Dennis Akorli Mensah
Since Ghana’s transition from colonial subject to an independent nation, one government after the other, have had to rely on grassroots formations to run an effective government.
The experiment with grassroots organisation began in the period leading up to the independence of Ghana. The independence struggle of Ghana had failed to yield results in the earlier days, because those who led it had neglected one indispensable component – the grassroots. Upon the arrival of Nkrumah to assume office as the General Secretary of the then almost-defunct United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), he got down to work immediately.
Having been a full-time political organiser in Europe and US, Nkrumah understood the relevance of grassroots formations in achieving political objectives. In one year, he established numerous branches of UGCC in villages and places, where the other leaders of the Convention would never step a foot.
It is no coincidence that ten years after the arrival of Nkrumah, Ghana gained independence. To understand the significance of this, I must add that the struggle for independence started decades before Nkrumah, yet not much headway had been made prior to his arrival.
In addition, prior to change over to democracy in 1992, the government as headed by former president Jerry John Rawlings developed extensive grassroots networks. Under the AFRC and PNDC, the former president formed Peoples Defence committees (PDCs) and later, Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs). These were grassroots formations formed across the nation, which helped the military Junta govern the nation.
There was no way Rawlings would have been able to hold on to power the way he did, without these grassroots formations. With the changeover to democracy, Rawlings already had the mass formations. Winning the first multi-party democratic election under the Fourth Republic came with ease. Had it not been for the two-term limit, Rawlings perhaps could have ruled for longer.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost the elections in 2000 to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) partly because, despite the fact that the latter is elitist, it had over the years mastered the art of grassroots galvanisation. In 2000, the NPP galvanised university students through the Tertiary Student Confederacy (TESCON). It is worthy to note however, that the NDC started with university student mobilisation under the banner of Tertiary Institutions Network (TEIN).
These pieces of history have very salient lessons for contemporary political organisers in the country. One thing is clear: you ignore the grassroots at the party’s own peril. This article discusses the relevance of galvanising the grassroots for victory in 2024 polls.
The NDC lost the 2016 polls miserably, lagging behind the NPP by almost a million votes, which translated into 44.4 percent for the NDC and 53.7 per cent for NPP. In 2020, we saw a powerful rebound from John Mahama and the NDC. NPP, whose campaign extensively made use of its incumbency advantage and deployed vote-buying tactics, added less than a million votes to its 2020 numbers. Meanwhile NDC, coming from a relative position of weakness and disadvantage added almost a million and half votes.
In fact, had it not been for the massive electoral malpractice that occurred in some constituencies like Techiman South, NDC would have formed the majority in parliament and John Mahama too, would have been the rightful occupant of Flagstaff House.
Though the highly compromised Electoral Commission, and its leader, Jean Mensah, supervised a highly flawed election, consequently declaring their paymaster the winner, I feel no hope is lost for the NDC. I believe the current team that led the NDC into 2020 elections, from the Flag bearer to national and some constituency executives have done marvellously well. It can only get better.
It will be in the best interest of the NDC, if this indefatigable team is given the chance to prove themselves again. I believe with massive party re-organisation, adoption of a revamped strategy and galvanisation of the grassroots, there is no way the NPP would come out of 2024 elections alive.
Key in galvanising the grassroots is capacity building.
The party has to train all party functionaries from the branches, electoral areas and polling stations in effective campaigning. Targets should be set for members of the grassroots to meet, in terms of recruitment of others into the party formations at polling station or branch levels. Members of the party should be given targets to meet in community engagement.
Moreover, the mode of communication from the party to the grassroots should not be limited to radio and television. Though using the mass media to communicate is good, we may be missing a lot when limiting ourselves to it. One on one engagement with the base is a way of revitalising them.
The party members must train the grassroots in effective party communication, so that they can extend the reach of party communication in the community they find themselves in.
In addition, the party should embark on a massive recruitment drive, led by constituency executives. Here, the party would create recruitment schemes for people in hard to reach places of constituencies, such as deep villages, cottages, ghettos etc.
There is also a need for an extensive party education. The essence of probity and accountability, which are the founding principles of the party, is lost on many members. The party must take active steps to rectify this.
It is a step in a good direction that the party has established a party school at the Headquarters in Adabraka. The party could deploy young graduates of this school to the hinterlands of the nation to educate the grassroots on the principles and ideology of the party. If there is anything that distinguishes the party from NPP, it is the principles and ideology, so I urge the party to treat them with utmost priority.
Lastly, Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) is a tremendous resource at the disposal of the party. There are tens of thousands of youths organised under TEIN. One advantage with TEIN is that all of its members are educated. NDC must, as a matter of urgency, develop a medium to long-term plan for TEIN.
TEIN members must enrol on courses taught by the party school, even if necessary on virtual basis. When properly resourced and coordinated, the impact of TEIN could be extended beyond campuses of universities.
In fact, as far as election 2024 is concerned, NDC must make it a point to deploy TEIN members to serve as polling station agents in Ashanti and parts of Eastern region where laxity on the parts of some party agents contributed to votes padding in favour of the NPP, during the just ended election. Students are likely to be more vigilant than others are.
In concluding, I want to reiterate to party members to maintain the national leadership of the party. Their performance has been impressive, given the challenges they had to go through. All we need to do is a deeper introspection and right the wrongs because it will not be in the interest of the party to change a winning team.
In addition, no one throws away the baby with the dirty water. As we embark on reorganisation, I urge the party to prioritise the grassroots and its different levers for victory in 2024.
