Party Elections Are Not Like "Competitive Matches between .....

...Hearts and Kotoko”.

By Otchere Darko.

I saw it as good news, that the 18th October final NPP flagbearer contest ended peacefully...... given the extremely high temperature the contest generated. I also felt relieved when I read from Ghanaweb General news of today that Mr Alan Kyerematen has formally congratulated the man he (Alan) has now, reportedly, described as “my elder brother and friend, Nana Akufo-Addo”: (Ghanaweb General News of Sunday, 19 October 2014; Sourced from: Graphic Online ). *THIS IS WHAT I CALL ‘AFRICAN DEMOCRACY AT ITS BEST’. *WELL DONE, MR ALAN KYEREMATEN!

Having finished congratulating Mr Alan Kyerematen, I wish to register my disagreement with him, nonetheless, over an alleged analogy he is reported to have made concerning elections between him (Alan) and Nana Akufo-Addo. *Mr Alan Kyerematen has, reportedly, likened internal party contests between himself (Alan) and Nana Akufo-Addo to “the competitive matches between Hearts and Kotoko”: (Ghanaweb General News of Sunday, 19 October 2014 Sourced from: Graphic Online).

In this respect, I want to say Mr Alan Kyerematen is completely wrong.

After competitive football matches between Hearts and Kotoko, the ‘antagonism’ that always exists between Hearts and Kotoko does not finish between the two biggest football ‘antagonists’ in Ghana. The ‘antagonism’ goes on without abating, with supporters of the two teams always going home after matches with as much ‘antagonism’ as they started.

With internal party contests, when elections finish, all antagonisms generated by such elections also finish, after winners have been declared. Losers and their supporters then transfer their support from the loser to the winner, for their common good. That transfer of support restores pre-election ‘oneness’ and ‘togetherness’ that must always exist in parties to crystallise party machinery and its effectiveness..... conditions that form the bedrock of modern democracy. In order words, after intra-party elections, ‘antagonistic sentiments’ and ‘factionalism’ that competitive elections generate must cease to exist, and be replaced by the concept of “loser henceforth backs, and works for winner”.

If, indeed, Mr Kyerematen believes the analogy of ‘permanent antagonism’ that football competition entails, to which he has reportedly likened contests between himself (Alan) and Nana, then it is a confirmation of the worst fear held by many Ghanaians that suggests that there exist two distinctive Alan/Kufuor and Nana factions within the NPP; [or what others refer to as the “Asante-Akyem” factions within NPP]. *If the analogy is a true reflection of Alan’s mindset, then democracy in Ghana is ‘sick and in danger of extermination.

Ghanaian politicians are often known to make loose statements that can erroneously be interpreted in ways that are different from what they were , in fact, originally meant to mean. *I hope that Alan’s analogy is one of these.

For democracy in any country to be healthy and right, both governing and opposition parties in the country must be organised ‘democratically’. This means that members of both groups should NOT see internal party contests between contestants vying for positions within their own parties to be like “competitive matches between Hearts and Kotoko”, where supporters of both winning and losing sides return to their homes, with their horns still interlocked and confrontationally hooked against each other; never prepared to back off from their courses and beliefs, irrespective of outcomes of competitions that are intended to settle scores.