Controversy Unlimited: In (Un) Fairness To The NDC

Calus Von Brazi

This columnist happens to be one of those who believes that the NDC means well for the Republic of Ghana. Whenever I make this statement, people from within my party and close associates sometimes ask openly if I am not a closet NDC supporter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Can anybody really imagine, that the NDC, constituted as it is in both its corporate and sectarian form has no good intention for Ghana? I have no doubt that they do mean well, even if their methods at showing their good intentions for Ghana are as questionable as can be. As it is today, it is the NDC in government that shall and determines the national interests of Ghana, at least for the next three and a half years. As I have stated elsewhere, national interest is always determined and fashioned by the ruling class or party of a country at any given time. Thus, if the preferences of the NDC are situated within the ambit of Ghana’s developmental agenda without first ascertaining what the party in government considers to be the national interest, we are likely to come to the conclusion that the NDC has ill-intentions towards Ghana. We might indeed question their acts of omission and commission as far as the realization of their own objectives regarding national development and interest are concerned, but it may be wrong to overlook why they prefer preferences that may be out of sync with the very objectives they aim to achieve. My reasons for this position, controversial as they may be are legion but for the purposes of this article, a few may suffice.

Take the issue of finance for developmental projects for example. Have we not been told that the NPP has literally squandered all the resources that the NDC expected to find in the national kitty prior to their election as the government of the day? And yet nobody has bothered to explain what funds the NDC has used to sustain itself in power all this while, or upon what basis the ship of state has been kept afloat through the tumultuous problems of fuel price hikes and a lack of refinery capacity of the country’s only crude oil processing plant. What money was left behind for which some minister could actually ‘misdirect’ the allocation of funds at the sports ministry? In fairness to the NDC, they must be fair to themselves, for to show fairness to oneself is to induce even their staunchest opponents to be a notch more careful about criticism for its own sake. If the NDC veers off the course of propagandist tendencies in its discourse with the good people of Ghana, this writer is inclined to believe that the jabs of the combined force of opposition elements and civil society groups would be reduced enough to bestow upon the ruling party, a temporary respite that would in turn facilitate concentration to rule this Land of Our Death effectively. Is it not the case after all that the judgment debts that are being paid today by the Minister of Finance are possible because of the monies left behind by the NPP? Otherwise from where is Dr. Duffuor doling out the segmented tranches that are earmarked for the Asere Stool, African Automobile and a host of other compensation claims left behind by the erstwhile NPP administration? Fairness might go a long way in helping the NDC gain the fast diminishing confidence of Ghanaians and not the propaganda of propagandists especially from its infant information management team.

Inside The Inside

Parallels can be drawn about the process of succession to the leadership of the NDC when juxtaposed against the backdrop of the internal affairs of the main opposition NPP. Although there are ideological differences underpinning the differentiation and categorization of “national interest” by both parties, contemporary Ghanaian politics has clearly shown that mismanaged and acrimonious successions always generate enough disaffection and unattractiveness enough to compel the good people of Ghana to throw such acrimonious political groupings into political powerlessness, given that there is nothing worthy of expectation of a party at war with itself; the question is, if the party is fighting itself, what is likely to be its attitude towards the larger Ghanaian public, granted that the rest of us, may not subscribe to their ideological preferences to begin with. Thus, Ghanaians would look on quietly, pretending not to have taken cognizance of the internal wrangling while waiting for those constitutionally mandated 7th days of December at four year intervals to speak in clear and uncertain terms about their abhorrence to traces of disunity and rancour. The NPP seems to have finally come round to this realization and is poised to unveil one of its most painful reforms so as to situate itself in the hearts and minds of the voting public. The NDC on the other hand is straining every sinew within its membership to raze its otherwise cohesive structure to the ground as recent manifestations of internal disquiet come to the fore. I hasten to add that I am not an insider of the NDC, but when diehard party activists become so despondent as to murmur openly about the “injustice” and “unfairness” that has crept within the rank and file, it only becomes trite and proper to wonder whether it is a case of people crying wolf when there is none, or a warning by wailing souls of a potential danger ahead. What evidence has been adduced to buttress this point? There are quite a few.

H.E. The Vice President

John Dramani Mahama, husband of Lordina and sitting Vice President of the Republic of Ghana has in one fell swoop become both a flame and a flood to the adherents of the political ideology of social democracy. A flame because he is seen as a likely successor to H.E. John Evans Atta Mills due to his affable nature, his public demeanor and his “warm personality” among other things. He seems to have youth on his side, a wide network of admirers who do not necessarily subscribe to the social democracy doctrine, a coterie of powerful media friends, including those who are said to be unable to host programmes without mentioning his or his brother’s name, and yes, goodwill. Lots of it he appears to have. Conversely, he is seen as a flood, capable of wiping everything away, where everything means that which Jeremiah the double doctor established and achieved. His staunchest opponents within his own party see him as a threat to their plan to produce a certain Spio/Herbert-Betty axis. It is believed by these anti-Mahama posse that the Vice President has already “stolen a start” in the quest to succeed President Mills. It is at this specific point of thought and belief that fissures are likely to appear within the architecture of the NDC as a party. To hold the position that John Mahama might succeed President Mills is to assert that President Mills is no longer interested in contesting a national election as flagbearer/presidential candidate of the NDC. Again, to fly the “Mahama Successor” kite is to dangerously plant in the minds of the pliant, the idea that for the hush hush health reasons that are being bandied about, President Mills would not contest the elections of 2012. Let me be bold and say it: why would some people be so sure that President Mills would not be a contestant in the next general elections of this country? Who is planning to serve him with treacle traces of food laced with arsenic or old lace and cyanide that might contain a few droplets of adolescent female crocodile bile? Is anybody bold enough to dare create a constitutional crisis in this country which would rather injure instead of inure to the benefit of John Mahama? There is no way that John Mahama himself would buy into, be co-opted to, affiliate with or condone such plots and schemes designed and arranged from the pits of hell with reckless abandon. I am quite sure when the Archbishop papa of Action Chapel made divine intervention on his behalf with his hands raised, he might have heard the voice of the Lord saying “John, I am with you, do not do anything stupid for I shall protect you if you would turn your heart to me”. With the exception of raised hands during swearing of public oaths, I am yet to see a President or Vice raising their hands in submission to the suzerainty and sovereignty of Jehovah El Shaddai. Why would John Mahama slap Jehovah in the face by participating in such demonic schemes all because of a thing called political power?

INSIDE BLOWS

I can almost feel the venom being vented at me by readers of this column who think I am up to mischief. Before anybody concludes that this article is meant to bang heads against themselves within the NDC, may I ask a few questions: why would the NDC newspapers openly and publicly subject the sitting Vice President from their own party to allegations of bribery and corruption? Is it not in this country that all tribes subscribe to the rationale of the proverb that one does not doubt the veracity and authenticity of the report when the frog emerges from its amphibious enclave to announce the death of the crocodile? Should we then believe that our sitting Vice President has accessed the forbidden delights of Joseph Agyepong’s deep pockets? What are the implications for the country and the fortunes of the NDC as a party? Has the NDC not activated the self-destruct button and thereby headed for self-destruction prematurely? Is it not too early in its four-year tenure for the NDC to start besmirching and denigrating the reputation of one of its most high profile potential leaders? The inside blows that are being thrown truly make some of us cringe in distaste for it is likely that the recipients of such blows are likely to return them with compound interest, after choosing the timing and intensity of their response as and when they deem fit.

The NDC can spare Ghanaians this drama of distraction. The elections are over and there is a country to be run. How on earth can anybody imagine that it is practically feasible to be fighting opposition elements on the one hand and tearing at each other’s throat internally on the other while conveniently blaming the past government for the troubles that the fishermen of my village face in terms of the Zeta-luminous premix fuel distribution faux pas that the ruling government has unwittingly imposed upon itself? I submit, that political parties are bound to experience hiccups in its quest to perform. If the NDC does not rein in its bloodhounds, who by accident and design are on the loose baying at any and everything that constitutes its leadership, let us not be surprised when it sounds its own death knell by unnecessarily attacking all of its leaders, simply because those who lead have forgotten that this is not the time for internal squabbling: Ghana needs a focused ruling government and the best supporters of that focused ruling government are firstly its own party apparatchiks and activists. When my friend Kobby Fiagbe does “objective journalism” and unleashes some upper cuts on a certain J. Tony Aidoo, you can be sure that others would take a cue for clearly, we are being told that the national interest can be put aside for a while till internal matters are settled amicably and acceptably to and by the party’s own protagonists. Can Ghana afford to wait for that avoidable exercise to be over? Jehovah Keren Yish’i unleash his wise counsel to allow cooler heads to prevail!!!