NPP cannot consult with opponents with stoppered ears

The wild accusation made by the dynastic General-Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, that the leaders of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) had not afforded their main political opponents prior notification of the December 17 Referendum on the democratization of the hitherto handpicked positions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) is sheer hogwash (See “Gov’t Has Not Consulted NDC on Referendum – Asiedu-Nketia” Modernghana.com 11/21/19).

It is sheer malarkey or poppycock because even as the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, recently noted, the landmark decision to amend Article 55(3), an entrenched clause in the country’s 1992 Constitution, was agreed to in Parliament by consensus.

Maybe a vote ought to have been taken of the individual members of Parliament on the august floor of the House before this constitutional amendment referendum went into effect, as the NDC leaders are infamous for always scheming for any means or aperture to sabotage any governance policy decisions that promises to significantly enhance the relative stature and popularity of the Akufo-Addo-led administration of the New Patriotic Party. Equally significant to note here is the fact that Mr. Asiedu-Nketia is not in any way contradicting the foregoing assertion by the Local Government and Rural Development Minister, that is, regarding the deliberative consensus that had earlier on been reached in Parliament on the December 17 Referendum; rather, the grievance of the NDC’s scribe, so-called, is that “extensive engagements” on the latter referendum were never held or hosted by the leaders and/or representatives of the ruling party.

Mr. Asiedu-Nketia needs to further explain precisely what the former Member of Parliament for Wenchi-East means by “extensive engagements.” The former Deputy Defense Minister in the regime of former President Jerry John Rawlings ought to know by now that President Akufo-Addo is a no-nonsense leader who does not believe in the sort of fiscally profligate and discursively pointless and functionally paralyzing diet of “extensive consultations” and “engagements” that brought the operation of the previous John Dramani Mahama-led regime of the National Democratic Congress to a virtual standstill. Maybe the dynastic NDC General-Secretary ought to be reminded of that popular English proverb which says that “Too many chefs spoil the broth.” It is absolutely no secret that the previous regime had insignificantly little to show Ghanaian voters, by way of any remarkable material achievements, by the close of its 8-year tenure, because the Mills-Mahama Posse preferred the rampant and wasteful staging of parties and other forms of festivities and fanfare over just about any issue that could have been easily and more effectively settled by the representatives of the people or even the Mahama cabinet.

You see, the political métier or strong suit of the previous regime was to find any “findable” excuse to wastefully and corruptly and criminally spend the taxpayer’s money, even while also pretending that the country was too strapped for cash to be able to undertake such economically crucial programs as the introduction of the fee-free Senior High School System, the preservation and creative enhancement of the John Agyekum-Kufuor-established National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and the critical upgrade and rapid development of our roadways and the general transportation system of the country. Illegally, willfully and criminally drawing double salaries by the Mahama cabinet and executive appointees for little to absolutely no work done, and the summary and cynical withdrawal of the age-old nurse- and teacher-trainee allowances were the primal focus and governance agenda of the leadership of the National Democratic Congress. No wonder, then, that having been totally exposed for the mischief-making charlatans that these robber-barons were, party stalwarts like Mr. Asiedu-Nketia find themselves with absolutely no viable alternatives but to steadily and systematically sabotage the progressive and visionary policy initiatives of Nana Akufo-Addo and his equally dynamic and progressive arch-lieutenant, to wit, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia.

The fact of the matter, whether the key operatives of the National Democratic Congress like it or not, is that truth and progressive leadership will always triumph over theft and sabotage. The watchword of the December 17 Referendum can be none other than a seismic “YES!”

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York