The Anatomy of the 200 elections

HE ANATOMY OF THE 2008 GENERAL ELECTIONS: THE HYBRID CANDIDATE VERSUS THE TRUE BREED CANDIDATE, WHO IS GOING TO LEAD US INTO THE SECOND DECADE OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM” A DELIVERY BY MR. CHARLES BINEY AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN KUMASI ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29TH, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, I am profoundly honored and highly delighted by our presence here this afternoon. I am choking back tears as I remember where were yesteryear and how far we have come today. Just a few years ago, this gathering would have been impossible vis-Ã -vis the draconian policies of then neo-facist P/NDC dictatorship-the progenitor of the NDC. The invaluable role the media played in the emergence and consolidation of our current constitutional order cannot be overemphasized.

Without further ado, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize some of the journalist I met and befriended during our contemporary struggle for freedom-men and for that matter women, whose courage and commitment to the course in spite of the dastardly acts and grisly murders of the P/NDC, contributed without any equivocation to the birth of the forth republic – Dan Ansah, Tommy Thompson, Kwaku Baaku Jnr., Haruna Atta, Kabral Blay-Amihere, Nana Kofi Coomson, and the last but not the least, my dear brother and friend Kwesi Pratt Jnr. Some of them have preceded us to eternity and the only flowers we can use to garland their memory is our eternal vigilance and continuing commitment to the struggle to preserve the current constitutional order and deny nihilist, anarchist and military adventurists from turning the clock of progress back once again.

Indeed you are the fourth estate of the realm; I would also like to recognize members of the Dallas chapter of the NPP who sponsored this event and have committed to support TESCON events throughout the rest of the campaign.

Friends and fellow citizens, in less than two weeks from today, we will be voting to make a choice that will immensely impact future wars against diseases and poverty, achievement of social justice for every Ghanaian, irrespective of religion, creed or ethnicity, and the pursuance of a development agenda that is broad based, inclusive and sustainable. The choice we make on December 7, will also determine whether the clouds of darkness which encircled us, in the 80’s and 90’s with its attendant barbaric acts of striping and flocking girls and women in public, unlawful seizure of properties, vigilante marauding gangsters harassing and intimidating the masses, exiling innocent citizens of this great nation, disappearances, murders, the use of naked violence to submerge dissenting voices into eternal silence, and a host of arbitrariness too horrifying and numerous to list.

The impact of the domino effect of the collapse of the global economy notwithstanding, the difference between the NPP, the great grand offspring of the UP, and that of the NDC the direct offspring of the PNDC is as clear as that of day and night, good and evil, and light and darkness. Whilst the doyen of Ghana politics and the founding father of our party, Dr. J. B. Danquah insisted that the purposed of governmental action should be to enhance “the life’ liberty and property of each and every citizen” that of (Rtd.) Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, one of the architects of the bloody and despicable AFRC regime, the leader of the ruthless P/NDC government, and the sole founder and owner of the NDC insists that democracy is antithetical to his political philosophy. He believers in rule of force, seizure of personal properties, torture, arrests and detention without due process. The disdain and disrespect for Ghanaians, the callousness and ruthlessness that characterized his reign with its concomitant untold pain, suffering, and misery has never been paralleled in the cherished history of our beloved country, Ghana.

Another dimension to this race that should caution us about things to happen based on the outcome of the presidential election is the political loci of the flag bearers of these two parties. Whilst Nana Akufo-Addo is an independent-minded human rights and pro democracy advocate, who had to fight hard through the years to attain the respect, leadership, and unity of his party, Atta Rawlings-Mills on the other hand is a bybrid, dependent protégé of Jerry Rawlings whose continuing imposition at kangaroo congresses of the party has lead to the gradual disintegration of the moribund P/NDC party. Ladies and Gentlemen, coming events cast their shadows ahead of themselves, a word of the wise is enough, and to forewarn is to forearm. The choice could not have been clearer and simpler.

Is it the pure line independent-minded Nana Akufo-Addo, or the hybrid Rawlings-dependent Atta Rawlings-Mills? Excuse my baptism of Mills into Rawlings, but the gospel truth is Atta Mills is not his own man.

Folks, what Rawlings the serial coup maker can no longer accomplish through his preferred barbaric means want to do by indulgence, through the subterfuge of Atta Rawlings-Mills. And the good people of Ghana must reject Atta Rawlings-Mills in all his manifestations and deny Jerry Rawlings another chance of lording his crudeness and rudeness over the good people of Ghana. There is no gainsaying the fact that a vote for Atta-Mills is a vote for Jerry Rawlings or his derivative past. On the other hand, a vote for Nana Akufo-Addo is a vote for progress, and a vote for a brighter future. Whilst Atta Rawlings-Mills, is out there spewing out veiled threats’ insults, fear, and innuendos, Nana Akufo-Addo is focusing on issues and his vision of taking Ghana to a respectable higher level.

What has made one sick lately is this noise about change. Fellow citizen a leopard does not change its spots. Rawlings, Mills and for that matter Rawlings-Mills are inseparable, one and the same entity, co-dependants and not mutually exclusive of each other.

Now let’s set the records straight once and for all. Atta Rawlings-Mills was the Chairman of the Governments Economic Management Team when wrong figures were presented to the IMF and the World Bank resulting in the fine of about $50 million against the government of Ghana in 2001. Under Atta Rawlings-Mills watch as head of Governments Economic Management Team the people of Ghana witnessed his helplessness as the country’s economy suffered a disastrous fall. He stood sheepishly by whilst Salasi Guantu was tortured. And is this the kind of leadership the people of Ghana need in such a time like this? The Answer is a resounding heck No!!

At this juncture, I would like to challenge Atta Rawlings-Mills that if he has a mind of his own and is not a hybrid under Jerry Rawlings’ remote control, he should stand up and condemn Rawlings’ use of abusive words and threats of violence unbecoming of a former Head of State. Atta Rawlings-Mills should demonstrate that he has the Political spine to stand up to Rawlings’ bullish and crude antics on the Campaign trail. A classic example of Atta-Mills’ cowardice and always waiting for a cue from his master, occurred at the launching of the P/NDC manifesto when Atta Rawlings-Mills kept on lifting his arms half way up always looking over his shoulders to see whether his Master Rawlings is doing likewise and dropping them in a simple harmonic motion fashion until Rawlings himself lifted his hands up, and like a “zombie’ he acquiesced. At the same occasion, his godfather Rawlings rudely dragged him behind and snatched the microphone from his apprentice’s hand and took charge of the program. This is the same way Rawlings will snatch power from Atta if the people of Ghana dare commit this unpardonable mistake entrusting power into the hands of weak and feeble Uncle Atta. The connivance of Mills as regards Rawlings’ venomous vituperations on the Campaign trail in recent times leaves a lot to be desired.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the difference between Nana Akufo-Addo’ NPP and Rawlings-Mills’ P/NDC is so great that as much as I want to list them all, time and space makes it impossible. However, this delivery will be inconclusive without alluding to one major policy difference between these two traditions. Since the times our father, J. B. Danquah, to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, our Party’s policy has been to liberate the energies of Ghanaians for growth of a property owning democracy, with right to life, freedom and justice, the same cannot be said of Atta Rawlings-Mills. Since June 4th 1979, to date, the policy of Atta Rawlings-Mills has been arbitrariness and actually burning down markets to drive up prices and senselessly encouraging Ghanaians to boycott made in Ghana goods. Ladies and gentlemen, it this a sane path to sustainable development?.

Friends of the media, may be Atta Rawlings-Mills and his P/NDC are suffering from acute cognitive paralyses but the good people of Ghana today are politico-economically and socially conscious. It was Mark Twain who said, “If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck.” Similarly, if Mills’ NDC, look like Rawlings’ PNDC, condones and connives bankrupt inhumane and violent policies of Rawlings’ P/NDC , then Mills’ NDC is morally equivalent to Rawlings’ P/NDC. We need to remind the youth of today of Atta Rawlings-Mills and his AFRC/PNDC/NDC of yesteryear. This was an entity whose coup d’ètats was at a different level from any seen in the cherished history of our beloved Ghana. Contemporarily, it could be compared to the madness of Mengistu’s Ethiopian “tekadem”, Starlinism, Musollinism, or Hitlerism of the distant past.

Against this back drop, we need to be extremely vigilant and pray for peace in this country. Let’s pray especially for innocent NDC members like Atta Rawlings-Mills and some top echelon of the NDC who are innocently caught in the clutches of Kamikaze-mafia style cable who have vowed to capture power by any means necessary. We have all heard them o a campaign trail claiming victory pre-maturely and promising violence if the obvious (losing the forth coming general elections) happens. And I will not be at all surprised if some gurus of the P/NDC including Atta Rawaling-Mills are sacrificed and blamed on the NPP to satisfy their bloody crave to cause anarchy and destabilize the most peaceful nation in African. Again, I will not be at all surprised if strategic P/NDC structures are burnt down and blamed on the NPP to facilitate the plan ‘B’- to capture power at all cost.

We are all aware of the PNCD’s track record-extra judicial killings, disappearances, abducting, murdering and torching of the bodies of Judges, killing and maiming men and women of God willy-nilly, buring of churches, lodges, markets and a host of arbitrariness too numerous to mention. Therefore, if any of such grisly and dastardly acts precedes or proceeds the general elections, we know to where all fingers will be pointing. In view of these, we are humbly calling on all human rights and pro democracy groups throughout the world to focus their antennae on Ghana.

Friends and fellow citizens, TESCON and the youth, the stakes could not have been higher nor could these elections have been more critical. Let’s run tirelessly and claim the golden trophy of peace, love, jobs, quality education, rule of law, freedom and justice, affordable health care and sustained economic growth for our generation and posterity.

THE COURSE ENDURES !!

GHANA IS MOVING FORWARD WITH NPP

Thank you and God bless all.