Akufo-Addo’s victory and the way forward

By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo Nana Akufo Addo’s victory in the recent NPP delegates’ conference came as no surprise to anybody. What was surprising was its overwhelming nature. Long before his opponents embarked upon their Sisyphean effort to challenge his candidacy, well-meaning Ghanaians had already called upon them to give up so that Nana could be declared unopposed. It is debatable how their political future is enhanced by their persistence in challenging a candidate whose support base is so unparalleled in the long history of the Danquah- Busia-Dombo tradition.

However, their insistence to the very end is not only a testament of their disaffection but it also bespeaks Nana’s own inability to bring into his fold, through proper negotiations and interactions, those who have sworn a cabalistic oath to oppose him.

It is the normal sequel after such a strident contest to hear opponents congratulate the winner. But if past experience is anything to go by, then these congratulations are mere lip service, since deep inside, these opponents harbor the harsh bitterness of their defeat and hold grievances over their loss of friendships and resources, especially when they recall all the lies and chicanery that ensued in the heat of the campaigning. So we must understand that the losers are hurting badly, and it is the responsibility of the victors to show magnanimity in their victory by persuading them back into the fold. Going forward, Nana’s main challenge will certainly be more than just shouting shibboleths about an all-inclusive front.

He should be seen to be making huge concessions to the losing parties as a clear sign of his own political maturity, wisdom and readiness to be president of all. In the end, the small group of dissenting voters will be those who will make all the difference. So Nana should go to work at once, bringing to the center those who have hitherto fiercely opposed his candidacy.

I know Nana very well, and I can vouch for his humility, sagacity and tenacity, but he is surrounded by dangerous party hawks whose notion of party politics is grossly Machiavellian. They see no nuances in political opinion and stand ready to batter and bash those they perceive as the sworn enemies of Nana. These people are invested in their hatred of everyone who opposed Nana’s candidacy and will go the extra mile to banish them from the political center. At the moment, they are busy influencing Nana to sideline all those that dared to raise any opposition to his candidacy. In the end, these people will bring nothing to Nana but imminent defeat. Indeed, they were the cause of Nana’s defeat in the elections of 2008.

To further and feather their own political aspirations, they first positioned themselves as staunch supporters of Nana and broached no opposition from others. They then stonewalled and hijacked the democratic process in the constituencies, imposing themselves as parliamentary candidates on the people.

This undemocratic posturing resulted in the disillusionment and apathy that held some party supporters back from full participation in the campaigning. The result was the unprecedentedly razor-thin margin that separated Nana from his goal to be president. Thus Nana’s own inability or incapacity to call to order these political hangers-on is one major reason why we are today smarting under the NDC mess. Unless he is able to put his feet down to tame these hawks, we will be engaging in a fight in futility.

Then also, Nana should figure out how to make serious incursions into the NDC support base. Hunger and deprivation and hopelessness and corruption are all good campaigners in an election year, and the NDC has fallen on its own sword as arch dispensers of the aforementioned social evils. But it will be dangerous to assume that those who vote against the NPP will budge in their doomed attachment to the NDC. So Nana’s campaign approach ought to be the identification of the fundamental reasons why a critical mass of the people have this suicidal pact with the most incompetent party imaginable. Such a probe will lead to the accusations that the NPP is made up of a bunch of elitist crooks who look down on others; or that core members of the NPP harbor extreme ethnocentric agenda; or that the party hierarchy spawns a sense of entitlement to the prevailing political privileges.

It will be dangerous to ignore these accusations as the figment of the imagination of the politically untutored, because they emanate from history and are sometimes confirmed by the present actions and utterances by key party members. Some of these members ignore the simple fact that the NPP will need all its numbers, and go ahead to conduct business in their constituencies as though they hold the people hostage. They have no respect for anybody because they think they own everybody. Their financial endowments have made them mad, and they utter terrible insults against other ethnic groups as if they are atavistically illiterate.

These nincompoops are few in the party, but their loud voices are what ring in the minds of the NDC supporters for three or four generations. These political retards make everything easy for the NDC because they give them the gift of quoting their foolish utterances and actions as a mantra to rally support for the party.

There should be a strong party charter prescribing proper social conduct and imposing sanctions against those who breach this charter. Matters of ethical behavior, interpersonal conduct, and social and media interaction must all be defined within this charter, and those who breach it should be made to discover that it is the party that owns them, and that they do not own the party. Given the present cacophony within the party hierarchy, an NPP charter defining the conduct of its members, even if it is aspirational, will go a long way to curb the excesses undermining the party’s appeal to the generality of Ghanaians.

Further, Nana should break down his manifesto to make it comprehensible and practical. For example, a promise to make education free should not only be adequately supported by explicit means of financing such pro gratis, but also extensive details on how to raise the quality of teaching and learning to make these meet our national needs.

Then again, Nana should make the fight against corruption a strong agenda in his campaign and present a profound and convincing plan of action to the people as to how this canker could be obviated. Such a plan should have as its foundation the religious establishment, the school system, the media and the cultural apparatus. All these require deeper level efforts and commitment, and Nana should by now have set his priorities right.

At this time of Nana’s victory, it is easy for him to be taken in by the euphoria of triumph and to lose focus of the daunting task ahead. But the fight to secure the presidency has not even begun; what has gone before is a mere warm-up to the greater and better goal of winning the 2016 elections. And looking at the present political landscape, it takes no clairvoyant to perceive that the demise of the NDC is near, since it has been adequately exposed as a government breeding corruption and ineptitude as its stock in trade.

So the nation is crying for redemption: the farmers are crying; the teachers are crying; the laborers are crying; the parents are crying; the children are crying; the journalists are crying; the students are crying; everybody is crying except the politicians who have ensconced themselves on the pinnacle of mass exploitation of the people, having gluttonously consumed the people’s dreams and hopes until their stomachs are dragging before them. These people have their rewards set for them, and so Nana’s campaign should not belabor the message of the NDC’s betrayal of the people. Every child can recount this in eloquent terms; rather, Nana’s focus should be to bring the party together to present a formidable front, cut the talons of the party hawks, draw up a healing charter to boost the party’s appeal, and project a comprehensive and detailed agenda that will foreground the fight against corruption and restore hope for the people. Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Jurisprudence, is a general legal practitioner resident in the city of Austin, Texas, USA. This article first appeared in his New Statesman column, “Thoughts of a Native Son”. You can email him at [email protected].