2,771 ‘Taka, Tika and Gangare Greedy Bastards’ Endorse the Greediest Bastard
“Agya reba o, Agya reba oo, Agya anya abeduru” to wit - the die is cast. It was a bright Saturday afternoon in the capital city of Brong-Ahafo Region – Sunyani to be precise where the referee, the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Kwadwo Sarfo Katanka signalled for the commencement of the titanic GAME between FONKAR and SADAM. Before the whistle was blown, the Coronation Park had been filled to capacity by both GARI & GAME spectators who did not see eye to eye with each other yet managed to electrify the atmosphere with their Akataboneso flags. Although the political friendly match lived up to expectation, one cannot deny the number of unprofessional tactics employed by the two mediocre teams to carry the day. When the referee brought proceedings to an end, the GAME ended in favour of John Mills due to the adequate preparation he made towards the contest. Looking at the score line – 2771 votes to 90 votes, many political commentators had argued that Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings - the captain of the FONKAR/OLONKAR team had been humiliated, but I beg to differ from this fact or opinion in the sense that, the GAME was played under protest and that the final score line will only stand after the protest had been looked into and accepted by the appropriate body – the Ghanaian electorate in 2012.
To say that Nana Konadu is a woman of valour would be a very gross understatement. This is because Nana Konadu has indeed given a good run for Mills’ money. Since she declared her candidature to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2012 polls barely three months ago, several interesting things have been witnessed in the NDC in particular and the country as a whole. For instance, the congress which was slated for next year was brought forward by the NDC party leadership, GHC90 million oil money was alleged to have been splashed by the government to woo potential delegates, verbal abuses were heaped on the former first couple – the Rawlingses, the sitting president was alleged to be a homosexual by FONKAR, 1,500 security personnel were deployed to provide security, 1,800 Azorka boys moved from Tamale to Sunyani to complement the efforts of the police, President Mills was forced to cut and commission projects many of which were started by the previous administration, Sunyani Municipality which hitherto had been in total darkness saw a massive improvement in infrastructure delivery – street lights, water and roads. Besides, the Coronation Park – the battle field saw the installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) to monitor potential troublemakers and regrettably two senior secondary schools were closed down to pave way for the congress – an action that vindicates the Mills-Mahama administration as anti-education.
Although Nana Konadu’s intention to contest against a sitting president was clear and unambiguous, it was pity to see Mills’ greedy bastards view the former first lady’s motive as divisive and malicious. But that has been the attitude of the NDC towards women as the party boats of only four (4) women in parliament as against fourteen (14) by the NPP. Besides, John Mills was able to give 11% appointment to women after promising 40% to them in his cabinet and other public organisations. As a visionary politician, Nana Konadu foresaw how the NDC was heading for an electoral defeat in the 2012 polls and found it difficult to shirk her responsibility of saving the NDC. She is among the many Ghanaians who had seen that John Mills as a non-performer in spite of the oil money and other resources. The general apathy and despondency in the NDC had reached a crescendo and Nana Konadu had no option than to respond to the call by the rank and file of the NDC foot soldiers.
Unfortunately, Nana Konadu has lost the bid to lead the NDC, but there is no gainsaying that she really made a mark in the contest, looking at the short period she used for her campaign. In addition, President Mills took advantage of incumbency, siphoned oil money for his campaign by intentionally destroying the meter to measure the flow of Ghana’s new found oil. The people of Ghana take consolation of the fact that based on the results of the NDC primaries, at least 90 out of the 30000 delegates representing 3.1% are not satisfied with the performance of John Mills. Therefore, if the followers of Mills believe that the NDC has chalked a success at the recent congress, then they might be ignorant about the history of this great nation of ours, especially when one takes the conduct of presidential primaries of the two leading political parties into consideration.
As far back as 1996, the then sitting president – J.J. Rawlings was maintained as the leader of the NDC to contest the 1996 polls with Mr. John Agyekum of the NPP as the main challenger. Rawlings secured the position by popular acclamation representing 100% and not the 96.9% being bragged by Mills’ cohorts. Similar, the excellent performance of Ghana’s most celebrated President – His Excellency, J.A. Kufuor compelled his party delegates to overwhelmingly endorse him as the NPP’s candidate for the 2004 general elections. This could be translated as 100% and not 96.% secured by Mills as a sitting president. Therefore come 2012, the Ghanaian electorate will be asking the NDC to come out clearly to give answers as to why a sitting president who claims to be performing so well should be challenged by a leading member of his party. The childish explanation given that the NDC is a democratic party would never be entertained at all by the Ghanaian voter because the NPP was severely punished in 2008 when a similar explanation was given at a time when 17 leading members of the party contested for the party’s flag-bearership slot. I hope the block-making General Secretary of the NDC – Johnson Asiedu Nketia is alive to pass a similar comment to the endorsement of the ‘Yutong Bus’ driver by the team B players.
For me, the endorsement of Mills by the bootlickers and the entire mediocre team could simply be described as an endorsement of mediocrity, politics of insults, massive corruption, lies, strike actions, economic hardships, more external debts, insecurity and political violence in our body politics. And I don’t think Ghanaians are prepared to go through another four-year term of Mills-Mahama’ “Bitter Ghana”. I trust the intelligence of the Ghanaian voter to do justice to the NDC in 2012. No matter how long and beautiful the Takas, Tikas and Gangares will come together and sing their songs, the Ghanaian voter will treat those songs as noises and not music and therefore no presents or food will be thrown to these ‘greedy’ birds as the vice president – John Mahama wants us to believe. Atta ‘Cash’ Mills can bribe and coerce the MDCs/DCEs and all the 3,000 delegates to vote for him but it will be difficult for him to do same for over 10 million voters in 2012. May be Mills’ sympathizers were not clever enough to read meanings to what their party founder said after the congress, else they would have quickly stood beside the sea to extinguish any potential fire in their beards. The NDC as I see; is virtually without a foundation and thus its survival is very bleak to say the least. It simply lacks the capacity to stand the test of time. “Bolga no de3, mob3ko na Tanga no ne as3m”. The allegations of corruption raised by the Konadu team cannot be swept under the carpet and at the appropriate time the NDC’s political opponents will use this documentary evidence against them.
In conclusion, I will state that Nana Konadu has my vote as the politician of the year for she has proven beyond all reasonable doubts that she is a woman of courage. She is a warrior and cannot run away from the battlefield. Some have ridiculed Nana Konadu for her failure to secure the flag-bearership slot whilst forgotten completely that defeat in electoral contest is not a novelty. How many times has President Mills been defeated in even presidential polls in this country? I will therefore urge Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings not to lose hope but to go independent in the 2012 polls if she really wants to make history by becoming the first woman president of the Republic of Ghana. I salute her for being BOLD to expose the rot in the Mills-Mahama administration, a fact which can never be glossed over by all patriotic Ghanaians.
God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!
Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Hull. UK.
You can visit the author’s official blog on (www.katakyie.com)
katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk 07944309859
“Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success”
