NPP Embarking On Thank You Tours?

Ask Nana Akua Tweneboah-Koduah

September 16, 2013

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP’s defeated ex-flagbearer for the 2012 Presidential Election has started his so-called “Thank You” tour of the 10 regions of the country which began in the Greater Accra. He has however been forced to cut short the tour and asked his former running mate Dr Mahamadu Bawumia to continue with the slack tour which is perceived to be a tour to nowhere.

Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia are going on these tours because there have been severe wrangling in the NPP concerning who to lead the party in 2016 following the declaration and confirmation by the Supreme Court (SC) that President John Mahama was duly and validly elected in the 2012 Presidential Election.

One wonders why Nana Akufo-Addo will embark on such a tour when he told Ghanaians that he was taking a break in politics on the same day that the SC dismissed his slapdash petition case on all the six pleadings. In case you may have forgotten it is this same Nana Akufo-Addo who told the Central Regional delegation of the NPP last week that he was even cutting out of the country for one month to rest and consult with his God, so why this sudden U-turn to embark on a thank you tour?

By the way, who are those that Akufo-Addo and Bawumia are going to thank? Are they the 5 million supporters whose votes were not enough to carry Nana Akufo-Addo to cross the finish line in victory? Or is Akufo-Addo embarking on the tour to thank the Supreme Court?

Nana Akufo-Addo rejected the results declared by the Electoral Commission and went to the Supreme Court to seek redress. For eight months he kept the whole country under shrouds only for his terrible case to be thrown out on August 29, 2013. He did not believe in the votes cast by his supporters that was why Akufo-Addo did his own arithmetic on the election results and went to court believing that he was going to become president through the back door.

Therefore, with the issue finally settled by the SC, who are Nana Addo and Bawumia going to thank? Are they those who voted for him or those who did not vote for him or the nine Justices of the SC?

Normally, people go on thank you tours when they have won something. Losers do not go on thank you tours. It is therefore, highly odd and unusual for a losing candidate in a major election to embark on a thank you tour. Imagine Kumasi Asante Kotoko losing an epic league or knockout match against Accra Hearts of Oak and going on a thank you tour instead of the winners, Accra Hearts of Oak.

Is Akufo-Addo going to thank his supporters for helping him run a bad political campaign which eventually led to his defeat? Or is he going to thank them for swallowing his lies and deception during SC petition case? Or he and Bawumia are just going to shake the trees and remind their supporters to keep them in mind as they ponder who to throw their weight behind for the 2016 flagbearership?

It is strongly believed that Nana Akufo-Addo is being goaded on by some of his supporters in the top hierarchy of the NPP to use the tour to test his popularity and ability and also silence the dissenting voices in the NPP which have become much more pronounced in recent times.

There have been series of calls from within the NPP that it’s about time serial losing candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo steps aside for the party to rebuild, but the likes of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey who have the most to lose should Nana Akufo-Addo vanish from the political radar, are doing everything to put the “political dead horse” on the party’s map. This is the boiling issue which is currently turning and tearing the NPP gradually apart.

Nana Akufo-Addo still harbours the false impression that he will one day become president of Ghana that is why he is still talking about his one-dimensional free Senior High School education on his so-called thank you tour. Nana Akufo-Addo seems to be in a perpetual campaign mode and it still talking about an issue which did not fly with voters who saw it as a political gimmick to deceive them for their votes.

Indeed Akufo-Addo’s refusal to go away and cede the political turf is going to divide the NPP, and the current uproar we are seeing in the NPP is just the least of their problems. Because if Nana Akufo-Addo, who still commands a sizeable following within NPP decides today to run again for the 2016 flagbearership, the NPP will split into two. Just watch my lips, “If Akufo-Addo decides to run in 2016, the NPP will split into two.”

Nationally, Nana Akufo-Addo is a political spent force. He has no new ideas for the NPP or Ghana but because he still harbours deep hatred for the Ashanti faction within the NPP who failed to get him elected, Nana Akufo-Addo has decided to draw rings around the NPP by staying around and shinning his eyes on everything that goes on in the party.

To say the least, this strange thank you tour by Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia is needless and a waste of time. It is too soon for the NPP which is still bleeding very badly following the dismissal of their petition case by the SC to decide on whom to settle for the 2016 Election. This petty tour is rather going to hype tensions within the NPP which is sharply divided and is struggling to find the missing its soul of the party.

The battle to win the heart and soul of the NPP has just begun. It’s not going to get any better than the next. We live to see!

nakuakoduah@yahoo.com