Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Get our NPP members off the streets of Accra

Members of the New Patriotic Party are aggrieved and they have every reason to be.  The poor officiating by Dr. Afari Djan and his Electoral Commission in the recently concluded Presidential and Parliamentary Elections has related the clear winner of the election to the background whilst the loser, Current President Mahama becomes the beneficiary. This situation is similar to what was obtainable in Apartheid South Africa where the black who were the original land owners became tenants on their own lands. Do not get me wrong. I am not imputing any different meaning. I am saying the obvious. The New Patriotic Party won the 2012 Presidential Election, but has been adjudged losers. To let the steam out of their anger, the party leadership asked its teeming supporters to assemble at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. But it must be stated that party members themselves had taken the initiative to let Ghanaians and the International Community know of the daylight robbery by spontaneously assembling at the Nima Residence of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Flag-bearer of the party.
 
I love the NPP very much, just like majority of Ghanaians. Every fibre or organ in me is crying out loudly against this flagrant abuse of my human rights. I and many Ghanaians voted for the NPP only for Afari Djan and his Electoral Commission to overturn the will of the masses. But I am one member of the party who believe that in the midst of the EC’s attempts to embark on its destructive route to Golgotha, the party must not engage in any act which is likely to tarnish its image in the long run.   

I have always, right from the time I started writing for the party more than six years ago advocated the stance that, in dealing with one’s avowed enemy in moment of crisis, one should not forget one most important cardinal principle in life – Always be in control of your emotions. Nelson Mandela adopted a stoic philosophy in life. In spite of the ill treatment he received at the hands of agents of Apartheid South Africa, he did not exhibit any sign of bitterness. And that perhaps accounted for his exemplary leadership stature qualities in contemporary African and World politics. On his election as President of post apartheid South Africa, he did not exhibit any trait which could be construed him as a hater of the white race.
It is on this premise that I advise the NPP leadership to be circumspect in its actions and utterances at such a period the party finds itself at the cross roads.

The New Patriotic Party has chosen to use legitimate means to challenge the doctored and declared results at the law courts. I commend the leadership of the party for such bold step. Demonstrations are some of the means to express our anger at the injustice meted to our party by Afari Djan and the supposedly Peace Council led by the Reverend Emmanuel Asante Antwi. Nevertheless, I strongly feel that a day’s demonstration is enough to prove to those who have perverted justice and the rest of the international community that we are no pushovers and that we are not going to swallow any bitter pill from anybody, no matter how mighty placed the person is.  

Continuous exhibition of anger on the streets of the nation’s capital will worsen our plight and dim the fortunes of our great party. You see, if you bring people on to the streets, you must be prepared to take responsibility for the actions and utterances of the people and as we all know it becomes very difficult to control their actions, especially after the first day. Wrong people infiltrate the ranks and file of the demonstrators to commit atrocities in the name of the party/organization that called out the people and that was exactly what happened in the case of the NPP.

I do not know what measures the leadership of our party put in place to flush out infiltrators when it asked its teeming supporters to assemble. As things stand out now, the party must investigate the assault on the journalists and deal drastically with the miscreants who carried out those attacks if only they could be found. In fact, after the confusion that erupted at the house of the flag- bearer as a result of the spontaneous attacks on the journalists, the party leadership should have “reign in” its members just as wild horses were “broken” or tamed in the United States. If the leadership had ordered the arrest of perpetrators of those acts of vandalism or destruction who were presumed to be members of the NPP, sanity would have prevailed and any such negative act would have been nipped in the bud. The New Patriotic Party is a disciplined party and its members and supporters are expected to behave with decorum.  

As can be seen, some of the alleged attacks especially on some citizens of Ghana have been exaggerated. And this is affecting the image of the party. We must do a thorough investigation to fish out those who committed such gargantuan crime against their fellow human beings. Again, I am of the opinion that after the debacle at the residence of our flag-bearer during which some journalists were alleged to have been assaulted by some party supporters, efforts  should have made to video tape or install some electronic gadgets at vantage points at the Kwame Nkrumah circle to record everything that took place. If we had done that, we will now be singing a different tune instead of being confronted with the task of embarking on the difficult task of doing some damage control. The perpetrators would   have been found out by now. And like what happens in the advanced countries, if we record the event, the leadership of the party would sit down at the end of the day to watch the video. This will give us of an idea of what to do the next time people are called out onto the streets.

 I now come to the utterances of some party elders. We have opted to legitimately pursue the case in court. Thus, the utterance by some top members of the party to turn the Obra Spot near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle into Tahrir Square of Egypt is greatly at variance with our posture. Ghanaians are not Arabs. Fire a canister of tear gas into the midst of people and everybody will scamper for dear life or “take cover”. And in the case of the Egyptians they were fighting to get rid of a dictator.  Like I have stated earlier, we have chosen to tread the path of justice and we must not seen to be engaging in any act of vandalism and wanton destruction of life and property. Such acts will alienate the party from ordinary Ghanaians, whom we are attempting to woo into the party. 

Like I have stated earlier, since we have chosen to tread the path of non violence, the party must not be seen to be engaging in any act which is likely to endanger the peace and stability of the country.

What happens if the court declares a runoff between our party and that of NDC? And remember Peace Fm and the Multi Media Group have been our strong allies by giving us their platform to articulate our views. What do you think will happen under such a circumstance? Do you think the journalists who were assaulted by miscreants masque rally under the umbrella of the NPP will vote for the party? Do you think family members of the assaulted journalist will vote for the NPP? I don’t think so!

I am happy to learn that the party has made a verbal apology to the affected media houses and quickly followed it up with written ones. The Leadership should make time to personally visit the affected journalist and also replace their properties which were vandalized during the attacks.

Again, I would like the party to advise those members whose pictures appeared on Television and pages of Newspapers wielding replica guns. The NPP is not a belligerent party. We are not poised for war in the literal sense of the word. Mere rhetoric and supposedly militant outlook are not what will win the battle for us. We are for peace and that is why we have chosen to go and reclaim our mandate at the law court. 
  
I now wish to comment the calls by Heads of member Countries of the African Union and the ECOWAS for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party to concede defeat. Those calls were made in very bad taste. If indeed, Nana Addo has lost, why, he will concede. But in a situation where there is clear evidence that he has won, why should he surrender? All that Nana Addo and the New Patriotic Party are saying is very simple. Let the Ghanaian law courts decide who won the December 7, 2012 Presidential Elections. In the alternative, let the issue be tabled before an international arbitration of eminent legal luminaries with the relevant blue sheets before it. Let them go through the records one after the other. If at the end of the day, the arbitrators feel President John Mahama won the elections, let the status quo remain. However, if the evidence points clearly to a Nana Addo’s victory, then the proper thing should be done. The President should concede defeat to enable Nana Addo to be sworn in as President. 

Is this too much for the international community to accept?


Source: Daniel Danquah Damptey (Damptey@yahoo.com) 0243715297

Monday, December 17, 2012

Honouring Nkrumah’s Legacy Of ‘Urgency’: A Challenge For The NDC



The decision by the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to honour Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, by declaring his official birthday, 21st September, a national holiday has been welcomed by all-true Nkrumahists and Pan-Africanists around the world. The fact that the African Union has also officially adopted the day and recommended it to member countries as a holiday, has given the Mills’ government decision even greater credibility. Alongside the official holiday, a National Committee set up by the government has also proposed a series of year-long programmes and activities to commemorate Nkrumah’s centenary, and suitable budget has been proposed and approved for the related activities. Had the NDC not won the 2008 elections, there is considerable doubt as to the extent to which the NPP government would have bothered to celebrate Nkrumah’s legacy. Many NPP adherents see promoting Nkrumah’s achievements as somehow dimming the lights of their forbears of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), from which Party Nkrumah broke off to form his Convention People’s Party (CPP).

Notwithstanding these official efforts, the true and most sustainable way in which Nkrumah’s memory can be conserved is not so much by a holiday or programmes of celebration but rather by the extent to which Ghanaians can be taught to live up to the sense of urgency with which Dr. Nkrumah fought for Ghana’s independence, became Leader of Government Business, Prime Minister, President, and died in exile.

In that respect, it is useful on such a historic occasion to review some of the ideals for which Kwame Nkrumah stood.

1. Nkrumah promoted respect and value for all levels of Ghanaian society, whether literate, educated, urban or rural. “I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me,” he said to many of the down-trodden in society. To others he said: “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added unto it.”

2. He had a high level of passion for Ghana, Africa and believed that “the black man can be in charge of his own affairs”. He promoted the concept of the African personality and Pan-Africanism.

3. His entire life was dedicated to Ghana and Africa, so even in his marriage decision, he married a woman he barely knew but made sure she was from another part of Africa, in order to demonstrate the Pan-Africanist ideals that he stood for.

4. He was selfless in his approach to leadership. Although he had a unique sense of dress style and lived comfortably, he died without owning any piece of land or even a 2-bedroom house in Ghana or elsewhere.

5. A keen political strategist and organizer, a man of action with a keen ear to the ground, he declared that “Organisation decides everything”, and recognized earlier than his political competitors that “Independence Now” was what the majority of then Gold Coasters wanted rather than “Independence in the Shortest Possible time.”

6. An intellectual, who wrote many books while performing the work of Prime Minister and President, he spoke and wrote with clarity on the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle, helped to create the Non-Aligned Movement and notably stated: “We face neither East nor West, we face forward.”

7. In his bid to bring rapid development to Ghana, he had to drag some conservatives along, and sometimes had to threaten those who fought his plans to modernize Ghana. For some of such non-progressive thinkers he declared: “The chiefs will run away and leave their sandals behind.”

8. A man of great ideas, Nkrumah’s tall list of initiatives cannot be summarized in any one article. His aim at promoting economic independence and at raising the standard and quality of living of the average man led him to create the Workers Brigade, Builders Brigade, Trade Union Congress, Ghana’s Farmers Council, Young Pioneers and more than 300 state enterprises. His “Work and Happiness” programme for job creation, the External Service of Radio Ghana by which he espoused Ghana’s positions on international affairs, and his launching of an Atomic Energy Reactor programme put Ghana leagues ahead of other African and other developing countries.

9. A man in a great hurry for Ghana, the building of Akosombo, an upgrading of Tema Harbour, the establishment of the University of Science and Technology, the construction of the Accra-Tema Motorway, the establishment of the Ghana Education Trust, were amongst his many enduring legacies. Above all, he conscientised the youth of his day, and many of the children of that generation, some now in their 50s and 60s, continue to live in his spirit.

It is against this background of an important part of Ghana’s history, as to what can be achieved in a short time when a government is organized and determined, that many Ghanaians remain worried about the pace of development in Ghana today. All over the country, phrases such as “not much is happening” and “the government is too slow” are to be heard daily. Although President Mills as an individual and many in his administration clearly admire many aspects of Nkrumah’s contribution to Ghana’s development, a key aspect that many in the public believe is missing is a lack of emulation of Nkrumah’s sense of urgency and speed. Nkrumah exemplified the issue of immediacy in the paraphrase: “we prefer self-government with danger to safety in servitude”. It was also his definitive appreciation of the importance of time and urgency that made him overtake his political competitors with the time-bound slogan “Independence Now” versus the UGCC’s slogan of “Independence within the Shortest Possible Time.” The UGCC slogan, as can be seen, was time-elastic, flexible, and lacked the sense of urgency that the Gold Coasters of the late 1940s wished for. So when the Mills-Mahama administration today asks the people of Ghana for more time to deliver on its promises what it is in effect telling the people of Ghana is: “we shall give you development (water, roads, hospitals, jobs, and schools) in the shortest possible time.” Meantime, the people of Ghana are asking for “jobs and development projects now”. The NDC rank-and-file who fought to bring the Mills-Mahama administration into power are asking for “Jobs and Empowerment Now” NOT “Jobs and Empowerment in the shortest possible time.” After being starved for jobs, incomes, contracts and other business opportunities by the NPP government for some 8 years, the NDC rank-and-file can no longer wait. And their impatience has been further worsened by some of the appointments that have been made, where they can see clearly that many people who had little to do with the NDC’s electoral victory are amongst those reaping the rewards. Lobbying has been raised to a high fine art, and many have been appointed not on the basis of merit but by virtue of proximity to power, feigned loyalty, financial considerations and other factors. Under these conditions of a growing disparity between the sense of urgency of the millions of Party supporters who feel neglected and marginalized and the less than one thousand office holders, one can sense the recipe for increasing confrontation and conflict within the Party unless the Mills-Mahama government can move much faster to heal festering wounds.


There is no doubt that the Mills-Mahama government inherited a deep hole in public finances from the Kufuor Administration. It is also true that the global financial crisis has amplified the government’s difficulties. Also true is the fact that after an eight-year greedy NPP administration, in which most Ghanaians stood by while a few people fed fat on public resources, ordinary Ghanaians have high expectations partly because of the NDC’s own campaign promises. President Mills himself leads a modest lifestyle and has never had an acquisitive mindset. He would like to achieve a lot for Ghanaians during his term in office. But these are all amongst the very reasons that many Ghanaians believe that the Mills-Mahama administration could have put its best foot forward faster. There is a general measurable view around the country that the NDC government can indeed achieve more results faster if it simply ensured that the right NDC people are in the right positions; nothing very complex.


After the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966, a favourite criticism against him by Danquah-Busia sympathizers who took over power with the help of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was that Nkrumah had placed “square pegs in round holes” in some of his appointments. To be sure, having parted ways with many in the intellegentsia in order to form the CPP, Nkrumah subsequently had to rely on “veranda boys and girls” (many non-graduate political operatives) to fight for independence and also to assume subsequent positions as Ministers, District Commissioners and heads of state enterprises. 

The current NDC government has no such dilemma; the NDC has halls full of very qualified and experienced people, most in Ghana, some in the diaspora. So, large segments of the public have been asking on radio stations why the government may have chosen to field some players from its Team B when many Team A players are available and are able to play? Can the government really move quickly if it appoints people who may mean well but who lack the requisite qualifications, experience and therefore confidence to take quick and correct decisions in their new positions? Of the more than 70 experienced Ministers and Deputies from the Rawlings era, only two are in the current line-up of Ministers and Deputies. Yes, many appointees are mature, capable and well-meaning, but in the world of athletics, not everyone cannot be a Usain Bolt no matter how they may wish to be. And on the soccer field, not every player can score goals like Didier Drogba, Adebayor or Ronaldo, or play as well as Michael Essien, no matter how much they may wish to. So, for a Party that made numerous promises in order to come to power, it is critical that in forming its implementation teams, decisions are made that will ensure that those selected can achieve results “Now” rather than in the “shortest possible time”. Failure to appreciate this prime lesson from the Nkrumah era, is what may be leading many Ghanaians to wonder whether the current NDC administration can do enough and quickly enough to merit the confidence of Ghanaians for a second term. It must be understood that such public questioning of the government’s competency by ordinary Ghanaians cannot sit well with leading NDC members no matter where they reside: hence this article.
 
In this Knowledge Age, where information is easily available to more of the citizenry, whatever the Mills-Mahama government does or is not doing is being routinely discussed on some 70+ radio stations, scores of newspapers, on at least 5 TV stations, the world-wide-web, in many offices, restaurants and chop-bars, and in many living-rooms, bedrooms, school compounds and farms. This is why effective management of the government’s communication machinery is so important. There is a good reason why God gave us two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, but-surprisingly(?) only ONE mouth; it is to help us, as human beings and the human institutions we build to speak with one voice. President Mills has admitted that this area—better public communication-- needs his closer attention. I am sure he knows of people who can help him in this area, so if such people are not contacted, one cannot be surprised that the current confusion will continue to rage on. The concerns being expressed by Ghanaian citizens are like those of spectators at the national football field of development who are aware that the NDC has some Adebayors, Ronaldinos and Didier Drogbas who are available but who for some curious reasons are not currently being fielded in the game of development. So, rather than the government asking Ghanaians for more time, the spectators feel that the right answer is rather for the coach and team manager to field the right players in the right position, and in honour of Dr. Nkrumah to do so “now” rather than in the “shortest possible time.” Those Ghanaians who need jobs, incomes, better schools and clinics “now” are convinced that the great goals of development could be scored right “now” if some of the top players who are cooling their heels on the bench were brought into the game without further delay to ensure the long-awaited victory in prosperity.

To consider a few examples of the current situation in Ghana, we may ask ourselves why a written recommendation in November 2008 for the NDC leadership to establish a transitional team was ignored. That singular act could have gotten the government to have hit the ground running, and helped to quicken the pace of the appointments process. Ghanaians are asking some of us in the NDC leadership why Ambassadors and High Commissioners—who need no Parliamentary vetting—could not have been appointed and have been in their countries of accreditation by June this year? Our NPP opponents are asking us whether there is no financial cost to the economy if there are no important office holders, such as board members of banks, in place for many months, and banks cannot approve vital loans? Or are we in the NDC pretending that our NPP opponents are not monitoring all these very public developments? Senior officials in the Castle have wondered why a well-considered written proposal addressed to the highest offices on how Ghana could gain the most from the Obama visit was not even acknowledged? What then were the main achievements for Ghana, if any, from the much-heralded July visit of US President Barack Obama?
 
When Ghana scored a historical achievement by becoming the first African country in sub-Sahara to be visited by the new and dynamic US President, many were Ghana’s neighbours who were green with envy. They expected Ghana to benefit mightily from the visit. All educated Africans know that America is currently the world’s mightiest military, political, diplomatic, economic, financial, energy, manufacturing, IT, entertainment, educational, agricultural and sports power on earth. As such, if any U.S. President—especially one who has African blood in his veins-- chooses to visit Ghana instead of some 40 alternative countries, it is indeed an invaluable opportunity for any forward-thinking country to make the most of it. However, no matter how the government may explain it, what should have been a more meaningful 2-day visit got reduced to a visit of less than 24 hours. This, according to well-placed White House officials, was due to the lack of clarity and direction on the Ghana side. While a team of Ghanaians with relevant U.S. experience could have been assembled to assist in ensuring that Ghana got the most from this visit, such did not happen. Written proposals to that effect were ignored. Key individuals who passionately support this government and who have proven experience in dealing with the United States were not consulted at all. The visit itself passed well by Ghanaian standards, with no major negative incidents. However, no communiqué, declaration, agreement, memoranda were issued or signed, nor was there even a joint press conference or joint statement released to announce the main discussions between the two Presidents. Yet the government has access to men and women who could easily—for free-- have assisted to raise the level and importance of this visit and to ensure that Ghana got the most from it.

So, if by failing to get what Ghana could have obtained from this important visit, the pace of Ghana’s development continues to be slow, where does the responsibility lie? Would the government have been asking Ghanaians for more time if the visit had resulted in a more beneficial outcome, and a major boost had occurred for Ghana’s economy? Has any Ghanaian read since the Obama visit of any plans by which Ghana proposes to capitalize on the visit? For example, have there been any new initiatives announced in the tourism sector to take advantage of the visit? Is it really a matter of being given more time to take the right decisions on such matters, or is it not more a matter of taking the right decisions at the first opportunity?

Is there a good justification for why a government that won an election so narrowly should consciously marginalize so many amongst its core supporters? Can this government not mobilize more Ghanaians in a more serious, structured way to achieve more of its objectives? Is it true that the only way any qualified Ghanaian can assist his/her country is to be appointed into a government position? Is it true that there are not enough interested and qualified women to help the government achieve its gender targets in appointments? Is it possibly true that some people in the halls of power claim that it would be too expensive for some experienced Ghanaians in the diaspora to be invited to assist the government, but not too expensive when hundreds of Government officials travel outside the country each month? Is the distance from New York to Accra farther than that from Accra to New York? Does the government not currently pay at least 1,000 Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians as consultants in foreign currency each month?

There are only about a thousand political appointments that any government can make. But, there are numerous ways in which to inspire, motivate, mobilize and generate enthusiasm amongst the hundreds of thousands of others who cannot be given government appointments, so that they can become part of the process of national development--- not just people who are waiting for development to happen to them. Inspiring Ghanaians to serve their nation selflessly was one of Nkrumah’s major achievements. The NDC government can learn from that worthy example. 

The Operation Feed Yourself programme which Col. Acheampong championed in the 1970s, the Peoples and Workers Defence Committees of the PNDC Rawlings era, as well as Nana Konadu’s 31st December Women’s Movement’s activities into the 1990s, all represented ways in which past leaders were able to mobilize millions in the population and to sensitize them into becoming voluntary extensions of the government. Ghanaians above 40 years old have experienced all these phenomena, so they can tell when a government is inspiring the citizens and getting things done and when it is being dull and slow. Should members of the NDC keep quiet when the Party is losing ground publicly, just so that we can claim to be loyal? What are we to be loyal to—our own imminent downfall? Are we to be loyal to mortals or to God, Country and Party? President Mills has asked those who wish to constructively criticize his administration to do so, so let us hope that patriotic citizens who take up his offer will not be vilified merely for speaking their minds. In the absence of serious opinion polling in the country, does the NDC leadership need to wait for the results of the 2012 elections in order to find out that we are slipping in popularity? In many countries, parties and governments spend good money to find out scientifically and periodically what the people are thinking and saying, but many in our Party and government often prefer informal chop-bar research, personal vendetta stories, and skewed field reports from certain “security” agencies.

Which honest football team supporter watching a match at a stadium or even on TV cannot tell within the first 20 minutes of a game if his team is having difficulty or not? In a 100 metres x 4 relay race, if your quartet’s first runner is several yards behind after the batons are handed over in the first leg, which experienced coach—or even spectator-- cannot tell that that team is unlikely to win the race no matter who is running in their final leg? So when President Rawlings is making certain statements about the current government’s performance, after occupying the job of Head of State for 19 years, he must know what he is talking about. He is the only one who has ever supervised President Mills as a Vice President, and therefore the only one who can pronounce fairly on whether President Mills can do better or not. In a class report, when your teacher writes that: “he can do better”, most students don’t get angry with their teacher, but rather take the advice in good faith: it is for their own good. If your teacher says you can do better and you get angry with him, the forthcoming examination results will reveal whether the student or the teacher was right. President Professor Mills has taught thousands of students over a 25-year period and has marked many examinations himself, so I am absolutely sure—having worked closely under and with him for many years-- that he can take a “can do better” remark in a constructive spirit. His unofficial advisors and close friends should not poison his mind over such tough love.

Currently, if by the generally agreed slow pace of the government, some Ghanaians who need jobs or good health are dying very quietly and invisibly in remote parts of the country, should patriotic Ghanaians remain quiet simply because they are NDC members and because they fully support this government? If “justice delayed is justice denied”, then could it not be that development delayed is also progress and prosperity denied? Are we, as Ghanaians, including some of us who were trained as Kwame Nkrumah’s Young Pioneers, expected to remain quiet indefinitely, even as Ghana slowly and invisibly loses some critical elements of its global competitiveness? Should leading NDC members stay quietly on the sidelines even if we can see that if matters continue as they are we would lose power in 2012? Are we the kind of passengers who sit passively in a bus until we die in an accident even when we realize that the bus is not being well driven? Have NDC members forgotten so soon how we all had to collectively struggle to win the last elections by only 40,000 votes? Is it because many office holders today do not know where Tain is that they can’t appreciate the concerns of the foot soldiers? Do we believe that nine months into a new government, we still retain those 40,000 votes earned after Tain? 

Do we believe what many of our supporters openly say, that the NDC may have come into office but the NPP is still in power? Are our very good friends in the Castle and at Party Headquarters not aware that below the level of Minister/Deputy and CEO/D-G of major institutions, the structures and people that the NPP put in place over the last 8 years are still generally in place? Do appointees never hear that when NDC members visit many public sector establishments to seek various forms of assistance, they are shunted aside because little has really changed except the ceremonial heads? Is there a reason why many of our NDC appointees are reported as being no longer accessible to Party members by phone or text, and have distanced themselves from those who put them into power? Verily, verily, as Shakespeare reminds us: “Lowliness is young ambition’s ladder, whereto the climber upwards turns his face. But whence once he has attained the uppermost rungs, then unto the ladder he turns his back, scorning the base degrees by which he did ascend.”

It would be preferable for all NDC discussions to be held behind closed doors. But people in leadership positions are the ones who must create such forums for private discussions. If President Rawlings sometimes makes statements that some people consider unpalatable, it may because space is not being created internally where such robust disagreements may be exchanged privately. Some of the leading appointees in the NDC government should ask themselves the last time they visited the Party headquarters, or attended meetings of the National Executive Committee. Do most appointees realize that a gulf is widening between them and the Party faithful? Are the appointing authorities aware that most foot soldiers are angry because of the way some leading Party members are being treated? Are there no military historians who can advise the authorities that it is dangerous to neglect battle-hardened soldiers (including political foot soldiers) after they have returned from a victorious battlefield? Don’t we remember that it was such neglect of ex-servicemen after the 2nd World War that led Sgt Adjetey and others to demonstrate on 28th February, 1948, thus beginning the process that led to riots and strikes, Nkrumah’s elevation and the successful struggle for independence? Is there a reason why those in government cannot understand that ensuring party unity must be one of their daily priorities?

When Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General of the USA, asked his brother John Kennedy, then U.S. President, why he tolerated a difficult man like J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and why he did not sack him, President Kennedy replied: “Bob, I’d rather have Edgar inside the government pissing out than outside pissing in”. Are we aware that parents who build houses without toilets and bathrooms force their children to do their thing in public? Are we in Ghana saying that we don’t know why President Obama invited Mrs. Hilary Clinton into an important position in his government, in spite of the quite bitter contest they had during the primaries in the Democratic Party? In the case of the NPP, when Alan Kyeremateng felt after the NPP Congress that he and his supporters were being marginalized, he resigned from the Party, causing a major split in NPP ranks. Are NDC members not aware that just that split is what could have cost the NPP the mere 40,000 votes with which they lost the last elections, and which has gotten the NDC into power? Does that NPP experience need to be repeated in the NDC, too? Is anyone listening in the NDC government? “Those who have eyes to see, let them see, and those who have ears to hear let them hear.”

As we celebrate the centenary of Nkrumah’s birth, let us all Ghanaians rededicate ourselves to the ideals for which he lived, especially his urgent struggle to re-build the African’s place in the global community. Let us congratulate President Mills for his own modest lifestyle, which emulates Presidents Nkrumah and President Rawlings. Let’s congratulate President Mills for honouring Nkrumah with a national holiday and for appointing his son Sekou Nkrumah to the National Youth Council; let us recognize the enormous odds that Samia Nkrumah had to surmount in becoming a Member of Parliament and wish her well; let us encourage Gorkeh Nkrumah to continue to follow in his father’s footsteps as a writer, journalist and intellectual in Egypt. For my part, I was privileged in my own small way, to persistently urge Sekou to pursue ownership of the official house in Labone that the state of Ghana had allocated to the Nkrumah family but which Sekou was too modest to ask back from the government. Between 2001-2003, Sekou and I were both tenants at a small home in Labone, part of which I used as an office; and we had some time to get acquainted.

Those who have inherited Nkrumah’s legacy must be aware of the less than 3% of the national vote that Nkrumahist parties capture in national elections in Ghana. Emotive as it may be to some, the time has come for a debate to take place amongst Nkrumahists, especially those in the NDC, on the merits or demerits of developing and promoting an Nkrumah-Rawlings tradition, taking the best of the records of both leaders, in order to keep the Danquah-Busia political tradition at bay. If I listen to many NDC members and I choose to run this year as a candidate for one of the National Vice Chairmanship slots in the NDC, then it would be specifically to help rebuild the party, to strengthen its structures, to make the government more accountable to the party, as well as to explore with other like-minded people how the beneficiaries of the Nkrumah and Rawlings traditions can forge a more meaningful partnership for Ghana.

If the NDC administration truly wishes to honour Kwame Nkrumah’s memory, then it must be able to take a number of critical steps “NOW” to assure Ghanaians of its ability to accomplish its promises! I believe we can. The can-do spirit is what Nkrumah lived with and died, and it is the best way to honour his memory. Some 60 years ago, when Nkrumah realized that his colleagues in the UGCC were acting too slowly, he chose to form another Party, to enable Ghanaians to gain our political independence more quickly. Today, there is a general feeling around the country and in the diaspora that the NDC government is not moving fast enough to bring economic relief to Ghanaians. The President himself seems to have heard this cry and has asked for more time. Ghanaians may be patient and long suffering, but increasingly they are ready to punish at the ballot box political parties and leaders who waste their time. All those of us who sacrificed a lot of our time, money and efforts to enable the NDC win the 2008 elections are not simply going to stand quietly aside while a few people mess the party’s future up!! We must collectively take steps now to align the Party and the government’s efforts with the people’s expectations. That is how the NDC can inherit Nkrumah’s legacy and keep worthy memories of him eternally alive. Nkrumah believed and practiced Shakespeare’s view that:

“There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyages of their lives are bound in shallows and in misery. Upon such a sea are we (NDC) now afloat, and we must take the tide when it serves or lose our ventures...”

Source: Spio-Garbrah Sebastian, September 2009


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

On Prophets and Elections: The Prophecy that seems both Nana Addo and John Mahama


Prophets are the mediums between God and His people. In the Bible, there were so many of them, men distinguished from their fellow men by God Himself, gifted with the ability to see into the future and hear God's voice-directly. Their duty is simple and their abilities is granted them so that they can deliver His message to His people no matter how bitter or sweet it is.

Prophets don’t work in a ‘margin of error’ medium; if they make a prediction it is deemed as the word of God Himself and must come to pass at all cost. The Bible makes us understand per Deuteronomy 18:21-22 that the test of a true prophet is that his predictions must come true.

The work of a prophet isn't a rosy one, consider someone like Jeremiah, his biography would read something like this 'Jeremiah attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials, and opposed by a false prophet- eventually freed and brought to some comfort by a beneficiary of his prophesy-NEBUCHADNEZZAR.'

His, wasn't a lone story, several other prophets like Samuel, Elisha, Elijah, Ezekiel all had to suffer hardships because of the message of God to His people that they had to deliver. And more importantly because they had to make public predictions which didn't always appeal to all people in high places. Prophets like Jeremiah suffered all these hardships simply because the messages they had to deliver in their times, were messages that were bitter to the ears of those in authority.

To my mind, a prophet must meet the standards of a prophet by first building confidence in God among God’s people. To achieve this, a prophet must make his predictions public with all confidence at whatever time, regardless of whom it is going to appeal to or who is going to get offended by it. Two, a prophet must not be afraid of whatever consequence that his prediction would arouse because God is on His side and he would eventually be vindicated since his predictions would come true-like in the case of Jeremiah.

A few weeks to this year’s elections, a school of prophets, headed by Prophet Elisha Salifu Amoako, came out to say that God had revealed the results of the elections to them and that they had written a letter to the candidate who was eventually going to win the elections congratulating him. This prediction of a sort, felt short of telling Ghanaians who God's choice was or even why God had chosen that person (not that the latter really matters).

Looking at the situation that we currently find ourselves in, where the NPP has proven to all who care to know that the elections were rigged in the favor of the incumbent, I wonder what the prophets really saw. My mind is bothered by so many questions,which begs to be answered.

1.Did they see John Mahama or Nana Addo?
2. If they saw John Mahama, are they saying God's choice had to rig the elections to win? 
3. If they saw Nana Addo are they saying a man,ordinary man, could work to prevent God's choice from taking his rightful positions?
4.Why were they afraid to tell the whole nation back then who really was going to win the elections as revealed to them?
5.Why can't they publish copies of the letter(s) they claim to have sent to the 'choosen' leader?

These questions when answered might perchance save us from the looming crisis I foresee.....METHINKS.

Source: Kofi Opare Hagan

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

WHY DID PRESIDENT MAHAMA CANCEL HIS US BOOK TOUR JUST BEFORE THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT MILLS?

President John Dramani Mahama has found time during a busy Presidential campaign and three days before the crucial election to tell us all via the Daily Graphic “Why I wrote my book”. 

He uses the article in the state owned newspaper to officially announce the launch in Ghana of his memoire ‘My First Coup d’Etat: memories from the lost decades of Africa’ and urges us all to commit our memories to paper. 

OK, Mr. President, I have a memory and also a question for you?  I remember that you cut short your U.S. book tour and cancelled a prestigious launch event in Atlanta, Georgia at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum set for 19th July 2012.

This seemed very strange at the time because Atlanta has a large African-American and Ghanaian population, which is exactly the demographic your US publisher would want sell your book to. So the question is; are you sure it was merely a co-incidence that your cancellation of this event came just a few days before the death of President John Evans Atta Mills?

According to your article in the Daily Graphic the late president’s untimely demise “happened a few short days after my return from the U.S launch of the book, a requirement of the contract with my U.S. based publisher that I fulfilled”.

But that statement is not true is it Mr. President? You did not fulfill all the events planned by your publisher to launch your book. In addition to the cancellation in Atlanta you also cancelled a launch event in Seattle.
According to The Carter Presidential Centre, you had to return to Ghana unexpectedly.  

What were those unexpected events and did they have anything to do with the state of health of the late president? 

As you are keen for us to have an accurate memory of the history of Ghana, I think we all deserve a factual answer.


Christina Bonsu