Spio-Garbrah Is The Best Hope For NDC

Ekwow Spio-Garbrah Is The Best Hope For Ndc In 2008

NDC must nominate Ekwow Spio-Garbrah as its Presidential Candidate for the 2008 elections if the party truly desires to enhance its chance of winning the general elections. I have, over the past few months, made several arguments in support of this position at various forums. In this article, I will try to make my best case, which would address all the reasons why I think Spio-Garbrah is the best candidate for the party at this time and, which would also counter all the arguments I have heard from Professor Mills’s camp in support of his candidacy. At the onset, I must restate my long-held opinion that there are only two persons in serious contention for the NDC candidacy. Unfortunately, Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama and Edie Annan are out of the real race for various factors that are not important at this stage of my discussion (I will mention at a later point, one reason why I think the 2 have completely knocked themselves out of any serious contention for the spot). Between the remaining 2 contestants, Professor Mills and Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, I strongly believe that the latter presents a better chance and hope for the party in the 2008 elections and I implore NDC delegates for the December Congress to respond tactically to the political situation in Ghana and courageously elect Ekwow Spio-Garbrah to change or enhance the fortunes of the party. The delegates must always remember that there are realistic and practical consequences for whatever decisions they will make on December 16th and if they make their decisions with a simple mind without listening to strategic and tactical expositions of others who may have carefully and painstakingly considered a wide variety of factors, we will all live to painfully regret the implications.

Since this article is targeted at NDC delegates, and is crucial for Spio-Garbrah’s campaign, I would advice all NDC members both in Ghana and abroad, who would share my position, and who would know any of the party’s delegates for the December congress to print the article and disseminate it to as many delegates as possible. I would also encourage those who would share my views and would have direct contact with any of the delegates to speak directly to the delegates and convince them about the issues that I will discuss in this piece. I would finally wish to encourage Spio’s campaign to print this article and use it as widely as they can to prop their efforts. Before I discuss the main points, I wish to state categorically that this piece has not been sponsored by, or previously discussed with Dr. Spio-Garbrah (I do not feel very comfortable prefixing his name with “Dr.” since some mischief makers are making empty noises about this as though it adds or takes anything away from his competence and capabilities) or anyone from his campaign. It is purely my work and I alone must be responsible for any views expressed herein. Now, let’s go through the reasons why I think the way I do.

1. MATCHING THE ULTIMATE NPP CANDIDATE

I believe Spio-Garbrah is better placed to match anyone that would emerge as NPP’s candidate than Prof. Mills is capable of doing. Let’s remember that elections are won by speaking out loudly to convince electorates to vote for one candidate but not the other. The total grasp on the issues that are important to the electorate and the ability to express them forcefully and eloquently is the key to winning the support of most people. Another important weapon in this area is the ability to think very quickly and respond promptly when one’s opponents make ambiguous policy statements, distort issues about a candidate, attack a candidate, make disparaging remarks about a candidate, etc. A certain amount of surprise is often the catalyst that precipitates and unsettles political opponents, and people who are quick and forceful in reacting to prompts are better placed for the game than the opposites. These abilities must always be expressed in relative terms; i.e. must be measured against similar abilities of opponents of any particular candidate. So, the question to ask here is whether, if for instance, any of the loud-mouth aspirants of the NPP like Nana Akufo-Addo runs for the NPP, Prof. Mills or Spio-Garbrah would be a better match from NDC’s side. I am fully convinced that in spite of Prof. Mills’s cool demeanor and honesty for politics, he lacks the qualities enumerated here to battle the more vibrant and fiery NPP aspirants from whom one would emerge as the party’s candidate. I have no doubts at all that Dr. Spio-Garbrah possesses all the qualities and will any day be on top of all others on the issues. Instead of saying too much to buttress this point, I will let Nana Kofi Coomson of Chronicle’s fame say it for me in the few passages below.

Nana Kofi Coomson was warning the many NPP Presidential aspirants to watch the man called Ekwow Spio-Garbrah. He asked many of them to withdraw from the race for the sake of the welfare of the party because he thinks about 90% of them would be no match for Spio on the issues that are important to Ghanaians and for the development of Ghana. Now, read the following.

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“Spio-Garbrah is a formidable candidate, with as reasonably clean a record as that of the front-runner, Atta Mills, with an incomparable gift of the garb and the best academic and professional curriculum vitae. He is a lethal weapon that can humiliate about 90 percent of the NPP aspirants in a debate, which necessarily would come on sometime in the near future.

Kofi Coomson, . . . observed that, he is by no means disrespecting any of the aspirants.


He said he is merely alerting the political field that by the way Spio is growing in confidence and hitting sore spots with such deadly accuracy, it will not be surprising if he beats the front runner Atta Mills with one speech at the delegates conference in the NDC primaries in December, because the delegates, like electorates have become more savvy and discerning in both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New patriotic Party (NPP).


‘Everybody in Britain knew that the clear favourite in the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party was David Davis, but David Cameron, then 39, seized the moment with one hell of a speech at the conservative party conference, and supplanted the heir apparent that can happen in Ghana, and even though Atta Mills is the favourite as smartly conceded to by Ekwow, all that can change,’ Kofi said.”


Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200609280563.html ********************

2. DIRECT CONTROL ON CAMPAIGN

Closely related to the above is the ability of a candidate to be in total control of his campaign. Most savvy politicians always compose campaign teams to assist them in their electioneering campaigns. But the more successful ones are those with full of ideas, and in full charge of their campaigns. The guys in this latter group have the ability to quickly understand the implications of whatever decisions their campaign teams make and are able to exert their influence in whatever is finally undertaken. If a candidate is in full control of his campaign, he will be making all the major decisions about the direction of his campaign and his lieutenants would only assist him in advancing his goals and ideas in the day-to-day activities. Blunders are minimal in these types of campaigns, and when they occur, the very dynamic candidate will act swiftly to turn the tides in a different direction without unnecessarily waiting for other members of his campaign to advise him about what to do. The key factors here also are the ability to think and act quickly and the versatility of a candidate. I must state here also that in spite of my utmost respect for Prof. Mills, he does not appear to me as someone who can take full control of his campaign. I may be wrong, but I believe that Prof. Mills would depend more on the ideas and input of his campaign team (controllers, in this case) than on his own ideas. Spio-Garbrah, on the other hand, is a very strong-spirited, resourceful, and dynamic person from whom the members of his campaign team would learn more than provide. I will later discuss a few of his monumental achievements in politics and elsewhere, but for now, I just want to inform or remind all that at a farewell party for him before he assumed his position as the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization (CTO), Prof. Mills praised him extensively and informed the gathering that if he won the 2004 election, Spio-Garbrah would be the first person he would appoint as a Minister. The truth of the matter is that Prof. Mills knew Spio-Garbrah very well and saw in him what most Ghanaians also see in him. Spio is the man and NDC delegates must not let this opportunity slip by.

3. HEALTH AND YOUTHFUL ENERGY

I am not very sure of how Prof. Mills’s health is but I brought this issue and linked it to the requisite energy to go through a rigorous presidential campaign because of the rumour we heard some weeks ago that someone had sent a text message to former President Rawlings complaining about Prof. Mills’s health. I believe the text message news was either false, a hoax, or largely exaggerated. I do not believe that Spio-Garbrah would ever send such a message, and I dare anyone to prove me wrong. Having said the above, I do not think anyone requires me to tell him or her that Prof. Mills does not have the type of Energy Spio-Garbrah and most of the other guys parading the scene wanting to be the President of Ghana have. If a lot of energy and good health are some of the factors that are required to go through a successful Presidential campaign, then on these factors, Spio are miles ahead of Prof. Mills. But I don’t want to make a call on these factors.

4. RICH EXPERIENCE FOR PRESIDENCY

I have often heard supporters of Prof. Mills argue that Prof. is the most experienced candidate for the Presidency. This argument is untenable because although Vice Presidents all over the world mostly step in the shoes of their bosses to contest Presidential elections, Vice Presidents do not necessarily have any richer experience in administering nations than others, and mostly senior cabinet Ministers. As a matter of fact, some cabinet Ministers have greater responsibilities in reality than most Vice-Presidents do. Because I do not think that Prof. Mills’s supporters normally refer to his experience in contesting the elections of 2000 and 2004, I assume that they are normally speaking about Prof.’s experience as the Vice President of Ghana from 1996-2000, and if this is right, I do not think that he necessarily acquired any rare experience from that role than Spio-Garbrah would acquire from being Ghana’s Ambassador to the US for about 4 years; being the Minister for Communication; being a Minister for Mines and Energy; and being a Minister for Education. In any case, there is plenty history of Presidents all over the world that were not once Vice Presidents. So, this experience factor must not be very important. I think however, that Vice Presidents must be given the opportunity to run on the tickets of their parties if they wish. This must be mainly out of respect for the position they hold as the second in command in the party. Prof. Mills has already had this opportunity twice and must not have the spot again because of only this reason.

5. PROFESSOR MILLS HAS ALREADY LOST 2 ELECTIONS

It baffles me very much that most of Prof. Mills’s supporters do not want people to talk about this. This is a very important factor for NDC in considering who the party must nominate as its next Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, and perhaps not due to, or not due solely to his fault, Prof. Mills has lost 2 major elections as NDC’s Presidential candidate. Losing 2 successive elections is enough reason to reject a candidate for a third major election. The loss of a general election is the same as having been rejected by Ghanaians – the electorate. I will later address the arguments that certain Presidents in the world had lost previous elections before they became Presidents, so Prof. still has a good chance; that because the defeats of 2000 and 2004 were not Prof. Mills’s fault, his chances are still very bright; and that the 2004 election was rigged, meaning that Prof. Mills actually won the election and so would win again if he runs in 2008. At this time, I want to quickly point out why I think it might not be Prof. Mills’s fault that he lost the last 2 major elections. I will then explain why I think that regardless of whose fault it was, it is nevertheless bad for Prof.’s future chances of winning general elections in Ghana.

I. In 2000:

In the year 2000, majority of Ghanaians wanted a change of the nation’s political leadership and to some extent, direction without taking their time to think about what type of change they wanted. The only credible alternative at the time was NPP. Most people attributed all their hardships to the NDC leadership, and most of the youth yearned for a complete change of Rawlings’s eras, which were all they knew. Majority of us still believe though, that if Rawlings were still eligible and had contested the 2000 elections, he would have been unbeatable. We believe that Rawlings is still as popular in Ghana as President Clinton is in the United States. However, Rawlings was out of that contest and the election was more between NDC and NPP than between Mills and Kufuor. Even with the strong desire for a change at the time, it was still very tough before NPP won the election in a second round balloting. The very likely calculation political and social tacticians and commentators would make out of this election is that Ghanaians only wanted a change and Prof. Mills was merely an unfortunate victim.

II. In 2004:

In this election, NPP exploited its incumbency beyond imaginable lengths while at the same time making strenuous efforts to “kill” NDC by releasing paid spin-doctors to spread negative propaganda about the party, crippling the businesses of known NDC financiers, and harassing and jailing former NDC appointees. There was also a possible manipulation of the election results in certain parts of the country, but the bottom line is that Prof. Mills again lost this election for NDC.

III. NO TACTICAL SENSE TO FEATURE MILLS IN 2008

Generally, it makes no tactical sense to feature a candidate that has already lost (was rejected by the same electorate) general elections. All the opposite situations are exceptions and are very rare. Whenever Prof. Mills’s supporters cite the examples of President Kufuor, President Suglo of Benin, and recently, Ortega of Nicaragua, they must also think about the peculiar situations under which these Presidents got elected. We are all very familiar with the Ghana situation, so I will elaborate on that briefly. First of all, it is instructive to remind all of us that President Kufuor did not lose 2 general elections before he became the President of Ghana. President Kufuor lost only one general election in 1996. He was nominated again in 2000 and he would have easily lost that year’s election if the electorate did not want a change very badly. In fact, Pres. Kufuor’s fellow NPP contestants properly used this same argument against him, but he prevailed either for the right, or, the wrong reasons and went ahead to win the election only because Ghanaians wanted a change so badly that they did not bother to compare the personalities of Mills and Kufuor to see who would make a better President. The mood in Ghana today does not suggest in any way that Ghanaians would overwhelmingly want a change of leadership in 2008. Anyone within NDC who is thinking that Ghanaians want a change so badly now and would still want that in 2008 is a big political novice. The beating of NPP in 2008 will depend on a combination of factors, including the party’s corrupt practices, cocaine issues, thievery, favoritism, nepotism all over the place, the general hardship in the country, and above all, on the ingenuity of the candidate that may beat the NPP candidate. I must state clearly that it is merely a wishful thinking that ANYONE WILL BEAT NPP’S CANDIDATE BASED ONLY ON THE UNPOPULARITY OF THE NPP. I hope someone in the NDC is listening to me; NPP IS STILL POPULAR.


I think the argument that the 2004 election was rigged is also being over-stretched. I believe there were some manipulations and rigging, but I am not very sure if it is a large scale rigging without which Prof. Mills would have won the election. Whatever it was, President Kufuor was declared the winner and Prof. Mills the loser; this is another dent on Prof.’s image as a serious contender in the next general election. In any case, if the elections were clearly rigged in unacceptable terms, then Prof. Mills has disappointed the NDC for not contesting the results for at least one week. I reject the argument that contesting the results would have led to chaos; this argument sounds to me more as bootstrapping than anything else. Prof. Mills appear to me as too meek for the game he is in. While meekness is not a bad trait, it is not one of the admirable characteristics of a politician. NDC needs a stronger candidate to battle for us in 2008.


6. RE-PACKAGING OF NDC

NDC as a party must accept the fact that its image has been dangerously damaged by negative propaganda by its opponents, including the NPP govt. and recently, Dr. Obed Asamoah’s DFP. To think that the party is still very popular and formidable as it used to be until 2004 is a joke and a recipe for total and a devastating defeat in 2008. The negative propaganda has hurt the party very much and it is taking most of us a lot of work to turn the tides. In this situation, the party needs re-packaging before it enters battle in 2008. The re-packaging of the party means making painful changes in the party and placing new faces at the fore front to attract new members and to appeal to independent voters. Re-packaging the party also means the changing of the faces that represent the “old” party, and unfortunately, Prof. Mills is one of those faces and must be the first casualty. It will take a lot of courage to eschew the blind loyalty and change those who must be changed. Here, we must not think about who is popular within the party. The question should be who will present a new party to the electorate? Certainly, Prof. Mills cannot change anything in the NDC right now that he did not have the opportunity to change in 2000 and 2004. If we really want to win the next elections or make a great impact, it is time for us to change things and put more vibrant and new faces at the helm of affairs. I THINK SPIO IS THE MAN FOR THIS JOB.

7. WHY EKWOW SPIO-GARBRAH?

I think Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah can re-package NDC better than anyone else in the party. Everybody in the party knows his capabilities. He is completely able to change things in the party and eventually change the fortunes of the party. Spio is very resourceful and dynamic; he is very hardworking and purposeful; he has a lot of ideas, and knows how to lead; he is religious and honest; and he is obviously, a very competent and serious-minded guy. Spio appears to be endowed with a habitual tendency to solve problems, and a natural ability to succeed. Spio also has a great capacity for learning, and this is vital for fine-tuning our party to be responsive to the times we are in. I have always said that Rawlings is still seen either wrongly or rightly as exerting undue control on the NDC only because I suspect that he is not very sure about the people who are running the party and he is afraid that the party might be used for some people’s selfish means. In Spio, Rawlings has a lot of confidence. Spio was Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States and President Clinton visited Ghana. Spio was the Minister for Communication, and he introduced the weekly cabinet press briefing, and he championed and helped the re-introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT). Spio went to the Ministry of Education, and Ghana had the GETFund. Currently, NPP operatives are enjoying and stealing from, and taking credit for both the VAT and GETFund waa waa waa like that. There are more on Spio’s professional, educational, and personal achievements, and I will encourage all readers to visit www.draftspio2008.org and browse the pages. It was not for no reason that Prof. Mills declared publicly that if he won the 2004 elections Spio-Garbrah would be the first person he would appoint as a Minister.

8. DID OR DOES SPIO INSULT PROF. MILLS?

The detractors of Spio tried to use this argument to confuse most NDC members and Ghanaians. I have discussed this issue with a number of people recently, and anytime I asked them to tell me just one word that Spio said that was insulting to Prof. Mills, they fumbled and ended up having none. This allegation against Spio is coming from Prof. Mills’s camp. I understand their resentment for the only real challenger to Prof. Mills in the race. Before Spio-Garbrah launched his campaign and began to go round the regions, Prof. Mills’s had been “smooth-sailing;” the other contestants treated him with too much reverence, forgetting that he was, and is the man to beat, and must be targeted. He is a fair game in the process when he is the frontrunner. It is of utmost consequence that the people should discuss the character and qualifications of the candidates for their suffrage. The benefit from the frank discussions of the candidates to NDC and the people of Ghana is so great that likely little resultant injuries to the candidates must be tolerated. So, I have long concluded that no contender of NDC’s nomination would make any meaningful impact without telling the delegates why Prof. Mills is not the right candidate for the party in 2008. Spio is directly on point, executing a clean typical political campaign. All that Spio has been telling NDC delegates is that Prof. Mills is not the best candidate for the party right now because he has already lost 2 elections for the party and he could be described in politics as a “losing candidate.” This, to me, is not an insult. On the contrary, it is the truth.


Now, this is the thing; Prof. Mills is the front-runner for NDC’s December Congress and Prof. Mills is very popular within the party, but not necessarily “a winning candidate.” This is simply because he was sadly unable to win 2 previous elections and there can be no logical hope that he would win a third election. Our people were originally inattentive to this sensitive situation by merely thinking about Prof. Mills’s popularity within the NDC. Anyone who is not telling the delegates this simple fact is a joker. Spio has been hitting this hard into the ears of our delegates and I think it is appropriate and must be allowed in the unique circumstances. I don’t think anyone must be protected in the race; it is very fair for the candidates to compare themselves and talk about their colleagues. If Spio had not been talking about why Prof. is not the right guy at this time, I would have withdrawn my support for him long ago. He knows how to campaign. I said earlier that I would tell you why Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama and Eddie Annan were not in the race. The reason is simple; they have failed to tell the delegates why they think Prof. Mills must not go again; they are treating Prof. with kids’ gloves, and they are overwhelmed by Prof.’s popularity within the party. SO, NOBODY HAS BEEN ABLE TO SHOW THAT SPIO HAS INSULTED PROF. AND I KNOW HE WILL NEVER INSULT PROF BEYOND TELLING THE DELEGATES THE TRUTH ABOUT PROF’S 2 DEFEATS IN 2000 AND 2004.

9. IS SPIO-GARBRAH ARROGANT?

What about this untrammeled speculation that Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is arrogant? To tell all of you the truth, I don’t think Spio-Garbrah is arrogant at all. What I know though, is that people easily confuse confident, bold, honest, and dynamic people for arrogant people. So, when Spio was Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States and the then opposition leader, J.A. Kufuor was going to appear on a radio program in the US to discuss politics and Spio arranged to appear on the same program to answer allegations that Mr. Kufuor might make against Ghana’s government in a foreign media, NPP fanatics abroad described Spio as arrogant. Also when Spio one time advised some journalists to refrain from attending news conferences only when “item 13” was served, the affected media described him as arrogant. At the Ministry of Education when he had to deal with students and he made comments about the heavy electrical gadgets and equipment some University students kept in their rooms while refusing to pay user fees, some students referred to him as arrogant. Similar honest and brave expressions by him in various areas resulted in him being described as arrogant by various groups of people, but the truth is that WE NEED A BRAVE, HONEST, GOD-FEARING, INCORRUPTIBLE, AND A PURPOSEFUL PERSON LIKE SPIO AS A PRESIDENT IN GHANA.


10. CONCLUSION


I will encourage everyone to visit www.draftspio2008.org to learn more about this fine gentleman who is seeking to lead Ghana only because of his love for the country and for what he can do for the country but not what he will get from the country. You would find from the website that Spio was actually drafted by ordinary Ghanaians from all walks of life, and from Ghanaians who were not originally aligned to any political parties. I have also embarked on my venture to help his campaign only because of my love for Ghana. I know him, and I have a lot of confidence in him. I wish I could do more by joining his campaign directly, but I am glad I am doing the little I can to get him elected. I will encourage all readers who have contacts with NDC delegates for the December congress to talk to the delegates as soon as possible because there is not much time left. People must also talk to others and email this article to them so that they can join the crusade. I strongly urge NDC delegates to vote massively for Spio-Garbrah on December 16th. They must respond to their instincts when they listen to the candidates at the Congress. Spontaneity rather than adherence to old orders and loyalties must determine their decisions. I think Rawlings is neutral in this game, and I urge the delegates to listen to their hearts and make their independent decisions without fear or favour.

If Spio clears the first hurdle on December 16, we shall push for several public forums and debates of all the Presidential candidates for 2008 because the more grasp a candidate has on the issues, the likely it is that the candidate can find solutions to our problems. I think most Ghanaians now know that information and knowledge are keys to decisions and actions. So, we must encourage several open discussions of the policies of the candidates and we must scrutinize their speeches and pronouncements critically as we strive to find the best selfless and hardworking President for our country irrespective of what party’s ticket the person runs on. We will do this also with the conviction that the clash of ideas provide the best opportunity for truth to emerge.


Thank you for your time and, please remember to visit www.draftspio2008.org