The Foot Soldiers Are Footing And NDC Is Droning….(Part 2)

Attention: This is not rated for politically sensitive-charged people, so it read at your own risk.

Politics is an advance auction of stolen goods!

The NDC-NPP’s never-ending political cage –fight is gradually finding its way into the social arena. The so- called ‘political-harmony’, we hope for is actually moving at its own galactically glacial pace and the stakeholders like that ride.

Well, the NPP lost the election to NDC a year and some months ago, but the only thing greater than its members’ will to keep the party intact is the need for “revenge” .NDC is in power but, NPP still denies the legitimacy of NDC to rule the country. Please don’t shake your head—you know I’m right on the money even if you’re not sympathetic to NDC.

It seems the NPP is willing to drag the NDC into the ocean, if it had the power. And the NDC’s supporters have been running afoul of the law so many times with impunity that people have stopped counting. It makes me wonder who is running the show.

As to the lawlessness of Techimanhene and the foot soldiers, there’s nothing else to say. I haven’t regained my faculty yet, ever since I read about their unfolding developments. I’m trying to recuperate from the shock I sustained from their “civic duties”. Nevertheless, the real culprits or villains are those who looked the other way when one of Ghana’s citizens literally got stripped naked of his rights and dignity or when the young arm of a party is gaining momentum and running amok --- that is the issue.

My question is: With all that dirty-politics, where do we go from here? Just wake me up when everything is all over!

Unfortunately the two main political parties lack internal “party democracy “and focus because they are fractured and punctured. If I were an NDC or NPP strategist (may God forbid!) I‘d be very worried and concerned about the infertile political ecology in our part of the world. Things look bad that they can easily ruin the sleep of any politician, especially when the main political parties are generating the most negative publicity all the time. I wonder which one of the parties is going to be ‘electioncuted’ in the next national election.

Dang, am I late coming to the fight? Am I missing something? Maybe, I’m a little naïve here or else I must be missing something.

I never knew that we were going to witness a fight after fight a year after the election. We had an election and NPP lost. That should be the end of the fight. Nah!

I admit I wasn’t all that surprised that NPP lost the election. Were you? Not that I had wanted the NDC to win but, losing the election was a way for the party and its members to seriously take a good look at things in its rear view mirror. Sometimes it takes a ‘disaster ‘to re-focus on your goals, objectives and to take stock of what is important.

Now, I know that some people are going to get pissed off at me because I was not that choked -up and weepy when NPP lost the election. I’m sure some of you are wailing and gnashing your teeth over my statement.

But, there is a lesson that needs to be learned here: Don’t ever underrate Ghanaians’ intelligence. Anyway, NPP needed to lose the election to fight its elitist image, and if it really wants to attract new souls.

Hold on! I have seen a hand raised at the back row,” Are you a covert NDC man?” “Nope, I’m not”. “Aren’t you an NPP supporter?” “You’re wrong again!” I’m neither an NPP supporter nor an NDC sympathizer. I’m a hardcore, fully- registered member of AGG Party (Anything Good for Ghana.) In other words, I’m not part of the modern –day political parties’ chromosome. I’m too radical to fit in, too out-front and optimistic to accept the status quo .So count me out.

Well, if my memory served me right during the NPP presidential campaign one’s personal looks became the theme for some of the candidates .One’s physical stature became a criteria for “qualification” as if the NPP presidential aspirants were auditioning for a beauty pageant however , no female candidate was pushed by the party or placed on the ticket ---very ironic ! . That alone was a turn-off right there.

To add insult to injury, an unfounded allegation was cooked- up by some faction within the NPP to derail Nana Akuffo-Addo’s candidacy .As a result his gold-plated political capital and reputation were ruined by his own party members way before a single ballot was casted in the primaries —how sad!

So in effect he went into the national election with unwanted baggage and unwanted attention he didn’t deserve. He was a wounded soldier before the war started. Party surrogates were also used to do the entire dirty job for Nana’s enemies within the party; who were waiting in the wind to Alan-Cash in on Nana’s downfall.

That entire internal rift worked against the party before the national election. So I wonder how NPP is going to come out of that political crisis relatively unscathed.

The second thing that really sent the NPP into the pit was the sheer display of cash during the aspirants’ campaigns. Most voters were turned off and tuned out. “Where did these aspirants get their money from?”, was the rhetorical question every voter, including those whose pockets were being lined to vote for a particular aspirant, asked without expecting any credible answer.

The NPP came across as too arrogant and thought of as a party full of itself. Some of its members had a false belief that their party was ordained to win any general election with ease as things stood at the time. “One-touch!” Do you remember? But, now they’re walking around in state of shock: “Holy cow”, they were saying to themselves, “how did that happen?”

Enough is enough. The election is over, NPP lost; Nana Akuffo- Addo lost and gracefully accepted defeat. It’s about time we moved on as Ghanaians, not party followers, but as people with a common destiny.

But, there is no peace inside the NPP and NDC families. The NPP has Nana Akuffo Addo’s saga to deal with. I have the feeling that Nana’s chance of becoming the party’s front- runner again is gone with the wind and out of the window. With no disrespect, if and when NPP comes to power it would come without Nana. And, this is the gospel according to the political weather vane, on top of my house at Atobriso.

Hey, you’re the only soul on this planet who knows this: Nana is considered an Achilles’ heel” of the party. He’s a “political Lazarus”---this is copyrighted but you get my permission to use it as much as you like. So in essence the NPP has helped to write Nana Akuffo-Addo’s political obituary long, before the election. And that has left a permanent scar on the party and its former presidential candidate. My guess is, Nana Akuffo –Addo is walking around with limited trust which was eroded by his party and its officials. Maybe, next time his trust will be granted cautiously and judiciously when he deals with party issues .

Nevertheless, how the party is going to reincarnate itself and sail through all that political rough waters undaunted or without any bleeding nose, would be sorted out by social scientists and historians years to come.

Through all that, Ghanaians of every political stripe are sick and tired of being unsolicited spectators of in- party rift and political witch-hunting. It is not the time to gamble with Ghana’s future.

To you NPP supporters, you should take a chill pill. The NDC’s ‘foot- soldiers ‘ are busy doing the bidding for NPP, to the extent that they would promote a voter’s backlash in the next election. The NPP in the short run may be the beneficiary of the perfect storm being created by NDC and its so-called “foot-soldiers”. But, in the long run, it’s bad for the country when the young arm of a party is dethroning their elected and appointed officials and seizing up offices.

Regrettably, Ghana’s bare-knuckle politics has fragmented the political landscape, which is preventing both parties to propose any earth-shaking idea that can create jobs or better the living standard of the people.

So those who are still holding on to the elections’ results or using their political positions as a shield should B-e-a-t it. After all, “politics is still an advance auction of stolen goods”, that are perishable.

It’s also susceptible to political trends as the fashion industry. What is trendy one moment can be outdated the next day. Politicians have a short political life. One minute they’re losers, the next they’re sharing chest bumps and high-fiving each other. No situation is permanent.

Shame on all of us for turning blind eyes to the vigilantes and for sheltering other useless party elements.

If the NDC Youth had to kick Carl Wilson--the chairman of confiscated vehicle Allocation Committee—out of his office before the government could see his iniquities, then we have a problem!

Nevertheless, give it up to the ass-kicking NDC youth. They’re literally kicking -ass because the government hears and sees no evil. Go guys, you earn my support on that one!

Anyway, the “foot- soldiers” are footing because the government is not doing a damn thing about the behaviors of its rank and file. So while Techimanhene was tripping his brethren in the south were rocking and roughing things all in the name of party politics.

We fight over the remains of politics everyday, instead of policies. And, no one knows when it’s going to stop.

Shame on all of us, one more time, for standing by while the nation’s future is being derailed by a few individuals.

Now with the oil money in the horizon things are going to be very dirty. The next election is going to be deadly and dangerous, given the fact that the main political parties have suffered structural damage and no one knows how long it will take to repair the damage.

Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi (The Voice of Reason) NJ, USA