More is Desired of the NPP

in order to Clench Power on December 7, 2012

Winning the presidential and the parliamentary elections for both Nana Akuffo-Addo and the NPP on December 7, 2012, will not come easy. It will not come on a silver platter. It will involve a lot of hard work. We shall have to expend energy and wipe sweat off our foreheads. Anything short of this can spell doom for us, and our joy will turn into sorrows.

The facts on the ground, the signs on the walls and the spelling in the Sky all indicate that most Ghanaians are not comfortable with the dismal NDC administration headed by the lame duck President Mills. They cannot wait to see them off the helm of affairs in Ghana. Nevertheless, the NDC will not exit the political scene without putting up a do-and-die last minute fight in case they can retain power to continue with their decrepit rule. They are hanging on a dangerous cliff by the thread and are about to drop into the deep ocean to their death. I cannot wait to see them drop and drown in the sea of their hand-made vices to never rise again, as incompetent, corrupt, intimidating and mediocre as they are,.

"It is easier said than done," one may tease. It will take a concerted effort by all the top gurus of the NPP, their activists and sympathisers to wrestle power from the NDC. This is the more reason why I keep advising my fellow NPP sympathisers not to rest on their laurels but to hit the road hard as never before. Former President Rawlings and the FONKAR have somehow eased the tension on us to a certain degree. We have only to finish the job they have expertly commenced.

How do we finish the job so credibly started by the wrangling within the NDC camp? Is it by sitting on our lap and falsely presuming that we have won the elections already? No, no and no, I say. Now is time we have to engage in vigorous campaigning to impress upon the electorates Nana Akuffo-Addo's good tidings. We cannot wink the eye even for a second until we have successfully won the election 2012.

I had not desired to be personal, telling other people's secret or success stories. However, for the sake of the doubting Thomases within the NPP, I will narrate the following true story to buttress my contention that doing door-to-door or grassroots campaigning to maximise our vote intake is the only way forward to winning election 2012 resoundingly. Before I start, I would like to convey to the attention of Ghanaians, especially the NPP, that the Electoral Commissioner in agreement with President Mills' NDC government has created not only forty-two new districts but also same number of new Constituencies. Some allege that the Electoral Commissioner has not followed the Constitutional stipulations for their creation to the letter yet he is adamant that all is in line. He has shrugged off all concerns raised and gone ahead to create them. Majority of the constituencies favour the NDC. The creation of new constituencies though dubiously as they appear, is a right step in the right direction for the NDC to take advantage over the NPP. Do we not see it? If we do, what are we doing about it?

The NDC government has allocated GHC1 Million for each of the newly created districts. President Mills through the Minister of Local Affairs will give the District Chief Executives (DCE) he is about to appoint the free hand to spend the entirety of the money allocated to the districts on any projects they initiate from now until election day. By this plan, the inhabitants of such districts that may double as constituencies will heap praises on President Mills and the NDC for doing such a great job worthy of their winning votes. This trick is a second step forward in favour of the NDC. It is an advance-winning vote in the NDC's hat.

Now back to the story I promised you. It is known everywhere in Ghana that Kumawu Constituency has always been the stronghold of the NPP. People even make a joke that if NPP nominates a dog to stand on their ticket, it will beat any human challengers from the other opposing parties. This does not mean that all the electoral wards within the constituency vote NPP in their majority. Now, the Electoral Commissioner in his wisdom to bring development to the area has carved a new district that doubles as constituency from the Sekyere Kumawu Afram Plains/Kumawu constituency. In the newly carved out district/constituency, they vote predominantly NDC. In this case, NDC will draw with NPP in what was previously NPP stronghold. My own school/classmate is contesting for the parliamentary seat of the newly created constituency on the ticket of the NDC. Just five days ago, Sunday 3rd June 2012 at around 22:00 hours Ghana time when I called him for the first time within a month, I could hear noise. I asked, "Where you are and what the noise is for?" He answered, Kwasi, "I am in the Drobonso area" I further queried, "What are you doing around this time of the night?" I am on a motorbike going round doing campaign, he answered.

The Electoral Commissioner, Dr Afari Djan, is yet to declare the Drobonso Afram Plains area as a newly created constituency carved out of the Kumawu constituency. I know for sure that during the biometric voter's registration exercise, Drobonso area had a different registration code, confirming its constituency status, which is now non-negotiable. My school/classmate tells me wherever he goes in the area; the inhabitants call him "Honourable" though he has not won the seat yet. He has gone ahead of the NPP, doing his campaign tours even deep in the night, interacting with the electorates. He has endeared himself to them already.

Is it then hard to advise my own party NPP to do the same? There are no accessible roads in the Drobonso area but he has chosen to travel on motorbike and also walk when the occasion demands. There is no electricity in most part of the area making it difficulty for the inhabitants to be abreast with time on audiovisual news (news on radios and televisions). The only way to disseminate the good news from the camp of the NPP and especially from Nana Akuffo-Addo is through personal interaction. Go to them for their votes. In these areas, one can easily offer say, a cutlass, a tin of Geisha or GHC1 (One Ghana New Cedi) to buy a precious vote from a desperate voter.

We are not going to bribe anyone for their votes but will tell them about the bad things the NDC are doing and the good things that Nana Akuffo-Addo will do to better their overall standard of living.

To take the radio phone-in lambasting of the NDC government for sure sign of the NPP winning election December 7, 2012 is to me suicidal. We need to work harder as we cannot trust the NDC even for a second. They are capable of anything and being the party in power, they have not only money to spend but also plenty airtime to churn out their lies and propaganda. We should not only be engaging them on air but also on the ground, - door-to-door village-to-village campaign. This is our year but if we fail to handle it well, the opportunity will slip through our porous palms. "Opportunity knocks but once"

I would not like to discuss today how I have come to establish how complacent the NPP could at times be. I have personal story to tell to confirm this but that is not the issue for now. All that I want from my NPP camp is to chase those precious votes wherever they happen to be. Let us not dwell on the bitter sentiments many Ghanaians are expressing about the NDC government as our sure hope of winning the elections on a silver platter. Bitter sentiments can sometimes be like the morning fog that dissipates with the rising Sun.

NDC and President Mills are in deep crisis. They are on admission to the intensive care, critically ill politically, socially and economically. They are only surviving on life support machines (propaganda). It will only take determined electorates with strong hands to switch off the machine. The more voters we get, the stronger the hands become to force the NDC off their life support machine and send them into the cemetery of oblivion.

As it is said, "It does not belong to he who is leading to redirect their steps" the leaders of the NPP may not know about the faults with our campaign strategy unless told.

VENUS, my intended Movement will not only correct this anomaly but also garner more votes for Nana Akuffo-Addo.

I have the interest of the good people of Ghana at heart hence my resolute determination to see the corrupt and incompetent NDC chased out of power come December 7, 2012. The big city rallies are good but door-to-door and village-to-village campaigns are best.

Kofi Mayfair in London has a story to tell to support why NPP should go to the villages to proclaim Nana Akuffo-Addo's good tidings. The NDC are going to certain villages in the Central region lying about NPP in an attempt to turn the voters against the NPP, Kofi says. We need to be there to correct the erroneous messages they have gone ahead of us to deliver to the people in the hope of getting their votes by deceit.

VENUS (Volunteers Ensuring Nana's Ultimate Success) will soon be out.

Rockson Adofo