In a year's time from today the 8th November 2015, Ghanaian voters will be queuing in the scorching sun of our motherland in the former Gold Coast of West Africa to choose for the 7th time in 24 years of what has proven to be a dysfunctional democratic dispensation so far, yet another set of an overly populated 275 the legislators for a small country and an executive president to lead them for another 4 years.
From the mood of a cross-section of the populace, the hottest concern of most of the electorate is the state of the main opposition as an alternative government. Looking at the catalogue of failed promises of the present NDC led government by John Mahama who had recently been endorsed surprisingly unopposed through what appeared to be an impeded internal democratic process, and pertinent concerns of the people which have gotten from bad to worse, one would have wished that we would have had a well organised and focused opposition ready to govern in the waiting. Unfortunately for the struggling millions of the underprivileged and forgotten that is not what it seems now.
The nature of electoral democracy by itself works out in most instances that, as bad as Mahama's wayward leadership appears, the brouhaha engulfing the main opposition NPP consistently in the last few years and the apparent lack of leadership to unite the NPP fraternity on a common purpose, is unfortunately, making the NPP an unelectable alternative.
Common sense will tell us that if anyone with no biases wants to change anything in life, it must be something better than what they are replacing for all intents and purposes.
In the light of all the unnecessary drama and circus happening more or less across the 2 main political parties, the NDC and the NPP, most likely to form a government, through the eyes of many of the concerned floating voters who decide who wins general elections in Ghana for one political party or another, is the present state of the main opposition New Patriotic Party giving them a sense of a better alternative to form a government?
This doesn't even seem to be the main cause of NPP's lackadaisical attitude to keep the mismanagement leadership of Mahama on its toes because before all these series of internal strife and wrangling was a main opposition which appeared to have gone to sleep at the executive level and in parliament sleeping with the ruling dysfunctional leadership of John Mahama.
Let me tell how comical your NPP is conducting itself:
Your supposedly suspended national chairman applied to become a national chair ... Against all the odds and allegations against the national chair himself Paul Afoko, he won an election through the delegates conference ...
From day one he has not been allowed to roll out his plans as a national chairman ... Come-on!!! Is there a standard of management style within the NPP?
Does he have to follow the failed management style that lost your NPP 2 elections in a roll that the NPP shouldn't have lost?
Does he have to follow the dictates of unelected officials or his deputy in the hierarchy of the NPP executives ???
If Feddy Confusionist Blay wanted to become a national chairman why didn't have the belief in himself and the balls to challenge Jack just like Paul Afoko did ?
When I hear people like Mr Akomeah question the management style of Afoko I just want to puke, because who decides what kind of positive changes a newly democratically elected executive implement to correct mistakes of the past that has kept the party languishing in opposition after 2 elections the NPP should have won on paper?
If the NPP frowns to internal changes then how are they going TO RAISE THE BAR OF GOOD GOVERNANCE by institutionalising the kind of radical changes our dysfunctional democratic dispensation needs desperately after 23 years of a virtually failed system?
That is looking highly unlikely now because all that Afoko was doing since he assumed office was instilling the necessary management changes and I don't see anything in the NPP constitution that states the constitutionally accepted management style from the national chairman ...
He started looking into the NPP finances and that started all these brouhaha ... From what is happening within the NPP now, In the miraculous event that the NPP wins the election a year from today, WILL THE NPP LOOK INTO HOW THE NDC HAS MISMANAGED THE FINANCES OF THE COUNTRY SINCE JAN 2008 or it is going to be business as usual to carry on from where the NDC left off if the NPP is looking jittery and reluctant to internal finances scrutiny?
How is the NPP going to fight corruption nationally when it can't even investigate internal alleged financial malfeasance the new national chairman Mr Afoko was looking into?
If you are able to search for answers to all the questions I have raised dispassionately I'm very sure with an openminded conscience, you will know who are the negative members within the NPP fraternity as it stands now ...
In the final analysis, the moral of this is that everyone is capable of taking an action and getting it wrong but it is a sign of wisdom to change course when you know you got it horribly wrong ...
The jury is out there ...
YK A. Ansah-Yeboah
Founder, CPAG.