It’s time for Haruna Attah to shut up

Over the years, the National Democratic Congress, whenever it has found itself in power, has found clever ways of deflecting the attention of the nation away from the crass incompetence it effortlessly displays. `

This strategy unsurprisingly reached new heights during the 3rd term of the NDC, from 2009 when, knowing they had poorly performed and Ghanaians were dissatisfied with them, they sought, through the use of all means necessary, to divert the attention of the nation, from their abysmal performance.

The convenient diversionary strategy, which the NDC has always been employing, has been to fall on the age-old falsehood of the New Patriotic Party being an “Akan party.” The attempts by the NDC tag the NPP as tribalistic so as to divert the attention of suffering Ghanaians from the utility tariff hikes, rising cost of living, falling standards of education and the worsening conditions of living, continues unabated the leadership of John Dramani Mahama.

This time, the NDC has had to employ the services of the Editor-in-Chief of the Accra Daily Mail, Alhaji Haruna Attah, with the able support of the “rented press” to do the bidding of his paymasters.

According to the Haruna Attah, “tribalism and arrogance” resulted in the defeat of the NPP in 2008 & 2012 elections, adding that rivalry between the Asante and Akyem caucus in the party was a contributory factor to the NPP’s loss in both the 2008-2012 polls. He goes on to state that “the ethnic conflict rivalry cost the party’s 2008 presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo the presidential race because the Ashantis in the party did not fully offer him their support.”

Simply put, the NDC is trying to make the NPP answer for stories of aggravated hardship of the citizenry imposed by the John Mahama government, by using the likes of Alhaji Haruna Attah for this dirty job.

Strangely enough, Alhaji Haruna Attah is unaware of and is yet to comment on the over 78% and 60% increase in electricity and water tariffs respectively; the huge public debt of Ghc49.3 billion, equivalent to 49.5% of GDP; the lamentable fiscal deficit which stood at 12.1% (Ghc8.7 billion) at the end of 2012; the humongous arrears of Ghc5.4 billion at the end of 2012; unbridled overspending in a bid by John Mahama to win the 2012 elections for which the nation is currently on its knees; worsening unemployment despite the doling out of Ghc1 billion to GYEEDA to create jobs for the youth; deteriorating utility services; and failing social services.

Alhaji Haruna Attah sees nothing wrong with the abyss Ghana has been plunged in but would rather concentrate his energy and resources of trying to make the NPP look bad so Ghanaians can cut his pay-masters some slack.

Labour Unions across the country have outlined a road map for the commencement of a nationwide strike on November 18, and Alhaji Haruna Attah’s voice, unsurprisingly, is yet to be heard on this matter.

If anyone is a tribalist in Ghana, it is no one but Haruna Attah. Just because his preferred candidate (the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama) was rejected by the NPP in the 2007 congress, this is what has allowed him to jump onto the bandwagon of the NDC and proclaim that the NPP is a tribal party. Over 50% of appointees of President Mahama are Northerners and Haruna Attah is yet to find something wrong with that. If this development is not a clear manifestation of tribalism, then I don’t know what his definition of tribalism is.

In explaining why he believes the NPP is a tribalist party, Haruna Attah states that “because the late Aliu Mahama was a Northerner, who in the scheme of things, ought to be the second most important figure in the NPP, they by-passed him as if he was a nonentity, to elect a different person as their flag bearer in 2007. Would they have allowed anyone in the party to attempt to mount a challenge to a sitting vice-president, if he hailed from a different part of Ghana?”

If Haruna Attah claimed to be an NPP member, he should be the first to know that the NPP never imposes a Presidential candidate on the party. From the late Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, John Agyekum Kufuor, to Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP has always had persons elected to lead the party to a general election.

If indeed the NPP was a tribal party, how come the late Vice President obtained 146 votes, even though the number of delegates from the three northern regions totalled 490? Why didn’t all 490 delegates from the North vote for the former President, if going by Haruna Attah’s logic, the NPP is a tribal party?

The NPP, according to statistics from the Electoral Commission has been winning either over 50% or close to 50% of the votes in this country. A tribal and Akan party, as Haruna Attah would want Ghanaians to believe, certainly should not be garnering such percentages.

Ghanaians are tired of these sorts of propaganda being championed by the likes of Haruna Attah and his paymasters in the NDC. Ghanaians want practical remedies to the ailing Better Ghana Agenda which has been stuck in the 1st gear for 5 years, and not practical, ugly jokes thrown in the public arena in the forlorn hope of diverting attention from the crass incompetence, economic hardships and growing unemployment being endured under this current administration.