Living in the "Orwellian" Ghana with the NDC's Double Standards

The mediocrity of the Ghanaian politics coupled with the unpatriotic way it is conducted is an impingement on the social and economic advancement of Ghana. The unethical attitude to politics by Ghanaians is disgusting. The thought of it alone is enough to bring the visitation of cardiac arrest upon a weak heart. Ghanaians by act of probable political credulity have unknowingly been obstructing the social and economic modernisation of the country. Our nonconforming behaviour to political expediencies as often exhibited by our strong and unyielding political partisanship is a curse rather than a blessing. It is an impediment rather than a facilitator.

The NDCs remind me of the true story of the Russian Revolution of 1917 as described by George Orwell in his "Animal Farm" novel. They mimic the animals that prior to the revolution against man, thus, Mr. Jones, saw everything done and represented by man as wrong and evil, hence their slogan, "Four legs good, two legs bad". They further boosted their hope of eventual gain of freedom from what they perceived as the rigid grips of the evil man by their singing of their "Beasts of England" song. When the animals did finally stage a successful coup d'état, little did they know that their comrades, the pigs, were going to lord it over them through total enslavement, far worse than as experienced under man. "When the animals took over the farm, they thought it was the start of a better life. They thought they had realised their dreams of a world where all animals are equal and all property is shared. But no sooner had the pigs taken control, and one of them, Napoleon, becomes the leader of all the animals. Barely had he taken over when one by one, the cardinal principles of the revolution were discarded, until the animals had less freedom than before" The pigs changed the slogan to, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" They started imitating man by walking on two legs instead of four. The pigs had become far worse than man, if man was bad at all in the first place.

The brief narration of the story above is analogous to the deceitfulness of the NDC. They were moaning at every policy initiated and taken by the NPP no matter how dire it was for the betterment of Ghana. They embarked on incessant stupid "Wahala" marches to thwart the implementation of certain vital economic policies initiated by the NPP government. This was orchestrated by the NDC's affiliate, the Committee for Joint Action (CJA). They were always hitting the roads just to frustrate the NPP from running a successful government. When the world price of crude oil was subjected to constant hike up, here were the NDC, with Former President Rawlings and Atta Mills hitting the streets of Accra agitating for drastic reduction in petroleum products by the government. They never cared a hoot about the adverse economic repercussions of their populist petty-mindedness on the country in the end. They were telling Ghanaians that teachers, medical doctors and other key workers were not being paid well. Rawlings could go his own way not only to insult the then President Kufuor but also, organize a meeting of NDC former Military Capos to discuss the security of Ghana. Was he trying to run a parallel government from his Ridge residence? This untoward behaviour bordering on treachery was rather accorded the vehement clapping by the entire NDC machinery. How often than not has Rawlings infringed the security of the nation with impunity?

President Atta Mills' NDC's double standard is now laid bare for all naked eyes to witness. The very man, who fronted demonstrations induced by the NDC to oblige Kufuor to reduce petroleum prices at a time that the world price had hit the roof, is now doing worse. Now that the world price of crude oil is seeing gradual increment, but still at half price of Kufuor's time, he has found ridiculous explanation to increase it. One who is honest and is conversant with the principles of economic expediency in relation to nation building will not have any qualms about such increases at critical times. Mr. Mills did flung his weight behind Mr. Rawlings whenever he breached the laws of the land. He was always defending Rawlings for having once been Rawlings' employee and mentee. When NDC took over the administration of Ghana, Rawlings made off to the Kotoka Airport to its most restricted area without permission. He took pictures of the area, assessed the ingress and egress routes. Did President Atta Mills react negatively to that? No, he didn't. One journalist Justice Annan expresses his views over the radio and he has the police and the CID at his heels. He is being accused of treason. Though I don't condone his behaviour, it is nowhere near the acts of blue murder that Rawlings gets away with. Rawlings is the strongman of Ghana indeed. When he acts or speaks, it sends cold chill up the spine of many. President Mills even cringes when the Almighty Junior Jesus Rawlings opens his mouth. He will singe should Rawlings get nearer to scream at him.

The double standard of the NDC is exposed. The NDC politicized a purported criticism of Ghanaians by Kufuor which though, was taken out of context. Kufuor's statement was without any evil denotation or connotation. He was alleged to have said, "Ghanaians are lazy", yet the NDCs hyped it up to outrageously reap political gains. Now President Atta Mills is accusing Ghanaians of having that untoward attitude of always complaining. President Mills after accusing Ghanaians as stated, his supporters and he want them to accept it without retorting. Yes, they will complain if you lie to them. The NDC felt it was wrong for the NPP to run away with Government cars after their term of office. I equally felt the same and wanted the perpetrators to be punished accordingly. But what did we see and hear from a section of the disaffected NDC activists from the Volta Region? They came out furiously to acknowledge that some seized cars had been released to some of the NDC guys who not long ago were same as they, walking the streets as foot soldiers. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. What is good for NDC should be good for everyone with the NPP inclusive.

I hope this becomes an eye-opener to all Ghanaians. We should stop allowing ourselves to be divided along political or tribal lines. That does not augur well for the country and our harmonious co-existence. Such acts are detrimental to our economic emancipation. Our electioneering promises must be measured against the actual strengths of our resources or else, we shall always be shamelessly held to account. Whenever a policy is initiated in the best interest of the country and the people, please let us not politicize it but to support it. That is the only way forward to building a strong nation. Little did NDC know that their absurd criticisms would one day catch them unawares or come to haunt them? "Those who live in glass houses should not learn to throw stones"

Can I say Shame on NDC without incurring their curses as may be instigated by Ohene Agyekum? Please stop living as the pigs on the Animal Farm.

Rockson Adofo