Prosper Yao Tsikata - A Rising Ndc Star For South Ablekuma?

I recall encountering the above-named individual once but could not pinpoint exactly where and what it was connected to. As I reflected on our probable meeting place, two events came up – it was either at the Mamprobi Polyclinic, where the young man was leading a cleanup exercise or during the NDC primaries in South Ablekuma constituency December 2007. These two important events were an all NDC events and there were no questions about the intentions of members or participants in these two events than to market the NDC and their prospective candidates.

This time, the venue and the timing were in stark contrast with our initial encounters. I met Prosper at the Ebenezer Secondary School in Dansoman distributing copies of his student memoir to students and teachers with a text covering the front and back pages of an A4 sheet. What caught my attention the most to engage the young man in a conversation was that he was giving out 4 copies of this book titled, ‘My Name, My Race: a young African’s untold story,’ to all SHSs and 2 copies to all JHSs within the Ablekuma constituency for free, he told me. I thought it was a Trojan horse, considering the political season in which we are. A young man traversing the nooks and crannies of a large constituency such as South Ablekuma for the sole philanthropic purpose of distributing his memoir to educate his fellow countrymen? Nay! There must be a hidden agenda somewhere, I concluded.

I approached him and requested for a copy of his book, but he declined to give me a free copy, since I was neither a student nor a teacher. I quickly gave him 15 Gh cedis and procured a copy for myself, because I was curious to find out what message there was in such a strange. Truly, the events narrated in this strange title gripped my attention till the last line. I have since had a second reading. I must congratulate him for taking such a bold step in chronicling all the events he narrated in his book the way he did – a very simple narrative, tackling some of the most difficult issues of race and ethnicity, especially when he is at the center of those narratives. These are topics people find very difficult to talk about without being attack for being racist or ethnocentric. Once again, Kudos! It’s a book every Ghanaian must read and pass it on to others.

With regard to the text on the A4 sheet that the young man was distributing, two important paragraphs caught my attention, but I would quote and urge him to publish his text for the general public to share in some of the concerns he raised. ‘Consider the fact that in the face of the gigantic development issues that confront us, our legislative process has been turned into a self-serving process. To cite an example, in 1992, when the NDC government offered a government guaranteed loan of US$5,000 to parliamentarians for their cars, the NPP opposition was on the rooftops that the taxpayer was being ripped off. When the latter had the opportunity to alter that in 2000, with a majority in parliament, they rather increased it by 300% to US$20,000. In the words of the strident editor of the Weekly Insight, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., ‘the taxpayers risk being ripped off massively.’ Nevertheless, in 2008, when the NDC took office against the backdrop of what its Finance Minister described as an economy in intensive care, they saw the need to raise this financial line to US$50,000, again with a majority in parliament. Today, MPs are asking for ?8,000 monthly remuneration in the face of massive systemic economic failures, [my own emphasis - with stagnating teachers’ salary and the failure to pass the Single Spine Salary Structure for teachers under a so-called grassroots party]’.

Pondering over the whole text, I asked myself if the young man was saying something that deserves public attention. Did he say a truth that was waiting to be said or what he said became the truth because he had said it? I think Prosper is doing a great job that needs commendation. But unfortunately, people like Prosper would be regarded as an anti-establishment because he is speaking a language that is at variance with what the political leadership of his own party would be saying to the people in the 2012 general elections. I am sure Ghanaians are fatigued with the old politics of insults and the looting. We need a new rhetoric and we need new voices like that of this young man.

Back to my encounter with the young man, I specifically quizzed him if he has political ambitions, but he shrewdly shied away from answering the question. Nevertheless, I was convinced that the young man was up to something. To this end, I decided to search further. I found a few leads in his own book that led to some contacts to inquire about him. Lo and behold, three different sources confirm my gut feelings.

It is becoming apparent that the language of the 2012 will be completely different from that of the previous elections – 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. This is because it is obvious for the discerning electorates to see through the lines of deception that have been traded by both political parties to the point where the two political giants now look very similar in their modus operandi – minus the faces that represent the political parties at each political season, things are simply the same.

Electorates will therefore gravitate towards someone who will be downright honest about what confront our people, not an establishment candidate who will sing party’s praise line, hook, and sinkers, believing that the people are downright silly and cannot make sense of the things going on around them.

The cracks within the ruling NDC are already a harbinger to what is to come in the 2012. Many NDC parliamentarians would have to justify why they should be given another four years. The same measure will apply to NPP parliamentarians as the dynamics of our body politics seems to be gathering momentum. In this regard, I think young men such as Prosper stand a chance to successfully stake their claim and bring some new visions to the leadership of party and country. I will not waste my single vote on establishment candidates who have only helped to perpetuate the looting of the state. I am lock, stock, and barrel for a new agenda and that agenda is a youthful, independent-minded, and intelligent agenda, and Mr. Prosper Yao Tsikata is just a reflection of that agenda.

If only elements within the NDC with destructive motives will not unleash their venom, I see a rising star for South Ablekuma constituency and for that matter a conscientious and principled national asset in the near future.

Alhaji Sani Mahamadu

Dansoman, Accra

Email: sanimadu@yahoo.com