Published: January 31, 2009
The mighty elephant is making a slow re-entry into the dark forest, bruised and bleeding – with head bowed in distress. In the absence of campaign finance laws, business folks freely invest heavily in political parties. When their party wins, they harvest big time and by that, perpetuate the plundering of a country, and continue chewing off the tail of the rabbit. One day, we’ll wake up to find out that this rabbit has been rendered tailless while the country is under siege just because we voted; while we sing kumbaya to whoever is in power.
Today, I give my cold take on why the NPP suffered a painful maddening narrow defeat in election 2008. I’m neither an NPP nor NDC because I don’t yet understand what the two leading political parties stand for. In a previous article, I nominated an NDC functionary for a hooliganism award and an NPP minister for a pomposity award.
Today, I extend the pomposity argument as the underlying factor in the NPP loss. We’ll watch out for wanton displays of hooliganism by NDC functionaries without locus who confuse democracy with revolution.
Questions: What in the world does ‘property-owning democracy’ mean? The NPP never succeeded in defining their ‘ideology’, leaving a vacuum for guessing. Why is the NPP fashioned after the Republicans of the USA (in ideology and the elephant symbol) that is perceived as filthily rich but mean? What happens to those of us who are stuck in the stinky cracks of other people’s properties?
In the final weeks of the campaign, in a defining fit of political suicide, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey put out an ugly face with lush lipstick to the fuzzy property-owning philosophy. He had no justification to his greedy insensitive low-cost attempt to buy a government house in which he had over-stayed his time as an ex-minister. That act was a grim reality to further underlie the property-grabbing attitudes of materialistic insatiable privileged leaders against everyday-people.
The reality of the Ghanaian situation is that we have agonizing poverty that oddly thrives alongside spectacular wealth. But the poor also yearn for the same things the rich have. When shiny four-wheel-drive vehicles emerge from grand properties and throw dust into the nostrils of non-property owners, it touches the soft core of people and triggers in them a need for change – any change.
Do rising tides lift all boats? No! Rising tides do not even touch every boat. And if it does, some do not have access to boats to be lifted up. Many drown or become stuck in the mud when rising tides get anywhere near them. Clearly, the NPP missed this fact so focused on macro-level economic successes. Who chops distant far-reaching macro-economics? It’s only micro that enters the mouth. InterCity STC busses were brazenly clothed with bragging messages about NPP government macro successes. That and the ostentatious giant-sized billboards and glitzy media advertisements were below the belt; too pompous.
NPP campaign slogan(s) were uninspiring and confusing. The songs were danceable but drumming our ears with lyrics like “Nana is a winner” was dumb. How does one win an election before the first vote is cast? That was an elephant-like complacent ‘bragadaciously’ pompous posture! When Samuel Essien and the Black Stars did the ugly ‘kangaroo dance’, it was a midstream victory dance. The ultimate prize eluded them. So it was for the NPP; kangaroo dance or not, victory was only close. With victory, almost doesn’t count.
The NPP laid its foundation for failure during its opulent primaries in 2007 when it fielded a host of characters. Some were still wrapped in political diapers, suckling pathetically at their mama’s breasts. Men and boys checked themselves, and their mirrors said, “President!” The party clearly had no elders to stop the desperate bizarre displays of wealth by half-baked politicians. This concretized the widely-held suspicion that politics is an ass and anyone who gets in can amass wealth at the expense of the many hungry everyday-people.
In the face of such painful realities and rampant perception of the NPP and Nana as being arrogant, ex-President Kufuor did the unthinkable a few months before the elections. In one of the many needless reshuffles, he appointed the grand-ole face and voice of arrogance, Minister Asamoah-Boteng, as head of government propaganda machinery – the Ministry of Information and National Orientation. A definite political suicide!
Rabble-rousing Asabee went on a rampage, heckling and bulldozing his way through with incendiary rhetoric, without pausing to give ‘taflatse’ to anyone. Loose talk became the bedrock of government public relations. It was not just the content of his utterances but the rashness and edginess in his voice needed several ‘taflatses’. Many times, Asabee sounded more like an ugly piece of cloth cut out from military dictatorship. Was this an intentional act of ex-Prez Kufuor to weaken his party? The NPP incumbency was proudly clothed in a nasty outfit of pomposity.
There was also the Kufuor factor. He had no communication team. His spokesperson, George Awuni, usually came across as insulting, speaking down to Ghana – a carbon copy of Asabee. Besides, ex-Prez Kufuor was an absentee leader, appearing detached. Personally, I can’t comprehend how he conscientiously drove past increasing numbers of street children between his junction and the Castle without boldly solving this problem that scars our country.
Question: What was the reasoning for ex-Prez Kufuor’s ‘apologies’ to Ghana just before the December 28 presidential run-of? The content was good but the timing was horrible, rendering its effect just bad.
There was also the Nana factor. People appear to have very strong feelings about Nana Akufo-Addo. Some people just love to hate him for arrogance. Besides, he never fully dealt with the association of his name with drugs. Rumours grew wings and he was guilty as charged in a section of the court of public opinion. Question: What was the source of his campaign funds? Such unanswered questions left a thick cloud hanging over the NPP. On a personal note, Nana’s superbly acquired English accent is too affected for me to fathom.
Conclusion: the NPP had a problem before the first vote was cast even with the fear of Rawlings’ shadow looming large. OK, that’s enough; the frog is dead and its ugly long legs are fully stretched out. I’ve given the NPP enough free analysis although when they had ‘power’ and plundered and shared their booty, I had nothing to do with it. Not a single drop of juicy palm oil dropped on my tired old tongue. No regrets though. I’ll maintain my independence and keep my head up. The elephant should therefore stay in the thick dark forest and learn.
Meanwhile, the NDC now has the benefit of incumbency with Rawlings’ persona still looming large, booming through even Kotoka International Airport while strange skeletons like Ghana@50 are popping out of NPP corruption closets. We’ll watch to see how the NDC displays its version of power drunkenness and hooliganism borne out of coup mentality. Isn’t democracy beautiful?
dorisdartey@yahoo.com; dorisdartey.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment