future elections? Again, is the leader preparing to stun Ghanaians that the party is anticipating joining one of the political parties to contest the 2004 general elections or what? Time will tell.