Alan’s resignation and the wind of change

Alan John Kojo Kyerematen has officially announced his ‘honorable’ resignation from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to contest for the President of the Republic of Ghana as an Independent Presidential candidate in the upcoming 2024 general elections. In all probability, the news is not surprising due to the chain of events that potentially informed the decision, bringing to light the NPP’s eccentric democratic behavior, leadership follies, and governance ineptitude.

Since the inception of power by the NPP in 2017, there has been a steady decline in public trust in the government and by extension the political party in power. This lack of trust is attributable to issues relating to corruption, democratic procedural unfairness, abysmal economic performance, and the haughtiness of political appointees.

Regardless that Alan’s recent decision in some way is predictable from his past, it is emblematic that the NPP as a political party has over the years lacked the requisite principles of representative democracy to satisfactorily deliver as a better substitute for Ghana’s governance. More so, those weaknesses have been ingrained deeply in the party while they present a pseudo-reflection to Ghanaians.

That might have worked for them but eventually, the chickens are coming home to roost, revealing their true nature especially after being given the second opportunity in the 4th Republic of Ghana. That real nature is at this time evinced in the party’s internal infirmities as well as fumbling with Ghana’s development. The current state of the NPP so the story goes is hijacked by a selected group and party elders, grabby government appointees, behind-the-curtains power brokers, along with some ‘unscrupulous party apparatchiks’.

Proverbially, ‘if the alligator emerges from the water to inform you that the crocodile has gone mad, never doubt it’. In a similar vein, if a founding member of the NPP illustrates that the party has turned out to be corrupted to the extent that it lacks the basic values of democracy critical for ensuring good governance, we doubt him not.

Respectively, the decay of the NPP is typified by the awful management of the country. It is of no news the socio-economic downturn that has plagued the country over the past few years the Nana Akufo-Addo-led NPP and its appointees having not only become party power brokers, but feckless economic agents. The country is practically wading through an economic swamp with no proper direction.

Reckless fiscal management has caused Ghana to become unpopular for being essentially bankrupt, at present having the third weakest currency in Africa and an alarming debt-to-GDP ratio of approximately 90% including remaining Africa’s highest IMF borrower. Ghana’s current leadership situation is a despairing one with widespread acts of corruption and the lack of accountability from the appointees who have not only hijacked their party but also the country.

The youth are wailing from the pinching effects of the high cost of living, unemployment and to make matters worse, acts of government suppression carried out subtly through some state institutions.

Certainly, Alan is right to affirm that the country needs the restoration of confidence in political leadership to guarantee a better economic transformation. Again, it is in the right direction to call for change under the current circumstances but that change cannot be handed over to a fellow just emerging from the political order that caused it.

The wind of change cozily blowing across the country is a conscious political fact, made more plausible by the NPP’s opportunity to seize power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2016 so as for Ghanaians to appreciate the difference between the two. This difference is even more comprehended when one compares the leadership styles of Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo, revealing a development-focused leader versus a cut-and-try leader.

In a 2016 conceding speech by H.E. John Dramani Mahama, he foreseeably proclaimed that posterity would be his judge, which has subsequently been attested in his favor as a result of the gross incompetence of the NPP. Not long into the NPP’s start of work, Mahama was already comparatively declared looking like a saint and has remained so in the eyes of the vast majority of Ghanaians to date.

In conclusion, Ghana is injuriously ripe for an ineluctable change to be exercised through the 2024 general elections. It is a meritorious change not to be handed over to any other political entity and/or an accessory to their non-conformity to good governance. Therefore, any contender to be presented by the NPP or having had any affiliation with their despicable performance should be flatly rejected.

The John Mahama-led NDC remains the most credible option to provide that visionary leadership that would deliver Ghana from the drowning worst economic crises in so many years, and repair the damages done to Ghana’s democratic reputation.