Is NPP a Group of Individuals and a Party "Buried in Thought"?

BY SESHIE, STANLEY

Political discourse in Ghana seems to focus on the Opposition than the

Government for that matter the people. Whereas that must not be the

case, the truth is NPP as an Opposition had fitted itself into that

limelight, and do almost everything necessarily to occupy and make it

a position of distraction than contribution. The individualistic party

posturing characterizing our national politics had devolved into the

NPP itself, as reflected in the pervasive individualism rocking and

cracking the current leadership hierarchies.

Just as the case in the national politics, the needed cooperation is

conspicuously nonexistent because each member is buried in his own

thoughts, which only keep fueling their crisis to the detriment of the

whole. Though understandably undesirable and unpreferable politically,

yet to be in Opposition is to be in an orderly and not a chaotic

state. Anything other than this is baffling. That is why the

continuous current chaotic state of NPP is extremely difficult to

appreciate. Unless they are seen as a group of people buried in

thoughts that extols individualism in lieu of cooperation just as the

party itself does in national politics.

It will be naive to, even assume that NPP is ignorant of the political

climate of Ghana. Yet as knowledgeable as they are about it, they are

encapsulated in their own self-created thoughts degenerating into the

self-created and fanned conflicts. These make-beliefs mostly clouds

their judgement. As such, they hardly engage in any critical

evaluative measure to appeal to the people outside their catchment

areas. Given that every party has its strongholds that they can count

on during election, it takes more than campaigning to appeal to that

group of peoole called the floating voters. Every party can campaign.

But it seems not every party can appeal to the people apart from their

faithfuls.

For instance, NPP's intransigent posture in pushing for the call to

changing the Voters Register even if done cannot be a subsitute to

appealing to the people apart from their stalwarts. Likewise, it will

not create disaffection for the parties with contrary views. Besides,

per the observation of and from the two days EC Forum organized in

Alisah Hotel, powered by the five-member committee to discuss the

claims of NPP by all stakeholders, the emerging consensus points

towards edition to cleansing the Register of the generic challenges

than replacing them from scratch.

Generic challenges, in the sense that it is impossible to have a Voter

Register absolved of all possible infiltrating challenges, which are

themselves been fostered by these very parties. In that regard, the

NPP's deflated case can best be reduced to merely pointing out the

generic challenges inherent in Voter Register compilation, and never

building up a case of political contrivance, a thought they are buried

in and imposing on Ghanaians. It is therefore conspicuous that since

NPP's claim is generic and not a contrivance by any party, editing to

cleansing the Register is the best option to make it new.

Of course, the newness of the Voter Register via editing is not what

NPP wanted. They wanted total replacement from scratch. Meanwhile

doing so in the absence of the necessary technology and logistics to

forestalling the very generic challenges that bothers on political

honesty than technical inefficiencies of the Electoral Commission will

be more of a merry-go-round voyage, tantamount to wasting time and

resources than a solution. So technically, econimically and

politically, it is more prudent to edit than replace the Voters

Registration from scratch. In addition it smacks off double standard

to be constantly accusing the Government of profligacy, whilst urging

same in the name of preventing potential unrest as if the editing is

without cost. Just as peace is better than unrest in all situations so

is editing better than replacement from scratch in this context.

Accordingly, this intransigent insistence of NPP on the replacement of

old Voter Register from scratch to confer that newness in lieu of

editing to achieving same purpose is a reflection of the fact that

these are people "buried in thought" and for that matter insulated and

isolated from the national interest. It will interest them to be

reminded of an observation made by the British Historian, A.J.P Taylor

about Napoleon, that, he learned from the mistakes of the past to make

new ones. In the same vein whoever writing the political history of

NPP that will span the democratic dispensation of Ghana must similarly

and definitely highlights how NPP learns from the mistakes of the past

just to make new ones in its quest for power, resulting into more

defeats than victory. This is not unimaginable in 2016. Thanks to

being buried in, and "fighting" the thought of EC and others are

against me than focusing on working out solutions to appealing to

floating voters.

This tendency of being buried in thought is not only characteristic of

the ignorant, but also of the knowledgeable as well, which insulates

and isolates them from reality. The reality is that the political

machinery of a nation ought to work in cooperation to better the lives

of the citizenry. It is in that collaborative substratum that the

incompetence of a ruling party becomes visible to the people, which

underpins their collective disposition for change of government in any

election.

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