Kojo Tamakloe
“A political party is defined as an organised group of people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office. “
So as the definition suggests , the NPP will be an organized group with similar ideology . Surely to carry out their beliefs they will need to be in position to have the most influence, so it is legitimate in a democratic dispensation they should seek political office . Of course they have their heroes like JB Danquah, Busia, No one begrudges them that. They write articles praising them for what they stood for. That is their right. We recognize it is part of the education to pursue their agenda. But what is anathema is their distortion of history and personalities of others. The other parties have a right to their heroes and heroines
Parties also tend to be deeply and durably entrenched in specific substructures of the specific society in a sustainable and well functioning democracy. In other words parties can have strong holds or as some have euphemistically called it “ world Bank” . This is all to do with our cultures. Am I my brothers keeper or am I avaricious ?.Certain societies are cautious and others take risks. Some are innovative and others will follow well trodden paths . These attitudes and world view influence our choices of political or any organisational affiliation . Hence one can say political parties perform certain key tasks in a democratic society, such as
1. An aggregation and articulation of the needs and problems as identified by members and supporters
2. The socialisation and education of voters and citizens in the functioning of the political and electoral system and the generation of general political values
3. The balancing of opposing demands and their conversion into general policies
4. The activation and mobilisation of the citizenry into participating in political decisions and transforming their opinions into viable policy options
5. Channelling public opinion from citizens to government. It is how we perform these especially with respect to the rights of others that make for conformity with societal norms . There are rules and laws that govern this process . When we fall outside these then society could descend into lawlessness and the party could become a resistance movement
6. What is a resistance movement “An organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to resist the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability.”
We have seen for the past three and half years actions of the NPP . Instead of them conforming to societal norms they claim they are champions of we see them fail and have on countless occasions resorted to subterfuge and sabotage. They have organized bus hi jacking, armed robberies, blocked legislation , subverted the judiciary, denying us justice and of late instead of giving us what they stand for as conservative traditionalists resorted to violence. If it is not Atiwa, then it is the flag bearer himself mobilizing a section of the population against the other . Then he endorses violence by shouting “ all die be die’ , allows his closest lady friend Ursula to create confusion , followed up with a declaration of war. If any one thinks these are acts of co incidence then one lives in a fools paradise . It is a replay of their actions in 1951 ,1956, 1960, 1965 which led to PDA . Trust me soon after independence there were mysterious murders , taxi jacking robberies to emphasize we were not ready for independence. . Nkrumah put his foot down and stamped it out .Come 1969 when they were in power and lo and behold Apollo 568 ,when certain tribes and segments were targeted and deprived of their daily bread . That was not enough , for out of jealousy they accused the African brothers and sisters in our midst of all types of crimes which was said to have led our shortage of foreign exchange that had caused scarcity of goods in the market. Just as they convinced us Nkrumah was a communist and needed to go so these “ villains” needed to go and all will be well. Well they did and all was not well but a bigger mess . This again they repeated between 2001-2008. 2007 elections were more about Rawlings and the “ cursed” Ewes than about issues . Fellow country men just as there are Ewes in Togo, there are Akans in Cote D’Ivoire . No one imputes any malfeasance on them but NPP will challenge the census figures in the Volta . The Police, Ghana Statistical Service, Bank of Ghana and a whole host of institutions were there before NPP, who then controlled them but today they have no confidence in them .
We are now whipping up emotions against the Chinese , not knowing where this will lead us . As if these actions are not enough a war of extermination and annihilation has been declared against the Gas and Ewes . For them it is always the other party that is the problem and not them .It is Ok for them to flock to Nigeria, Togo, South Africa, Libya, Germany, Gambia, UK, USA, Italy so they can prosper and expect to be protected .
What is their problem? They want every one to think as one or like them Any one who says anything against the NPP must be bullied,run down and called names. That person is then made a Voltarian or a trokosi . Great, at least the Voltarians and of course the Gas not to talk lof the long suffering Northerners and many of the other variants of the Akan tribe ,THINK. Any one who holds a view opposite theirs does not think and is being manipulated. So we must be a nation of ROBOTS. All ‘Oseikromoians’ must think as one.But thinking is what we need if we attempting to be innovative and creative . That is what will bring on a stream of products and services to patent and sell to the world. That is the path to wealth creation . But then we resort to the use of violence to resolve simple issues contrived by us instead of approaching the authorities if we felt aggrieved . Now lo and behold “ war is declared “ on a section of the population. The tragedy being that , these actors in the whole shenanigan are all from outside Accra and non Gas who the Gas have treated with respect and allowed to make money by trading and the chiefs have protected them and they pay back by calling on their kith and kin living in their domain to kill them . These same people seized the properties through jealousy and envy under an aliens compliance order. What a way to say thank you
Dr Saka the other day talked about some fallacies of capitalism and they jumped all over him. But Dr Saka made certain points which these thoughtless “ideologues” confirmed. He said to succeed in capitalism you needed special talent and not just hard work . Take Michael Essien , has he not got a special talent coupled with hard work to make it? What of Mohamed Ali, Steve Job, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet., He said we are all not in the same boat and it is false to say we are . They jumped at him. Mitt Romney is out campaigning but makes $60000 a day. How many of you make that without working? How can you say you are in the same boat?
For all to succeed we need to grow the economy . That way we all can have a share of the cake. We fight too often instead of sitting and working out what we can do and make the economy GROW . No government can do it for us , while we remain passengers or obstructionists.
We need to work with our neighbors, other tribes, other nations , other continents. The USA is scared Europe will face more recession, as Europe is trading partner. That is why after 1945 when the war stopped victor and vanquished worked together . They are part of NATO and many other organizations working to promote their common interest . They are smart enough to realize their interdependence . On the other hand we want to talk about Kwasivi who stole Koklo about 300 years ago or me eating monkey droppings . Perhaps it makes us feel good but then we are all still hungry . The enemy takes advantage and keeps us down . When shall we learn ?
The writer Kojo Tamakloe is an Nkrumaist and a Pan Africanist who believes our solution lies in African Unity and the implementation of Nkrumaist principles
