We thank God that the NDC is getting prepared everyday for the crucial 2020 general elections. Apart from the lies the Npp told Ghanaians and their vague promises, we made few mistakes in the past and the mistakes are now being corrected even though some young upstarts with the party think things are not moving at the pace they wanted.
As far as the party’s leadership and the supporters are concerned, we are preparing for the 2020 general election and by the grace of God, all will assist the NDC win the next election. The important thing to do now is to close ranks to ensure that we have victory at the national election in 2020. We still have few problems but the problems would be resolved. The intra party struggle for power would be resolved. We were there before and the Npp pushed us out through lies, concoctions and all kinds of things.
We don’t know the candidate the Npp will bring in 2020. If they bring Nana Akufo-Addo, fine and they don’t bring him, we are ready for anyone. For as long as the young elements, who are now the soul of the party know that they have to respect their elders, the party’s constitution, its ideals and principles, there would be no problem for the NDC. Before I touch on the substantive issue, let’s take a look at these critical issues-
-We cannot place the Npp at their rightful position on the political ladder if we abandon our core principles for theirs because we were defeated in the 2016 election
-it is dangerous using the Npp standard as the best in measuring your performance and planning for your future endeavours.
-the NDC will suffer serious political bruises it allows the Npp evangelise its supporters with their practices and actions.
Understanding a party’s ideological infrastructure and making sure that the young folks are closely aligned with the party’s ideology can fuel the party to election victories and also ensure cohesion. Unlike in the earlier periods, the NDC and the Npp are closely aligned with welfarism, liberalism and conservatism. So what is the optimal power balance between the two parties and their ideological infrastructure?
Yesterday was Karl Marx’s birthday and was celebrated across the world by his admirers and pro left political activists. I was expecting my friends in the CPP, the PNC and NDC to celebrate the greatest philosopher. The central concepts of Marxist philosophy may be seen as scientific socialism, dialectics, materialism (divided into dialectical and historical materialism), and the blending of structure and action.
Marx’s labour theory of value, together with his ideas about the commodity nature of capitalist production, seek to explain how profit system works and how the working class is exploited under the system. The man’s philosophy is the bedrock of the NDC’S ideology. His theory of class struggle is a vital part of the explanation of capitalist production. If we understand some of these theories by Marx, Engels and other pro left philosophers, it can cure the pressure emerging from the stables of our youth. This is not time for revisitation of our past.
The mental chemistry of the masses changes with time, their wants and demands change with time- what got people attracted to the NDC, may not pull them this time because of these dynamics. Between the 70s and middle 80s, the masses revered socialism (Ghana) ; the have-nots including shoemakers, carpenters etc became natural allies of the socialist groups because of how the latter carried themselves. People like Chris Atim, Kwamena Ahwoi among others left their beard long just to portray their Marxist instincts and were always in their simple sandals made from tyres. The poverty level at the time was high and the masses saw the rich as “mosquitoes” in the system who needed repellents to get them out of the system.
That was the reason why the two revolutions by Jerry Rawlings received massive support from the public. Can we say same today? Gradually the capitalists are evangelising the socialists. Gradually, the NDC is abandoning its core ideological value and becoming a pragmatic coalition of interest group just like the NPP. That is not what the NDC represents- in the past it was unified by ideology.
I am still struggling to understand why an NDC activist will ask me why we wasted state resources on infrastructural development..why he thinks we should have promised heaven as the Npp did to daze the electorate. The last time we discussed same issues , he conceded he got it wrong with regard to his argument about the infrastructure. The capitalists in the bragging elements, will tell you their hastily introduced social intervention programmes are superior compared to the NDC’S well planned intervention with all the associated short to long term effects on our social and economic development.
They will always use their media houses to suppress your message whilst they trumpet their lies and deceits. That is what the NDC activists should watch going forward. Losing an election doesn’t make your principles and virtues inferior.
Take a critical look at the internal elections- all are contesting for party positions. Some have adapted the Npp type of politicking in the internal contest. It is no more about identifying people who have the wherewithal to oil the machine, but just crave for positions. The party is going through this challenge because of failure on the part of the party to reward hardworking comrades in the constituencies, branches etc who work tirelessly for the party. All are fighting for space for their survival.
This is where I have issues with those who mischievously narrow their 2016 defeat analysis at the top. The Npp turned itself in a lying propaganda party and they were telling lies all over the place, saying NDC is a corrupt party. It behooves on all well meaning NDC supporters to demand for proof now that they are in power. They should publish pictures of the former first lady’s warehouse inside the Presidency, the former President’s hotels in Dubai, the former appointees fuel stations, the former President’s personal jet, his mansions in Britain and Japan etc. Ghanaian people now know these fellows led by Nana Akufo-Addo are liars. Yea, I accept we made few mistakes, but when the propaganda was very heavy against the Mahama administration, all of us were struggling to defend but they pushed more lies with well packaged fake promises.
I have absolute confidence that the NDC will win the 2020 election. The only thing that can destroy it is disunity in the party. I believe in a party that is built on unity and harmony; I believe that once the process of democracy is allowed to take its course, party members will have a sense of belonging; they can freely aspire for any position and once it is the decision of the party to see a party that is free of internal wrangling or a party that is free of interference by outsiders. That notwithstanding, we must not lose sight of the fact that adherence to party’s regulations and principles is paramount.
The insults and attacks emerging from some quarters is not something we should entertain. Young folks who insult senior comrades must desist from that. It is unhealthy, and dangerous. Don’t expose your preferred candidate to unnecessary attacks and insults. Let’s focus on policies and programmes than this phenomenon of raining insults on our platforms. The party needs all souls and moving from your camp to support the camp of the winner after all internal elections shouldn’t be difficult.
That would be possible if we measure what we say about our leaders and their team. We must recommit ourselves to do the right things. If we know ours is a democratic party, we must embrace the true principles of democracy and abhor unnecessary insults or the variants of that. As the biggest and most attractive party, we must manage the huge potentialities and tension that come with our image and sheer size.
As I wrote in one of my articles, once we have genuine Reconciliation and adhere to democratic processes, even those who lose the elections from branch to national, will take it in good faith,. The system will work properly as we all wish. This is our new dream…we want to see an NDC that is devoid of wrangling internally.
