Da Rocha – Please Leave The NPP Dream Team ...

To Take Us T0 The Promised Land..

The bane of the New Patriotic Party is the inability to flush out the mole in its midst and the over-reliance on some few members of the Council of Elders. Mr. B. J. da Rocha has played a very significant role towards the formation of the New Patriotic Party. The party appreciated his role and rewarded him with the chairmanship. As its first chairman, he made everybody aware that he was the person in charge. Then, he lost prominence and was heard of no more. But of late, he is trying to regain some sort of control of the Party apparatus. And he is doing so in series of memos and letters which he addresses to top members of the party. But what beats my understanding is the way such supposedly secret memos are leaked to the press. Is there or are there moles at the party headquarters?.

The first in the series of such leakages occurred during the Alan Kyeramanten’s resignation saga. The letter which was addressed to the party’s Chairman who was then at the verge of traveling outside Ghana was leaked to the press. How did it happen?

Then, at the time we were all praying for a peaceful resolution of conflict, Mr. B. J. da-Rocha unleashed the famous bombshell - Alan could go if he wanted. Such an utterance was not expected from an elder of a party. That was mistake number one.

Mistake number two was followed the earlier one in close succession. This was the genesis of the whole problem. As true members of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, and to give respect and honour to whom it was due, Hajia Alima Mahama accompanied by her son had paid our revered party elder a visit to solicit his support for her bid as running mate to the NPP flag-bearer. He told them bluntly that he would not endorse the ticket. That should have ended the matter, but no, it wasn’t. Our Elder statesman felt he had to put his “no” on paper and send it to flag-bearer. That was okay, but what was the point in telling the flag-bearer that if he picked Hajia Alima Mahama he would lose the election. That was a veiled attempt at tying the hands of the flag-bearer. It was also an attempt to blackmail the flag-bearer into doing away with the candidate he had wanted to join him on the ticket. What if the flag-bearer felt comfortable with his choice and had gone ahead to nominate her. An irreparable harm would have been done to the ticket. It was like releasing ammunition for one’s enemies to fly the kite. That went a long way to inflame passions. By the way, how did the letter get leaked to the press?

What is the party doing about such leakages? Does it mean we have a mole at the secretariat or headquarters? The earlier we did something about such leakages, the better it would before the party.

My next question is how long are some party elders going to hold the flag-bearer hostage about the choices he makes? Was Kufuor subjected such checks when he wanted to pick his running mate? Consultations are good, but we should realize that the buck would stop at t the table of the flag-bearer. Let us use the case of the NDC as an example. Rawlings, his wife and some top members of the NDC had wanted Betty Mould as Running Mate to Atta mills. But Mills wanted John Mahama. We are all aware of the drama that ensued which finally culminated into selecting John Mahama as the running mate. And today the chemistry between the two is working, thanks to the flag-bearer having his way.

Has somebody ever heard of a player from Asante Kotoko being made captain of Accra Hearts of Oak after a few years sojourn at the camp of the oak tree? In the olden days, such a thing was likely, but in the light of the animosity that exists between these two glamorous clubs, such an event is not likely to happen even if the player remains in the camp of the opposing team for donkey of years. Asiedu Nketia and top members of the NDC were all over the place saying to all who cared to listen that Saddique Boniface, Ibn Chambas, Rashid Bawa and Alhaji Jawula were all card bearing members of the NDC. I shudder to think what noise the NDC would have made if any of the four had got the nod as running mate to Nana Akufo Addo. I am glad that sanity prevailed and none of the four was selected.

Now that the battle has been fought and won, I am appealing to all true and genuine party men and women to forget the acrimony that ensued before and after the running mate had been selected. We all belong to the same elephant fraternity. We should therefore do our best to market the ticket. Fortunately, unlike our colleagues in the nefarious contraption, our commodity made up of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Dr Mohamudu Bawumia is marketable for the ticket is being sought after in every nook and cranny of the country. I do not think that Rawlings and his Jezebel, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, inspite of the fierce resistance they put up against the candidature of John Mahama even daring him to go ahead and name the Mahama as his running mate, if he indeed, had balls between his legs, would ever think of voting for Nana Akufo-Addo or for that matter any NPP candidate.

It is upon this premise that I am appealing to all lovers of Justice, Peace and Tranquility as well as true believers of the Danquah-Busia –Dombo tradition to put aside our differences and project the NPP Presidential ticket. We are now politically alert and must not work against the party. We are bound by our belief in the same course to promote and project the welfare of the party What unites members of the Great Osono Fraternity is our belief in the sanctity of human life and values. We believe that the party is not made up of angels and saints. We are therefore bound to make mistakes. But what separates us from any other fraternity is our readiness and willingness to submit our problems to a conflict solving mechanism for redress. We in the NPP prefer the use of jaw-jaw to resolve our differences to open confrontation. We prefer the use of bread and butter to guns and ammunition. We shall achieve our aims and aspirations through the use of persuasion and our God-giving brains instead of force and coercion. We shall make this country safe and peaceful for all, irrespective of one’s geographical, ethnic or religious affiliations. We are all determined in our resolve to prevent the NDC from having access to the governance of this country. And what better way to achieve this than to close our ranks and prevent the enemies from infiltrating and dividing our ranks and purpose.

We have the men and women to take us to the Promised Land. They are there in their numbers. Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia will partner Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make our dream come true. A highly skilled and versatile technocrat, what does the NDC have against him? Nothing, I believe! He is very principled and meticulous in all he does. A man of impeccable character, Dr Bawumia was the leader of the Bank of Ghana Technical Team that negotiated with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since 2001 through HIPC. It would interest readers to know that when the Kufuor led NPP Government opted for HIPC, many were our colleagues from the nefarious contraption who fiercely resisted the move. Yet when the dividends started accruing, most of them were at the vanguard to agitate for their own share. “Oliver Twist asks for more”, you might say.

You should also not forget that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was a member of the Government Team that negotiated the Millennium Challenge Account [MCA] Compact with the United States Government. Readers must not forget that when the time came for the signing of the agreement, the TV cameras captured top NDC Guru, E.T.Mensa smiling at Kufuor, obviously, to compliment him for a job well done. Dr Bawumia has been weighed and found competent for the position of Vice President and that is why he is on the ticket. Expectations? At forty five years of age, he is almost at the pinnacle of his professional career. He is expected to add to the ticket his youthful exuberance, tempered with a background of rich experience which saw him rising from the position of Assistant Professor of Economics at Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University in the United States to that of Deputy Governor at Bank of Ghana, The sound economic-oriented economic policies which Dr Bawumia and the Central Bank of Ghana pursued with vigour and determination led to the reduction of inflation from 40% in 2000 to 10% by 207 while maintaining exchange rate stability and increasing growth.

A sound economic and people free oriented policies are catalyst to the development of every country. If the ticket gets elected, and there is every indication that it will, Dr Bawumia is expected to head the Economic Management Team of the Country. In such a position he is expected to advice the incoming NPP Admin. Under Nana Akufo-Addo to put in place policies that will give Ghanaians hope for a brighter future

Who is thinking of defection? Who will dis-embark from a Boeing Airliner for a one engine plane? That was the question, Bashiru Bolaji, my Nigerian friend asked me one day. And so is this question applicable to the politics in Ghana. With our Dream Team in place, I have the firm belief that, come December, 7, 2008, the NDC and their partners in retrogression will be annihilated. Infact, they will be mauled at the polls. The National Health Insurance Scheme is only one of such laudable programmes put in place by the NPP Administration which will ensure that. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia have the knack for setting their priorities right and taking prompt action on them. Any challenger?

Daniel Danquah Damptey

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0243715297.