Opinions of Wednesday, 3 November 2021
Columnist: E. G. Buckman
The NPP has a very crucial choice to make regarding the election of its presidential candidate. The party can get it right to boost its chances of winning the 2024 election. The party can also get it wrong and find itself in opposition.
I don’t agree with those who think or say that any candidate the party presents can win the 2024 election. I would appeal to those who hold that view to help themselves with the facts pertaining to Ghana’s political market. The political market facts and dynamics don't support that assertion at all.
So, in this piece, I want to frankly and factually serve the party’s potential delegates with the following cocktail of significant differences between Alan and Bawumia to enable them make well-informed decisions relative to who to support to win political power in 2024:
To begin with, one practically acts to produce verifiable results that bring glory to the party. Those verifiable results can appeal to the electorates when they are packaged well for campaign. The other theoretically speaks about the results achieved and sometimes speaks too much to negatively affect our political fortunes. This I frankly say with all due respect. That's the difference.
The Christian Community, with its extreme majority, is an important political constituency for every political party to court. It is not for nothing that Nana Addo chose “The Battle is the Lord’s” as his campaign slogan. Obviously, he understood the indispensability of that Community.
Between Alan and Bawumia, one can help the party to increase its votes from the 71.2% Christian Community. The other would cause our votes in that all-important majority community to decrease drastically. That's the difference.
Besides, one can help the party to increase it's votes in the party's strongholds, particularly in the 47.4% dominant Akan Community. The other would cause our votes to decrease significantly in our strongholds if he is elected as our candidate. That's the difference.
One hasn't said, done or made any unfulfilled promises that are being used against the party by Ghanaians and the opposition. The other has personally made a lot of politically damning statements and needless unfulfilled promises that are currently making rounds on social media against the party. That's the difference.
One has past and current job creation record, vision and message that can easily resonate with the teeming unemployed youth in the country. The other personally has nothing to specifically attract the unemployed youth. That's the difference.
One is hailed for providing Ghanaians jobs while the other is hailed for providing the NDC jabs. That's the difference.
One has the character, personality, brand name and a message that easily resonates with the hardworking women in Ghana. The other doesn't really have anything special to politically attract the Ghanaian women. That's the difference.
One can communicate well in local dialects to connect directly with the uneducated electorates in the majority of our communities. The other is now being taught how to speak Twi by a linguistics Professor. That's the difference.
For the purpose of marketing and election, Alan Cash is a better political brand name than DMB. That's the difference.
Per the Christian-Akan-skewed nature of our political market, Alan is overly marketable than Bawumia. That's the difference.
Politics as a game of numbers is not like staking lotto with any numbers you like and hope that by miracle your numbers would drop. It's a serious business that requires critical thinking, analysis and decisions. That's the difference.
We don't just need a candidate to represent the party so that people would say the NPP is not an Akan Party. We need a candidate that would win us political power. That's the difference.
One is a founding member who helped to nourish, nurture and feed the baby NPP financially till it could stand on its feet to win power for the first time while the other is the most fortunate member of the party who never contributed anything to the party before he was made a running mate and, so became a member of the party just 13 years ago (2008). That's the difference.
I write with hard facts. They write with fake facts. That’s the difference.
Shalom shalom!