NDC/NPP political infighting: The lesser of two evils

Political infighting in Ghana started when we wanted independence. Before Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was brought down from Philadelphia, USA to become the General Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), Mr. Arkoh Adjei, Obetsebi Lamptey, Paa Grant, Akufo Addo and JB Danquah had formed the group and started the fight for independence.

Because members of the UGCC were businessmen and lawyers, Arkoh Adjei recommended Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to the group and they paid his airfare from Philadelphia to Ghana to be the General Secretary of the UGCC. The simple idea was that they needed somebody who will do the day to day running of the UGCC.

Dr. Nkrumah wanted “Independent Now” while the rest of the members of the UGCC “wanted to tarry small small”. Before the leadership of the UGCC could say Jack Robin, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah went to Saltpond to form his Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

Dr. Nkrumah had enough time since he was not engaged in any business like the others in the UGCC so he was able to criss-cross the country to convince people to join his party. He formed the Verandah Boys and Girls and used them to campaign. It worked to perfection for the man who broke away from the group which brought him down from America to help the cause of the UGCC.

In 1979 when the ban on party politics was lifted by the Khaki Boys, the UP tradition formed a party called Popular Front Party (PFP) led by Victor Owusu. A power struggle within the PFP led to Paa Willie breaking away to form the United National Convention (UNC) with Dr. Obed Asamoah as the General Secretary. That break away gave Dr. Hilla Limann’s Peoples National Party (PNP) an advantage to win the election easily.

The UP tradition learnt their lessons well and so when the New Patriotic Party was formed, no one ever dreamt of breaking away even though there used to be some infighting once a while.

That was the reason why the NPP won the 2000 election with ease and went on to repeat their winning spree in 2004. In 2008 the resignation of Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng from the NPP affected the party badly. Even though he later rescinded his decision, the NDC used it to their advantage.

I am recounting this history because of the noise being made by the NDC over the suspension of Mr. Paul Afoko, the chairman of the NPP.

They have closed their eyes to what happened and continue to happen to their own party and rather chose to comment on the Paul Afoko issue on daily basis. To me as compared to what happened and continue to happen in the NDC as far as political infighting is concerned, the Afoko issue is a storm in a tea cup.

In 1996 when the NDC had their National Delegates Congress at Koforidua, hell broke loose and their chairman, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah was literally taken hostage. Even when the man wanted to attend to nature’s call, he had to be escorted by fully armed policemen because the Azorka Boys who were brandishing knives, stones, whips and other offensive weapons wanted to finish him.

Rawlings was sitting right beside Obed Asdamoah but he never spoke against the attitude of these visibly drugged Azorka Boys who were demanding the head of the old and experienced man. The life of a man who was once the Minister of Justice and Attorney General and who played a pivotal role to insert the Indemnity Clause in the 1992 Constitution to save the neck of Rawlings was in danger but Rawlings closed his eyes and allowed these rubble-rousers from the Northern Region to play the buffoonery.

In fact, the supporters of Obed Asamoah who came to the congress grounds wearing yellow T. Shirts had to quickly remove them and run for dear life.

Professor Seini, an Alhaji, a Member of Parliament and a very respected NDC guru was not spared.

In his case, he was not even allowed to perform the five daily prayers according to the Islamic faith. He sat glued to his chair as the Azorka Boys kept insulting him and threatening to kill him if he dared came out from where the congress was in progress. The National Women Organizer of the party, Madam Frances Essiam regretted the day she joined the NDC, on that fateful day.

But for the timely intervention of the policemen at the venue, the Azorka Boys would have killed her. They used horse whips to beat her to the extent that her whole body was bleeding. Out of desperation, Obed Asamoah resigned from the NDC and together with Frances Essiam they formed their own political party called DFP, to contest the 2000 general elections.

In 2011 when the NDC had their National Delegates Congress at Sunyani the worse happened. For the first time in the political history of Ghana, an incumbent president was challenged. Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings had joined the race for the NDC flagbearership and hell broke loose.

On the day the congress was to take place in Sunyani, the organizers of the congress planned evil against the former First Lady who played a pivotal role in the formation and the nurturing of the party. When they heard that Nana Konadu and Rawlings had made a triumphant entry into Sunyani amidst pomp and pageantry, they put their plans into motion.

As Nana Konadu and her husband were making their way to the Sunyani Coronation Park, the evil minded organizers put their plans into motion. They quickly asked all present to stand up and close their eyes to pray. Nobody observed the entry of Rawlings and his wife not to talk of applauding them as they used to do in the ‘hey days’ of Rawlings. The two walked quietly to their seats while the prayers continued. It was when the MC was introducing the dignitaries that the delegates got to know that Rawlings and his wife were at the venue.

They had another evil plan for Madam who, together with her husband worked tirelessly to form the party. When the lady was invited to deliver her speech to the delegates, the evil-minded organizers put their Plan B to work. Even before the lady could pronounce one sentence, they started heckling her and using unprintable words against her.

Nana Konadu knew she would lose the primaries because when they entered Sunyani they were told how the Atta Mills group had bribed delegates with huge sums of money through the MMDCEs. She went into the contest to make a point and the point was well noted by well thinking Ghanaians. Immediately Nana Konadu went back to Accra, she started planning to form her own political party. The result is the National Democratic Party that we are seeing today.

So you see, my dear cherished reader, when the NDC tries to make ugly noises about the Afoko suspension one wonders whether they are good historians. They have even forgotten that when things in their party went from bad to worse, Asiedu Nketia, the man Kimathi, the son of Rawlings used to dash little John coats had the audacity to tell members of the NDC that he has chained the barking dog and so everyone could enter the house, in reference to Mr. Rawlings.

To me as compared to what I have narrated above as far as the in-fighting in the NDC is concerned, what is happening in the NPP is a storm in a tea cup and like the deluge, the storm will sooner than later stop and the raging water shall recede. You didn’t say AMEN?