Gang-War in the NDC against the founder- Is President Mills a coward?
''It is a mark of wisdom not to kick away the very step from which we have risen higher...the removal of one step from a staircase brings down the whole of it''.- Mahatma Gandhi
There is no more doubt that there is a GANG-WAR been waged and led by president Mills against the NDC founder and former President of Ghana Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings and his family. But before we go into the nitty-gritty of this WAR, we ought to ask why it must be waged by a GANG. Does it say something about the nature of president Mills? Normally, GANGS are made up of a bunch of weak individuals incapable of defending themselves against their perceived or real very powerful enemies or opponents. It therefore goes without saying that NDC founder and former President Jerry Rawlings is a very powerful man not only within the NDC but in Ghanaian politics. This power, emanating from a people’s massive love for him as a leader, resulting in his larger than life popularity in Ghana and Africa definitely demands a gang – fight from whoever that wants to constitute themselves into his opponents /or enemies.
And what is the Premise of this GANG-WAR against the NDC founder? That his time is past, and he’s not allowing president Mills to rule according to his own set of values and style. Insistence on the application of the party’s values and principles has earned him absolute disdain from president Mills and his surrogates. Unable to engage in a WAR OF VALUES with the NDC founder, president Mills has turned to people who have publicly vowed to bring down Mr. Rawlings to form a GANG against him and his family.
President Mills befriended Gussie Tanoh as the first of the ‘enemies’ of President Rawlings. This is a man who left the NDC to form the Reform Party (RP) in open protest to an open endorsement of prof. Mills by President Rawlings in the famous ‘Swedru declaration’ in 2000. His reasons for that decision still stand today, albeit he tries to rationalize his return with talk of a ‘deepened internal democracy currently prevailing within the party’. We know that his true reason for returning to the NDC is to form part of the GANG-WAR against the NDC founder and to get his booty.
Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, former party chairman, longest serving attorney-General of Ghana under President RAWLINGS left the NDC to form the Democratic freedom party (DFP) because he did not see, feel or experience democratic freedom in the NDC, but also because he said that Prof. Mills as leader of the NDC amounted to putting up an incompetent leader for the NDC. He vowed to oppose the NDC as long as president Mills remain party leader. This was in the face of unflinching and resolute support for Prof. Mills by party founder Jerry Rawlings and his wife NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS. Prof. Mills is still leader of the NDC today. Mills is not more or less competent than he was couple years ago when Obed Asamoah made all these arguments for his decision to form a new political party. If he now has returned to the NDC with the same Prof. Mills as leader, it cannot be for any other reason but to form a part of the GANG of Rawlings enemies being put together by president Mills for this on-going GANG-WAR against the NDC founder.
Lately, the GANG has been re-enforced by the admittance- illegal or otherwise- of Osahene Boakye Djan, former head of government business and spokes person for the erstwhile AFRC regime that led the June4 uprising in 1979. Capt. Rtd. Boakye Djan was one of the first of Rawlings’ colleagues who run away to the West after the AFRC handed over power to Liman. He did not wait to make sure of the stability of Ghana. He later elected himself a pure critic of the PNDC which was formed by elements within the AFRC led by the NDC founder. Boakye Djan then became a fierce critic of the PNDC/NDC and the entire Rawlings tradition from his base abroad where he sought greener pastures. Even in 2008, he contested as an independent in Jaman constituency in the Brong-Ahafo region because of his disdain for the NDC and its founder. Today however, Boakye Gyan says ‘I know President Mills to be an Nkrumahist and I am an Nkrumahist true and true. I cannot sit down for the so called founder Jerry Rawlings and his wife who are determined to destroy Mills and his government to succeed” he said adding that his candidature will help shape up the NDC towards victory in 2012’. Everybody can read between the lines here.
He has repeatedly said that the PNDC was born out of a betrayal of the principles of June4 for which reason he will never be part of the NDC party. He even wrote a book to prove his point. We all know that nothing has changed in terms of all these bogus arguments raised by Boakye Djan in the past for his non-affiliation with the NDC. The only thing that is new is that there is a new ‘perfidious friend’ in town- President Mills. He’s made the party founder his enemy. He’s surrounding himself with others who also the NDC founder their enemy to accelerate his GANG-WAR against the former president. Boakye Djan being a former close confidante of Mr. Rawlings will serve as a great sniper for President Mills- or so they think. There couldn’t be any other explanation to why this man who is totally disqualified to run as a PC for the NDC because he cannot fulfill the party’s requirement for at least a two year membership of the party before contesting on its ticket, will now be the sole candidate for the NDC in Jama, plus, he was publicly flanked by the party’s general secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia and other leading party members- a clear demonstration of the manipulation that is taking place just to bring Boakye Djan to the NDC and make it legitimate- somebody whose utterances against the party in the past makes him a clear and present danger to the NDC- unless the NDC general secretary want to tell us that Maj. Rtd. Boakye Djan was already a member of the NDC two years ago when he run as an independent in that same constituency in the Brong-Ahafo region. If that is the case, Boakye Djan would still be disqualified on the basis that all party members who went independent in the 2008 elections are considered sacked from the party- according this same NDC general secretary who is now chief supporter of Boakye Djan.
Those who saw it as a joke, Mills’ plan to alienate and make NDC founder and former President Rawlings ‘powerless’ to prepare the way for a ‘take over’ of the party are now laughing at the wrong side of their mouths. The evidence is very compelling. From events leading up to Sunyani, Wiki-leaks revelations through Hannah tetteh, to recent happenings in Cape Coast against Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings, it is obvious that we’re heading for a final showdown within the NDC. It looks like we’re exhausting our options towards avoiding defeat in the 2012 general elections. And whatever calculations that Mills and his friends in the castle are going by, it is clear judging from their recent actions towards NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS that for them 3.1% of the NDC mass following who support her current stands in the party- assuming without admitting that percentage to be real, (because I believe NANA KONADU is more popular than Mills in reality) constitute less than the 40.000 votes that Mills obtained in 2008 from the TAIN constituency to win power. And if this is indeed their thinking, Mills and his cohorts must be the most romantic dreamers in the world today. They will wake up only when they’re on a freefall from power.
Otherwise, how can we explain the actions of Mills and his instruments of this shameful action in Cape Coast in the full glare of the police whose duty it is to enforce public order? What has president Mills turned the NDC into? When a government can openly undermine even the security agencies such as the police and engage in lawlessnessness- using some zombies with ‘indiscipline muscles’ called ‘macho men’ to lock up a public place secured by a high profile founding member of the ruling NDC for the purpose of addressing her supporters- and this, no doubt planned from the highest office of the land and carried out without remorse- even justifying it. The constituency chairman for Cape coast childishly proclaimed that they know what ever the former first lady was going to say in Cape Coast will not inure to the benefit of the government. For that matter, plus, they (constituency executives) were not pre-informed about the meeting was enough justification to disrupt it- unlawfully using hooligans. What a naïve constituency chairman the party has in Cape coast!
Another bogus reason these ignoramuses used in justifying their untenable action is that FONKAR members say they have nothing to do with the NDC and therefore, they can’t allow FONKAR to use NDC colors in decorating the hall for the meeting. This is very interesting. These same people at the castle went about poisoning the mass followers of our dear party that the ‘thank you tour’ is a cover for campaigning to run as independent. Seeing that the use of the party paraphernalia convinces all sensible NDC people beyond doubt that NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS will stand up to fight until the rot in the party is corrected, they now want to turn round and use FONKAR as a cover to prevent her from using the NDC party colors- colors that this woman partly, if not fully choose for the party. Some of these people now talking anyhow do not even know the origin and history, let alone meaning of these party colors yet, they have the effrontery to ask NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS not to use them.
In any case, FONKAR has never stated anywhere- officially or unofficially- that it wants nothing to do with the NDC. That is a palpable lie. Indeed, it is those at the castle who do not want FONKAR associated with the NDC. Besides, there is nothing wrong if FONKAR disassociate itself from the ‘new values’ of the ‘new NDC’. We only know one NDC.
First of all, Cape coast is not the first region to be visited by NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS on her nation-wide ‘thank you’ tour. She has already visited Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Western, and Volta regions. The same channels and methods of organization were used. All such regions also have party executives who may not have supported the former first lady in her flag bearer ship bid but they did not go out of their way to encroach on her freedom to association and gathering permitted by law. Why did it happen in Cape Coast? Did we not see it coming when the perpetrators infiltrated the 31DWM and got some women to issue threats a week earlier to her Excellency not to visit the region? What they forgot is that they are dealing with a BOLD woman.
The orchestrators of this useless scheme used Cape Coast because it is there they can find people willing to do anything imaginable to show ‘primitive loyalty’ to President Mills just to earn crumbs and praise. At the end of the day, the supporters of NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS still gathered to listen to her speak. Uncalculating as those behind all this are, they didn’t realize the uselessness of their action until when it was time to explain it. Some of them have been hiding from the media- declining comments. They are wondering how this could have back-fired so much and even increased the former flag bearer contender’s popularity whiles further exposing Mills’ needless gang- war against the Rawlings’ and sending his own ‘popularity’ into the ditches.
All sensible people whose appreciation of our democracy have not been overwhelmed by avarice have condemned- root, stem and branch- the locking-up of the Cape coast town hall by agents of president Mills to prevent a meeting between NANA KONADU and her supporters. The hypocrites have remained silent- and this includes some ‘fair weather friends’ of NKAR whose refusal to openly denounce the Cape coast incident for whatever reasons best known to them is not only amazing to some of us, it is also worth taking note of.
One thing is clear- and president Mills must know this. Whether or not the GANG-WAR against the NDC founder and his family succeeds or fails- the characters forming the GANG around Mills are still his worse enemies- not J.J. RAWLINGS.
But who so ever requires such a large gang to marshal forces against him to fight must be standing solidly by something fundamentally good- the truth.
''When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men turn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice''- Rev. Martin Luther King.
Amenga-Etego SaCut
NDC youth activist
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
NDC AND ATTA MILLS ARE SEEKING A BORROWED IDENTITY IN NKRUMAISM
It has become even clearer that President Mills and the new NDC are bent on reviving utopianism (Nkrumaism) as a political ideology for the ruling party- instead of- as it should be- pragmatism (Rawlingsism) been the guiding model of governance as a political movement.
Latest Wikileaks report has confirmed what some of us have argued for a long time that there is a scheme, planned and projected by the leadership of the NDC to replace the NDC party tradition with an Nkrumah tradition.
Hannah Tetteh, minister for trade and industry speaking as director of communications for the transitional team of the new NDC government in 2009 told a US official that the new NDC’s long-term plan was to make NDC founder Jerryjavascript:void(0) Rawlings ‘powerless’ in order to be able to bring the CPP and PNC to join the bigger and winnable NDC to consolidate power.
We have all been witnesses to all the efforts within the NDC to see the founder in that so-called state of powerlessness.
Interestingly, as the President and his men and women at the castle continue to reject their true heritage, founding and living ideals and rather intensifying their pursuit of Nkrumaism, the living sons and daughters of Kwame Nkrumah are flatly rejecting the NDC.
Samia Nkrumah, first woman to be elected chairman of the CPP and the only Member of Parliament for Jomoro is a daughter of our first president. She has remained independent in parliament mainly because she believes in neither the majority NDC nor the minority NPP.
The CPP see her as the new face of their Revival. Sekou Nkrumah, former Boss of the National youth council (NYC) under the Mills administration also just quit the NDC recently mainly because he does not believe in the current NDC leadership. He adds that he wants not to stand in the way of the sister’s quest to rebuild the CPP by being part of the NDC whose continues growth will spell doom for the CPP.
On his new Friday morning radio show on Xfm95.1, a local radio station based in Accra dubbed ‘ let’s talk politics’, Sekou Nkrumah pointed out that he does not see how Nkrumaism or socialism so to speak will work in the new world order of globalization and the dominance of a free market economy.
Sekou also cannot see how a ‘dead’ CPP can be resurrected except when the NDC which he believes has usurped the CPP constituency disintegrates- something he doesn’t see happening soon.
The nagging question here to ask is, how come President Mills and friends are the only ones who cannot see that even Nkrumah’s sons and daughters disapprove of the agenda of the new NDC.
Whiles Sekou Nkrumah is displeased with the current NDC leadership despite Mills’ quest to make Kwame Nkrumah the focus of his traditional roots, Samia Nkrumah is working hard to revive the CPP and give it a better chance of reviving Nkrumaism.
What then is the essence of what we’re doing in the NDC? Busily trying to deny our true identity and rather seeking a ‘borrowed identity’ of Nkrumaism even in the face of stiff opposition from his sons and daughters? J. J Rawlings and Kwame Nkrumah may have some similarities but they are distinct in their own political thinking and tradition.
The two most nationalistic political movements in Ghana, the CPP and NDC can be traceable to these two statesmen. We will therefore have to continue to ask of the question of identity. Without Kwame Nkrumah, it would seem to some of us that CPP will be without identity.
Likewise with the NDC which will be a totally confused group of people devoid of any identity without Rawlings or Kwame Nkrumah factor.
What all this means is that Kwame Nkrumah and Jerry John Rawlings are men of their own thought and identity. So that if the NDC is running away from the living Rawlings identity- which is what they are clearly trying to do without the necessary success- shouldn’t they now be searching for an identity of their own instead of running after a borrowed identity?
And isn’t it obvious that without leaning against either Nkrumah or Rawlings, the NDC becomes a group of unidentifiable people without one common set of values and principles to fall on a political movement?
There is no other identity for the NDC if it does not identify with Rawlings. And if Atta Mills and the new NDC continue with this needless effort to have a borrowed identity of Nkrumaism, then the party must be prepared to have a borrowed status in Ghanaian politics.
Just as a Ghanaian calling himself JOHN MILLS is not necessarily an English man, so will a group of politicians whose politics have been inspired by Jerry John Rawlings can never succeed at any point in time in turning such a living inspiration into an Nkrumaist inspiration.
Let the President Mills and the NDC stop acting confused and giving the impression that the party is suffering from identity crisis before it is too late since it is obvious that Ghanaians will not vote for a confused group of politicians incapable of identifying themselves to rule this nation.
Signed:
Amenga-Etego SaCut
NDC youth activist
Latest Wikileaks report has confirmed what some of us have argued for a long time that there is a scheme, planned and projected by the leadership of the NDC to replace the NDC party tradition with an Nkrumah tradition.
Hannah Tetteh, minister for trade and industry speaking as director of communications for the transitional team of the new NDC government in 2009 told a US official that the new NDC’s long-term plan was to make NDC founder Jerryjavascript:void(0) Rawlings ‘powerless’ in order to be able to bring the CPP and PNC to join the bigger and winnable NDC to consolidate power.
We have all been witnesses to all the efforts within the NDC to see the founder in that so-called state of powerlessness.
Interestingly, as the President and his men and women at the castle continue to reject their true heritage, founding and living ideals and rather intensifying their pursuit of Nkrumaism, the living sons and daughters of Kwame Nkrumah are flatly rejecting the NDC.
Samia Nkrumah, first woman to be elected chairman of the CPP and the only Member of Parliament for Jomoro is a daughter of our first president. She has remained independent in parliament mainly because she believes in neither the majority NDC nor the minority NPP.
The CPP see her as the new face of their Revival. Sekou Nkrumah, former Boss of the National youth council (NYC) under the Mills administration also just quit the NDC recently mainly because he does not believe in the current NDC leadership. He adds that he wants not to stand in the way of the sister’s quest to rebuild the CPP by being part of the NDC whose continues growth will spell doom for the CPP.
On his new Friday morning radio show on Xfm95.1, a local radio station based in Accra dubbed ‘ let’s talk politics’, Sekou Nkrumah pointed out that he does not see how Nkrumaism or socialism so to speak will work in the new world order of globalization and the dominance of a free market economy.
Sekou also cannot see how a ‘dead’ CPP can be resurrected except when the NDC which he believes has usurped the CPP constituency disintegrates- something he doesn’t see happening soon.
The nagging question here to ask is, how come President Mills and friends are the only ones who cannot see that even Nkrumah’s sons and daughters disapprove of the agenda of the new NDC.
Whiles Sekou Nkrumah is displeased with the current NDC leadership despite Mills’ quest to make Kwame Nkrumah the focus of his traditional roots, Samia Nkrumah is working hard to revive the CPP and give it a better chance of reviving Nkrumaism.
What then is the essence of what we’re doing in the NDC? Busily trying to deny our true identity and rather seeking a ‘borrowed identity’ of Nkrumaism even in the face of stiff opposition from his sons and daughters? J. J Rawlings and Kwame Nkrumah may have some similarities but they are distinct in their own political thinking and tradition.
The two most nationalistic political movements in Ghana, the CPP and NDC can be traceable to these two statesmen. We will therefore have to continue to ask of the question of identity. Without Kwame Nkrumah, it would seem to some of us that CPP will be without identity.
Likewise with the NDC which will be a totally confused group of people devoid of any identity without Rawlings or Kwame Nkrumah factor.
What all this means is that Kwame Nkrumah and Jerry John Rawlings are men of their own thought and identity. So that if the NDC is running away from the living Rawlings identity- which is what they are clearly trying to do without the necessary success- shouldn’t they now be searching for an identity of their own instead of running after a borrowed identity?
And isn’t it obvious that without leaning against either Nkrumah or Rawlings, the NDC becomes a group of unidentifiable people without one common set of values and principles to fall on a political movement?
There is no other identity for the NDC if it does not identify with Rawlings. And if Atta Mills and the new NDC continue with this needless effort to have a borrowed identity of Nkrumaism, then the party must be prepared to have a borrowed status in Ghanaian politics.
Just as a Ghanaian calling himself JOHN MILLS is not necessarily an English man, so will a group of politicians whose politics have been inspired by Jerry John Rawlings can never succeed at any point in time in turning such a living inspiration into an Nkrumaist inspiration.
Let the President Mills and the NDC stop acting confused and giving the impression that the party is suffering from identity crisis before it is too late since it is obvious that Ghanaians will not vote for a confused group of politicians incapable of identifying themselves to rule this nation.
Signed:
Amenga-Etego SaCut
NDC youth activist
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Question of building bridges within NDC for election 2012- Is President Mills concerned?
As the 2012 general election which will determine who controls Ghana’s oil draws near, these inevitable and haunting questions- of what awaits the NDC in 2012 should the power players within it end up unable to rise above the bitter struggle that has ensued and engulfed our internal body politic, of whether or not NDC founder Jerry John Rawlings will root for President Mills in 2012 general elections which will determine who controls Ghana’s oil despite his vote of no confidence on him, questions of whether the former first lady of Ghana and NDC flag bearer contender NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS will join forces with President Mills against Nana Akuffo Addo of the NPP or will she stamp her foot even more indelibly in our body politic by running as an independent candidate- these questions will remain lingering in our minds and the more often we ask plus the louder we do the asking, the quicker our experience of the answers. And I dare say that the question of building bridges within the NDC not just for the purposes of winning power against the NPP in 2012- for the exercise of sovereign power without principles underlining it is even more detrimental to the sovereign or general will of a people- but to enable the NDC soberly return to the fundamental values that form it’s bedrock and its quest for power- these questions may come in different forms but the answer is in one man’s hand- President Mills. Yes, he must answer the moral question.
I’m emphatic about this. I get people asking me these questions whenever I’m available to answer them via every medium. And what I notice is that many people are only looking at it from one side- the wrong side. Yes, unity must come from our collective quest for it. Even with the different interests within the NDC, our opposition to a third interest- the NPP-should produce a harmony between our internal diffrent interests. That’s what the fundamental thinkers in moral and political philosophy have said. Be that as it may, the moral mandate comes into force here. And yes, President Mills may personally have little- if at all- to loose in the event of a failure of the NDC to unite and retain power in 2012- after all he has made it succinctly clear to us all that a one-term presidency for him is as good as that of a two-term as long as ‘his maker’ is satisfied with his performance as president. Meaning; God is the judge of his performance as president not the people. So: if a people judge him and the NDC out of the presidency, it will be a no judgment and he will be unperturbed.
If this is the premise, will the re-unification of the NDC party to ensure and secure victory for 2012 be such a priority for the President our leader? It doesn’t seem like the answers are coming as fast and loud as the questions. It was a good gimmick when President Mills stated in his speech after congress in Sunyani that he is cognizant of the indispensable element of unity that must follow the primary campaign bickering. He got applause for the speech. Events, actions, inaction, private and public statements and comments emanating from the president and his loyalists following the speech have all been aimed at achieving within the NDC the exact opposite of what the moral mandate requires of him- disunity. I wonder if the president and his surrogates are still getting applause.
I have learnt that lying can be very addictive and especially to oneself. When you tell a first lie, you are bound to tell another to sustain the first lie. When the cycle continues, it gets to a point you become captive to your own delusion. And that’s exactly what I’m seeing here in my dear party NDC. Looking at the posture of our brothers and sisters with power in the castle led by President Mills, it would seem to some of us that, they will have to behave as if unity in the NDC especially with the view to bringing on board the Rawlings’ for campaign 2012 is an insignificant factor in the NDC’s chances for victory- and this new lie just to be able to sustain the provably false notion that President Mills is 96.9% massively popular enough to secure a victory- even if a 3.1% bold and principled significant and critical minority is indifference.
From sending their media allies out there to make unfounded claims and tell pure lies about so-called ‘conditionalities’ from the NDC founder in exchange for his support in 2012, they have now proceeded to maliciously poison party members against meeting NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS on her nation-wide thank-you tour with the reason that she is intending to run as an independent candidate and destroy the NDC. See who are talking about destruction of the NDC? The same people who have diluted, corrupted and even conveniently buried the party’s values and created deep cracks within are now talking about the destruction of a party that now needs rescue. All this is meant to perpetuate the existing disunity. Why, we went for congress and there was a verdict. The President- the winner- has not taken a single step- not even an empty unifying statement- towards bringing on board his contender in the primaries. What President Mills’ supporters are busying their selves with at this crucial time rather is to throw out uninformed speculations-turn poison out there among the rank and file based on their own calculations of what next political step NANA KONADU WILL take. And guess what? Their speculation can only be boarded around the theme of disunity- as though they actually want to encourage Mrs. Rawlings to run as independent candidate. Well, maybe that is what they really want. They certainly must be wild dreamers.
Interestingly, some people who used to think like some of us- people who were critical of this same attitude from the presidency- are suddenly apologetic- even if covered in insincerity and for opportunistic motivations. They have started issuing so-called ‘selective apologies’ for ‘selective statements’ made about president Mills and his government in the past. ‘There is the need to build bridges, we were first NDC before we were FONKAR OR GAME’ said one self-styled ‘Rawlings disciple’ AKA RAS MUBARAK. Excellent speech but my questions remain unequivocal; who is to initiate the building project? Who is to draw the plan for the building of the bridges? Who is to sponsor the bridge building project? President Mills- of course.
Therefore, no one within the NDC- especially not insignificant persons- can claim to be taking initiatives towards ‘bridge building’ when indeed, it is nearly evident that the President and his friends don’t believe in ‘bridges’ especially if these bridges are going to link them to the RAWLINGS’. Why would they want to be linked with a family and legacy they have worked religiously to delink from? It is as if we don’t know that the same people with the moral mandate to initiate this so-called bridge building are responsible for the collapse of the bridge that we must now be building to rescue the NDC. I’m even wondering, and I wish those going to the President to apologize in their quest to build bridges, would tell us, with hand on heart, if indeed, President Mills welcomed their moot effort or he showed absolute disdain for it. I can always guess the stand president Mills will take any day. So: those who request some of us to also apologize our stands against President Mills must know that some of us are neither naïve nor are we blinded, unprincipled and uncalculating opportunists. In my books, apologies or bridge buildings must be led by the leaders who are the architects of our present culture as a party in government. After all, our dissenting voices have largely been a product and a reaction to the newly introduced separatists’ culture within the NDC also known as the ‘new NDC’ led by president Mills.
If you want to tell what president Mills truly makes of those of you making a mockery of yourselves with your apologies to him, just watch how his teaming ‘primitive loyalists’ are reacting to your actions. Some of them in their extreme naivety and over exuberance have even written and spoken privately and publicly that ‘all the Mills critics within the NDC or rather all the NANA KONADU supporters who are now privately apologizing to the president should rather go back to the mass media through which the criticisms were made before apologies are accepted’. And this is coming from some of the most insignificant supporters re-echoing the words of their masters and exposing the inner pettiness that is actually our bane. Does this signal something significant to those apologizing? Well, it does appear that some people in power hate unity within the NDC with a passion though they talk about the need for it.
Whiles all these intrigues are going on, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is getting more and more confident of victory in election 2012 to the extent that all their work to recapture power in 2012 has been reduced to just a prayer. And their prayer is a simple one which can be practically answered without a need for a miracle. That: the NDC founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife not campaign for President Mills and the NDC- the last obstacle and only real obstacle to their quest to recapture power. May be since the President is such a pious Christian, his natural inclination will be to intercede to have the NPP’s prayer answered. But I say to President Mills BE BOLD to undo the lie that you’re your own man within the NDC and Ghana politics without the unflinching support of the NDC founder before you’re crushed by the opposition NPP. And to make matters worse, the former President and NDC founder has been deeply involved in humanitarian work as an AU high representative in the search for peace in Somalia and fight against famine in the entire horn of Africa. With his active involvement in this crucially humanitarian endeavor, I wonder what it will take for president Mills to have the NDC founder on the campaign trail in 2012. Plus, the founder has stated publicly that he will not campaign for Mills in 2012. It will be interesting to see how president Mills and his new friends will manage to bring this man back home for a political campaign they themselves have believed and insinuated publicly and privately that the founder will not influence its outcome. And this yet another palpable lie needing sustenance.
All this brings me to one temporary conclusion: With former president Jerry John Rawlings’ almost certainly out of the election 2012 campaign for the president, the only other CROWD PULLER for the NDC to match the NPP is MONEY. That was the tool used by the NPP in 2008. They cannot even deny it. They are still very much reliant on it for the next election. The people have fully commercialized our universal suffrage. Go into any community of your choice in Ghana now and ask for hundred (100) people to come listen to you talk to them without paying them for walking from their homes and see if you will get an audience the next time. It is a pity but it is true.
The BIG question is where will the money come from for the crucial election 2012?
In my books, there are two main sources for all leading political parties in Ghana. May be three. The third source can’t secure any of the political parties’ victory because it is the honest source of money-honest contribution from members and supporters. The first source is DRUG MONEY, the second is STOLEN MONEY. At first, there was deterrence in Ghana especially following from 79 when public officials paid the ultimate price for their involvement in stealing state money. I doubt if that still exists as President Atta has been widely perceived to be encouraging it with his policy of ‘let things be’. It remains a risky avenue though as some of us will continue to crusade for accountability by public officials any day. Be it NDC or NPP officials. Drug money is the perpetually UNACCOUNTABLE SOURCE. As we get near the crucial election, the cartel will sure be more than king makers- they will determine for the people.
According to a recent and detailed report on Ghana titled ‘GHANA, assessing risks to stability’ by the center for strategic and international studies (CSIS) a US-based organization which provides strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to decision makers in government, international institutions, the private sector and civil society in general, the development of Accra as a hub for cocaine and heroin trade from Latin America , along with central and south-east Asia is threatening to transform criminal activities and corrupt political life in Ghana. The profits from the transshipment of drugs are too great to forgo, and a new class of educated, politically well connected drug entrepreneurs is emerging.
The UN office on drugs and crime estimates that 60 tons of cocaine worth $2billion passes through West Africa every year. The report warns that unless concerted attempts are made to combat the drug trade, there is a danger that it will corrode the effectiveness of the police, custom service and the legal system and ultimately undermine the legitimacy of the state. The NDC has made serious accusations against the NPP for alleged links to drugs money during it’s time in office. And there is little doubt if we remember in January 2004 police and customs seized 675 kg of cocaine estimated at $140million, from a frozen storage facility at the Tema harbor, owned by a Ghanaian business man of good standing who later turned out to be a drug baron. Several parcels of same drugs disappeared from police custody during this period. Then in 2005, an NPP MP Eric Amoateng was arrested in New York by US law enforcement officials for trafficking $6million worth of heroine. Even though he first denied the charges, he later pleaded guilty and is now doing time for his folly.
And according to recent leaked cables published by Wikileaks from the US-Embassy in Accra, Ghana’s drug problem is increasing in scope. In February 2010, president Mills reportedly told the U.S assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, that Ghana was struggling with drug trafficking and increased drug use and he feared a ‘bleak future for the Ghanaian people’. Three months earlier, a cable from the U.S Ambassador to Accra, Donald Teitelbaum, reported that Atta-Mills wanted drug screening introduced at the presidential lounge at the Accra airport to deter any member of his entourage who may be tempted to smuggle drugs. A separate cable suggested that members of the NDC government had been compromised by involvement in the trade and even added that airport officials were known to tip off traffickers about impending operations by NACOB.
It remains difficult for some of us to believe that either party will remain immune to the attractions of drug money as the crucial 2012 elections which obviously will determine who controls Ghana’s oil money draws near. The temptation to tap every resource- legal and illegal- may prove irresistible. If the cartel determines who wins, it goes without saying that they will control Ghana’s oil money and that may be the ‘bleak future for Ghanaians’ that our president anticipates.
Amenga-Etego SaCut
NDC youth activist
I’m emphatic about this. I get people asking me these questions whenever I’m available to answer them via every medium. And what I notice is that many people are only looking at it from one side- the wrong side. Yes, unity must come from our collective quest for it. Even with the different interests within the NDC, our opposition to a third interest- the NPP-should produce a harmony between our internal diffrent interests. That’s what the fundamental thinkers in moral and political philosophy have said. Be that as it may, the moral mandate comes into force here. And yes, President Mills may personally have little- if at all- to loose in the event of a failure of the NDC to unite and retain power in 2012- after all he has made it succinctly clear to us all that a one-term presidency for him is as good as that of a two-term as long as ‘his maker’ is satisfied with his performance as president. Meaning; God is the judge of his performance as president not the people. So: if a people judge him and the NDC out of the presidency, it will be a no judgment and he will be unperturbed.
If this is the premise, will the re-unification of the NDC party to ensure and secure victory for 2012 be such a priority for the President our leader? It doesn’t seem like the answers are coming as fast and loud as the questions. It was a good gimmick when President Mills stated in his speech after congress in Sunyani that he is cognizant of the indispensable element of unity that must follow the primary campaign bickering. He got applause for the speech. Events, actions, inaction, private and public statements and comments emanating from the president and his loyalists following the speech have all been aimed at achieving within the NDC the exact opposite of what the moral mandate requires of him- disunity. I wonder if the president and his surrogates are still getting applause.
I have learnt that lying can be very addictive and especially to oneself. When you tell a first lie, you are bound to tell another to sustain the first lie. When the cycle continues, it gets to a point you become captive to your own delusion. And that’s exactly what I’m seeing here in my dear party NDC. Looking at the posture of our brothers and sisters with power in the castle led by President Mills, it would seem to some of us that, they will have to behave as if unity in the NDC especially with the view to bringing on board the Rawlings’ for campaign 2012 is an insignificant factor in the NDC’s chances for victory- and this new lie just to be able to sustain the provably false notion that President Mills is 96.9% massively popular enough to secure a victory- even if a 3.1% bold and principled significant and critical minority is indifference.
From sending their media allies out there to make unfounded claims and tell pure lies about so-called ‘conditionalities’ from the NDC founder in exchange for his support in 2012, they have now proceeded to maliciously poison party members against meeting NANA KONADU AGYEMAN- RAWLINGS on her nation-wide thank-you tour with the reason that she is intending to run as an independent candidate and destroy the NDC. See who are talking about destruction of the NDC? The same people who have diluted, corrupted and even conveniently buried the party’s values and created deep cracks within are now talking about the destruction of a party that now needs rescue. All this is meant to perpetuate the existing disunity. Why, we went for congress and there was a verdict. The President- the winner- has not taken a single step- not even an empty unifying statement- towards bringing on board his contender in the primaries. What President Mills’ supporters are busying their selves with at this crucial time rather is to throw out uninformed speculations-turn poison out there among the rank and file based on their own calculations of what next political step NANA KONADU WILL take. And guess what? Their speculation can only be boarded around the theme of disunity- as though they actually want to encourage Mrs. Rawlings to run as independent candidate. Well, maybe that is what they really want. They certainly must be wild dreamers.
Interestingly, some people who used to think like some of us- people who were critical of this same attitude from the presidency- are suddenly apologetic- even if covered in insincerity and for opportunistic motivations. They have started issuing so-called ‘selective apologies’ for ‘selective statements’ made about president Mills and his government in the past. ‘There is the need to build bridges, we were first NDC before we were FONKAR OR GAME’ said one self-styled ‘Rawlings disciple’ AKA RAS MUBARAK. Excellent speech but my questions remain unequivocal; who is to initiate the building project? Who is to draw the plan for the building of the bridges? Who is to sponsor the bridge building project? President Mills- of course.
Therefore, no one within the NDC- especially not insignificant persons- can claim to be taking initiatives towards ‘bridge building’ when indeed, it is nearly evident that the President and his friends don’t believe in ‘bridges’ especially if these bridges are going to link them to the RAWLINGS’. Why would they want to be linked with a family and legacy they have worked religiously to delink from? It is as if we don’t know that the same people with the moral mandate to initiate this so-called bridge building are responsible for the collapse of the bridge that we must now be building to rescue the NDC. I’m even wondering, and I wish those going to the President to apologize in their quest to build bridges, would tell us, with hand on heart, if indeed, President Mills welcomed their moot effort or he showed absolute disdain for it. I can always guess the stand president Mills will take any day. So: those who request some of us to also apologize our stands against President Mills must know that some of us are neither naïve nor are we blinded, unprincipled and uncalculating opportunists. In my books, apologies or bridge buildings must be led by the leaders who are the architects of our present culture as a party in government. After all, our dissenting voices have largely been a product and a reaction to the newly introduced separatists’ culture within the NDC also known as the ‘new NDC’ led by president Mills.
If you want to tell what president Mills truly makes of those of you making a mockery of yourselves with your apologies to him, just watch how his teaming ‘primitive loyalists’ are reacting to your actions. Some of them in their extreme naivety and over exuberance have even written and spoken privately and publicly that ‘all the Mills critics within the NDC or rather all the NANA KONADU supporters who are now privately apologizing to the president should rather go back to the mass media through which the criticisms were made before apologies are accepted’. And this is coming from some of the most insignificant supporters re-echoing the words of their masters and exposing the inner pettiness that is actually our bane. Does this signal something significant to those apologizing? Well, it does appear that some people in power hate unity within the NDC with a passion though they talk about the need for it.
Whiles all these intrigues are going on, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is getting more and more confident of victory in election 2012 to the extent that all their work to recapture power in 2012 has been reduced to just a prayer. And their prayer is a simple one which can be practically answered without a need for a miracle. That: the NDC founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife not campaign for President Mills and the NDC- the last obstacle and only real obstacle to their quest to recapture power. May be since the President is such a pious Christian, his natural inclination will be to intercede to have the NPP’s prayer answered. But I say to President Mills BE BOLD to undo the lie that you’re your own man within the NDC and Ghana politics without the unflinching support of the NDC founder before you’re crushed by the opposition NPP. And to make matters worse, the former President and NDC founder has been deeply involved in humanitarian work as an AU high representative in the search for peace in Somalia and fight against famine in the entire horn of Africa. With his active involvement in this crucially humanitarian endeavor, I wonder what it will take for president Mills to have the NDC founder on the campaign trail in 2012. Plus, the founder has stated publicly that he will not campaign for Mills in 2012. It will be interesting to see how president Mills and his new friends will manage to bring this man back home for a political campaign they themselves have believed and insinuated publicly and privately that the founder will not influence its outcome. And this yet another palpable lie needing sustenance.
All this brings me to one temporary conclusion: With former president Jerry John Rawlings’ almost certainly out of the election 2012 campaign for the president, the only other CROWD PULLER for the NDC to match the NPP is MONEY. That was the tool used by the NPP in 2008. They cannot even deny it. They are still very much reliant on it for the next election. The people have fully commercialized our universal suffrage. Go into any community of your choice in Ghana now and ask for hundred (100) people to come listen to you talk to them without paying them for walking from their homes and see if you will get an audience the next time. It is a pity but it is true.
The BIG question is where will the money come from for the crucial election 2012?
In my books, there are two main sources for all leading political parties in Ghana. May be three. The third source can’t secure any of the political parties’ victory because it is the honest source of money-honest contribution from members and supporters. The first source is DRUG MONEY, the second is STOLEN MONEY. At first, there was deterrence in Ghana especially following from 79 when public officials paid the ultimate price for their involvement in stealing state money. I doubt if that still exists as President Atta has been widely perceived to be encouraging it with his policy of ‘let things be’. It remains a risky avenue though as some of us will continue to crusade for accountability by public officials any day. Be it NDC or NPP officials. Drug money is the perpetually UNACCOUNTABLE SOURCE. As we get near the crucial election, the cartel will sure be more than king makers- they will determine for the people.
According to a recent and detailed report on Ghana titled ‘GHANA, assessing risks to stability’ by the center for strategic and international studies (CSIS) a US-based organization which provides strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to decision makers in government, international institutions, the private sector and civil society in general, the development of Accra as a hub for cocaine and heroin trade from Latin America , along with central and south-east Asia is threatening to transform criminal activities and corrupt political life in Ghana. The profits from the transshipment of drugs are too great to forgo, and a new class of educated, politically well connected drug entrepreneurs is emerging.
The UN office on drugs and crime estimates that 60 tons of cocaine worth $2billion passes through West Africa every year. The report warns that unless concerted attempts are made to combat the drug trade, there is a danger that it will corrode the effectiveness of the police, custom service and the legal system and ultimately undermine the legitimacy of the state. The NDC has made serious accusations against the NPP for alleged links to drugs money during it’s time in office. And there is little doubt if we remember in January 2004 police and customs seized 675 kg of cocaine estimated at $140million, from a frozen storage facility at the Tema harbor, owned by a Ghanaian business man of good standing who later turned out to be a drug baron. Several parcels of same drugs disappeared from police custody during this period. Then in 2005, an NPP MP Eric Amoateng was arrested in New York by US law enforcement officials for trafficking $6million worth of heroine. Even though he first denied the charges, he later pleaded guilty and is now doing time for his folly.
And according to recent leaked cables published by Wikileaks from the US-Embassy in Accra, Ghana’s drug problem is increasing in scope. In February 2010, president Mills reportedly told the U.S assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Johnnie Carson, that Ghana was struggling with drug trafficking and increased drug use and he feared a ‘bleak future for the Ghanaian people’. Three months earlier, a cable from the U.S Ambassador to Accra, Donald Teitelbaum, reported that Atta-Mills wanted drug screening introduced at the presidential lounge at the Accra airport to deter any member of his entourage who may be tempted to smuggle drugs. A separate cable suggested that members of the NDC government had been compromised by involvement in the trade and even added that airport officials were known to tip off traffickers about impending operations by NACOB.
It remains difficult for some of us to believe that either party will remain immune to the attractions of drug money as the crucial 2012 elections which obviously will determine who controls Ghana’s oil money draws near. The temptation to tap every resource- legal and illegal- may prove irresistible. If the cartel determines who wins, it goes without saying that they will control Ghana’s oil money and that may be the ‘bleak future for Ghanaians’ that our president anticipates.
Amenga-Etego SaCut
NDC youth activist
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