2020 Presidential Election: Nana Addo is the man to beat

A visually impaired man, who only listens to radio, must be thinking the 2020 presidential election is only three months away; instead it is three long years before the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The script for the New Patriotic Party is ready and the stage is set for the biggest performance, in the history of the party in 2020.

When former president, John Agyekum Kufuor, introduced on a larger scale, social intervention policies, started by the Jerry John Rawlings administration, it was done in the second term of his presidency. For the first time in the fourth republic, bold and audacious programmes are being rolled out in the first term of an administration.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), can tickle itself and laugh, but 2020, will be the most difficult presidential election the party is yet to contest.

The NDC in the last eight years, introduced policies on a piece meal basis, Ghanaians who are the eventual beneficiaries of those policies and programmes to a large extent, were not aware of what is being done for them.

They were kept in the dark, for whatever reasons one cannot fathom. Now that the NPP, has taken the bull by the horn, and has announced boldly, what it intends doing and actually doing some, we are now being told that, it was started by the NDC.

Communication and timing are two important ingredients in every dispensation. As things stand now, the first to go town and announce his or her intention, will carry the day, winning the argument in the long run.

Being in government, comes with so many advantages, institutions of state and resources of the state are at your disposal, so failure to deploy all you have to your advantage is never an excuse, to later ask people to sympathize or empathize with you.

The NDC, did a lot, infrastructure was developed at a rate only witnessed under the first republic, led by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, but like Dr. Nkrumah that was not alone to appease Ghanaians, who only think of here and now, when visionary leaders are thinking of tomorrow.

Last week, the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, launched the free Senior High School (SHS) policy. This is a policy he has been making since 2008, when he first attempted the presidency. He has kept with Ghanaians and nine months into his presidency, the programme has come alive, with first year students benefiting.

In 2009, when the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, took over from President John Agyekum Kufuor, the Single Spine Salary policy, which has been signed into law, was rolled out by the Mills administration. Even though the policy was started by President Kufuor, who did not get the opportunity to implement it, passed it on to a new administration.

Workers brought pressure to bear on the young administration to implement it, the results of which showed that almost 80 percent of our revenue goes into paying salaries and emolument.

The NDC in 2012 reaped the benefit of the SSS pay policy and it is only fair to imagine that the NPP will also benefit electorally in their social intervention programmes.

A little over 400,000 students are the first beneficiaries of the free SHS policy, although parents still have some financial burden to bear, this policy will alleviate and take off some pressure that hitherto parents go through around this time of the year.

It is becoming clear by the day that, every policy or programme the government rolls out; it is intended to hoodwink Ghanaians into rewarding them in 2020.

Last Friday, the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was the first recipient of the new national ID card.

It is a multi-purpose ID, which over time, will even serve as the voters ID card. It is my hope that, this card will not be used as a tool to not only disenfranchise some people, but as a means to declare some people non-Ghanaians.

We are all aware of the campaign the New Patriotic Party, led by the vice-president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia waged in the run up to the 2016 elections. Not that it was the first time a campaign to declare some people ineligible to vote, but this time it was than on a much larger scale, targeting still, the people of the Volta region.

The National ID card must be used positively to affect every citizen of the country, not as is being intended.

The government should not also use this to smuggle the Representation of the People Amendment Law (ROPAL).

ROPAL is the law that allows Ghanaians living abroad (GLAs) to vote abroad in Ghana’s parliamentary and presidential elections.

Ghanaians living abroad are Ghanaians, but it will unfair for them to decide for us, who or which political party, should govern us, but if we think, it is about time it is introduced, they must be a national consensus of all political parties and relevant stakeholders. We should not live it with the NPP to toy with, as they wanted to do in 2008.

The government has indicated it is going to re-introduce the teachers and nurses trainee allowance, which was scrapped under the erstwhile NDC government. This is another further in the cup of the government. It is one they are going to sell to the students and prospective students. The message will be simple, vote NDC and they will scrap it.

There are many policies the government is planning to roll out. The NDC, has a tall order come 2020.

The battle will not be easy, if the NDC, hopes of winning 2020. The party must stop the bickering, envy, backbiting, pettiness and get to work. The rebuilding and healing process must commence in earnest. The founder of the party too, must stop throwing sand in the already sandy gari, the party has. It is not good for the party and certainly not good for himself.

Whatever happened in the past, must be left in the past, cool heads need to prevail if the party hopes to make any good showing in 2020.

Sure, in such a large house as the NDC, views should differ, but then all, both dissenting and consenting views, are channeled towards bringing out the best from the party.