Enough of the False Hopes - Katakyie to NPP Supporters

The penchant and hasty declaration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the next President of the Republic of Ghana by NPP sympathisers even before elections are conducted has been the bane of the party. As has been the norm, not only do members write on social media to adore him, but there have been occasions Nana Addo has been treated and recognised even more than the elected president. This action breeds complacency and political laziness and must be condemned by every well-meaning party member.

Have we forgotten so soon how power slipped through our hands as an incumbent government? When do we want to imbibe in political lessons after the NDC had made useless of our "Victory 2008" and "Victory 2012" slogans? For some strange reasons, NPP supporters have 'accorded' themselves the position of Chairman of Ghana's Electoral Commission. They are quick to declare Nana Addo the president when actually the situation on the ground proves contrary.

Just have a look at Election 2012. The painful demise of the then sitting president, Prof. Mills at the 11th hour, coupled with the level of corruption and economic mismanagement in the country deepened NPP's "Victory 2012" slogan. But, in the end, Nana Addo et al proved to us that the Courts, and not Polling Stations were better places to win national elections. The situation at the Supreme Court was not different. Party supporters were so confident of victory, especially when Dr. Afari Gyan fumbled with the explanation of "NVNV" (No Verification, No Vote). But, here again the Atuguba-led Supreme Court confirmed what Dr. Afari Gyan had long advised political parties that, VIGILANCE is the key to winning elections in Africa.

Again, if a critical observation is made on the actions and utterances of our members on the current energy crisis, there is a general consensus within the party that, the energy crisis could be a panacea to NPP's victory in 2016. Some people even wish that the crisis continues till the election time so that people would vote against the NDC government, and this has been confirmed by the inability of our flag-bearer to provide alternate solution to the energy crisis at hand.

The aftermath of Nigeria's general elections, where a serial loser and 73 year-old Muhammadu Buhari had beaten the incumbent young president, Jonathan Goodluck is giving another psychological hope to some NPP supporters. They have soon forgotten that Nigeria (Federal State) is not Ghana (Unitary State) and that Buhari (a Northerner, Moslem, former military leader) is not the same as Nana Akufo-Addo.

Instead of my party members being smart to study the behaviour of 'ants' to deepen our political knowledge and wisdom in order to overcome our political failures, the general mood is that, Nana Addo would win massively against president Mahama in 2016. They have consumed much time in tabling the political similarities between Buhari and Nana Addo vis-a-vis Goodluck and Mahama, and have wrongly concluded that come what may, the NDC's Umbrella would be folded in 2016. Where from this negative political thought, fellow party members? Are these assumptions based on any reasonable intellectual argument as Asiedu Nketiah put it?

For me, what the NPP needs to do now is to find out how Buhari's APC did it. From the little I gathered, Buhari strengthened unity in his own party, and forged links with other opposition parties. He gave roles to all those who contested internal elections and lost. Besides, the party APC was projected above all individuals in terms of adverts, and people who didn't like Buhari voted for APC, because they saw other key personalities they preferred in APC. Simply put, Gen. Buhari was never hero-worshipped as we are currently seeing in the NPP.

The NPP must therefore throw away complacency, sycophancy, insults on fellow party members, and hero-worshipping, but work on party cohesion and strategic planning, if indeed, Prez Mahama is to be voted out in Election 2016.

God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri

(katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk)

0202471070 // 0547851100 // 0264931361