''THE FEAR OF MAN IS A FORM OF MORAL COWARDICE''.
That is one of the numerous qoutes of the then PNDC Chairman, JJ Rawlings. And it is upon this qoute that I lay the foundation of this write-up. After 25 years of Rawlings' appearance on our political scene, the fear of him still lingers on his followers;
The foundermental problem, besseting the NDC is the existing position and role of a founder. should this continue to abide, it will not only make the NDC a dysfunctional party but our current democratic dispensation would also be adversely affetced. In the advanced countries all former rulers either retire from active politics or take up a back-stage role. In other instances, they are given other roles in the private market where their expertise are most needed. The reason being that, thier parties have founding members and not a founder and that ones leadership roles and strong influence on his party virtually ends with his tenure of office. There is no need for the explanation of the position of founding members and a founder for one to know the effect each has on a political party. Their functions thereof also need no head-racking explanations. Nkrumah and the CPP are a typical examples in this case. ''Nkrumah never dies'' so they said. If this was about his idealogies and not his physical death, the potency and competency of the party he left behind, the CPP, is the answer.
The PNDC and its offshoot, the NDC was/is undoubtedly a PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY with, unfortunately, Rawlings as the sole proprietor/entrapenaur. Consequently, anyone who becomes the flagbearer of NDC should be an apointee of Rawlings whose sole advisor is his wife. The natural seqeunce is that, should the candidate ever be elected as the president of Ghana (something I personally hate to see in the life time of Rawlings so long as he is POLITICALLY CONCIOUS) he assumes the position of a CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of Rawlings' COMPANY in effect, Ghana.
Whoever is in doubt should go go down the memory lane to disect how the PNDC started and how it was ran. Rawlings single-handely launched the revolution and invited others to join. Probably due to his egocentric, arrogance and dictactorial nature most of his early 'apostles' deserted him and those who joined later were as coward and toothless as thier predecessors. In the dreaded instances, those who decided to stand by their moral dictates were either punched to leave or allegedly DISPACHED.
The macho menance of the late 90s coupled with the violent koforidua congress, that seems to dismantle the NDC depicts not only the character traits of Rawlings but the direction of our young democracy.( the country would be the loser if this goes unchecked). There is no gainsaying that the political animosity that has engulfed the nation recently boils down to the fact that the main opposition party is ran at the whims of just one person. Because of him the interests of the nation is relegeted to the background.
The only way out is to see this ONE man taking a backstage role in his party, that is if he really understands what democracy is all about. But the question is; who will bell this wild and violent cat?
Instead of injecting violence into the society by his deeds and actions, Rawlings could have done something better to salvage his sordid past to earn forgiveness from God and the good people of Ghana. For example, taking up a GENUINE project to assist the disadvantaged in our society. A project like, FUTURE FOR THE FATHERLESS, THE MOTHERHOOD FOUNDATION, having in mind how his mother struggled to bring him up when his Scotish father deserted her. Even, the great Kofi Annan has decided to take time off world politics and do something useful for AFRICA and GHANA.( I HOPE KUFOUR IS LISTENING.)
Politics/governace is used to address concerns of a Nation and not to set it apart. We as Ghanaians have our concerns, how to manage our economy to foot the rising bills of quality education, quality health system, quality road networks, quality public and private sector which in turn will give us a quality life as a people. Yes concerns that would fulfill his ostentatious promise of bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, which at the end of his stewardship saw the gap becoming a valley and himself, a one time YOKE GARI CREDITOR FIGHTING OBESITY. This we are aware, can only happen in a peaceful and stable democratic environment. We weren't fools then, to have chosen this over his revolutionary idealogies or whatever he called. We are even wiser now to wait till the end of the stipulated time to examine our living conditions and decide who should rule us. All we hate to see is having a ONE-PARTY-STATE.
Unfortunately, we could not avoid this if the NDC refuses to change and continue to hang on to Rawlings' faded personality. In the run-up to the 2000 elections, the NDC organised a rally at the Koforidua Jackson's Park Atta-Mills went there ahead of Rawlings and it was as if nothing was going on in the city, till the party OWNER arrived. The lesson here is that, some people see NDC as RAWLINGS and RAWLINGS as NDC. In effect, whenever there is votings ''some people'' will still be looking for the face of Rawlings and that will cost them some votes then, Rawlings will turn round to accuse the NPP of vote rigging. Here is the man who deceivingly told us that, Ghana was supreme in all is endeavours. Hear him '' PERSONALITIES WOULD NOT COUNT. RAWLINGS IS NOT IMPORTANT, BUT THE COUNTRY GHANA''. Today, the same person has grown bigger than his party and wants to even grow bigger than Ghana, and there are sycophants to help him do this, they are there to defend any violent actions and deeds of his. Obed Asamoah was one of such people. He could not even cough whilst he was with Rawlings till he was nearly DISPATCHED, before he became the man he is now. When Moses Asaga ''give praise where it is due'', he has to pay for that. It stands to reason that, Rawlings is a bully and a cheat, and such people always wants to be amongst FOOLS, to perpetuate thier wishes.If not why did he threaten to kill all Ghanaians above forty years the same way he threatened to blast the whole of Accra in his bloody AFRC days?
Most Ghanaians are keeping their fingers crossed to see the outcome of the NDC Congress. Part of the County's political problems would be solved if the party chooses the odd one among the lot (if any at all) who have the BALLS for the foremost daunting task of CAGING this WILD CAT in their midst, somebody to tell him, yes, the NDC is your brain-child but I am sorry I owe it a duty for the people who voted for me and the NATION as a whole. Its about time somebody told Rawlings, yes, it takes one to moot an idea but it takes many to debate and to implement.
The complexity of politics makes it sucidal if not catastrophic for a single person to try to hold a political party to ransom. In any case, every good leader worth his salt seeks to breed many better leaders by nuturing and giving them room to operate. To freely exercise their talents and potentials. If, even, wayside artisans take less than five (5) years to train an apprentice to the status of a qualified artisan, and if Rawlings' over twenty (20)years as the head, stomach and tail of the NDC can not leave his BOYS alone then, the NDC is not only dysfunctional but heading towards its doom. It also means that Rawlings does not trust anyone in his party and, again, the democracy we now enjoy and cherish so much has still not address his sarcastic and rhetoric HAND OVER TO WHOM question. This being the case, then, Kufour's allegation of Rawlings' intention to destablise Ghana, though unsubstantiated, should be taken seriously.
I wonder why, Rawlings, a spent force as far as our political leadership is concerned has refused to come to terms with reality. He had eleven solid years as a dictator, armed with DECREES, to steer the Nation to whichever paradise he wanted us to enjoy today, when he could impose curfews on ALL Ghanaians, but he woefully messed things up. Today, he is wiser than anyone to comlain about everything in Ghana. His BOOMS, BAAMS and RANTS as a former leader of democratic Ghana is because he has no ROLE MODEL (Ex- Leaders) in the Country, something he is quilty of. However, he can not hide behind this. If I were him I would look beyond the shores of Ghana. The Clintons, Carters, Mandelas, Schroders, Thatchers etc are all living examples.
Somebody once said, '' WE MUST BE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN SOCIETY'' The civility, peace and harmony we want to witness in Ghana should first be seen in our political parties. How the NDC go about thiers has been unfolded in this write-up. They stand the chance of injecting sanity into our body politic. However, charity should always begin at home. Their failure to elect somebody who will encourage everybody to speak up his/her mind in the NDC without looking over his/her shoulders will be a big plus not only for them as a party but the Nation as a whole.
LONG LIVE ALL DEMOCRATIC PARTIES!
LONG LIVE PEACE LOVING GHANAIANS!!
LONG LIVE MY BELOVED GHANA!!!
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