NDC Goes Wild • Over National Awards

With barely two days away from the bestowal of state awards on selected personalities, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has thrown another spanner into the works, as it directs all its officials to decline the offer until certain conditions are met.

This latest development is coming on the heels of the “no, thank you” response by the party's founder who was nominated for the highest award of the Order of The Eagle and Stars of Ghana.

The directive, which was issued by the party General Secretary, Mr. Asiedu Nketia last Friday, urged all officials belonging to the political grouping to decline the offer even as they have individually acknowledged the nominations.

The statement called for a review of the entire process of conferment of state awards to, as the party put it, “restore relevance and pride to national honours”.

Until this condition is met, the party has asked that all party officials nominated should say “no”.

To accept the nominations, the General Secretary noted, is to condone what he called the hypocrisy and deception of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

This twist poses a fresh challenge to Prof John Evans Atta Mills, flag-bearer of the party who had earlier agreed to accept the award even though he had scathing words for it when he said its essence has been eroded.

The question being posed by curious Ghanaians is whether Prof Mills, who is ostensibly leading a “new NDC”, will toe the party line and thereby follow in the footsteps of the “old NDC” led by founder Rawlings, or be his own man and not operate in the shadows of his mentor.

Since choosing Hon. John Dramani Mahama, against the wishes of the Rawlingses, Prof Mills has professed to be leading a new NDC, a party which is struggling to carve a new image for itself.

This party directive, a reflection of Rawlings' position, would be a litmus test for Mills' independence, a development which puts him in a quandary.

A spokesman for the flag-bearer, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, has however stated that he could not state whether or not his boss would accept or reject the offer, as he has just returned from a trip to the Western Region and was yet to meet the party leadership on the issue.

When asked whether or not a party decision was binding on him, he said: “Prof Mills was not just a member of the party, but the leader of the party; and so when the party issues a statement directing all other people to conduct themselves in a certain way, as a leader, he has to meet with them, discuss it, before coming out with his own position as flag-bearer.”

Rawlings is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow to “boom” on the awards and the incarceration of Tsatsu Tsikata.

Mr. K.B. Asante, a retired diplomat has in the meanwhile expressed dismay over the likely intention of the NDC to boycott the ceremony.

Much as he said there should have been some consultations over the institution of a new highest national honour, he still called on the NDC to show accommodation to maintain the unity of the country by giving credence to the awards.

In an attempt to pour cold water over the July 3 event, the NDC has spun a political web around the function, explaining that “national awards are meant to recognize achievement and merit of the highest level in the service of Ghana or to humanity at large, while celebrating distinguished service worthy of recognition and is expected to be conferred on principles rather than political convenience.”

Mr. Nketia aka General Mosquito has described the awards as “a cynical ploy to confer state honours on President Kufuor and almost his entire Cabinet and government, using a few NDC officials as tokens of justification and even-handedness in the process.”

The NDC recalled what it stated was the controversy generated within the NPP circles following the nominations “with the attendant indecent attacks on our leader Prof Mills by key elements within the NPP who went on to demand the inclusion of their flag-bearer in the same category as Prof Mills.”

Lambasting the Kufuor administration, the NDC accused it of debasing the essence of national awards, and called for urgent steps to, as it put it, “restore respect and value to state awards.”

The forthcoming national awards, since it was announced, has evoked controversies even within the NPP when Prof Mills' name was mentioned as one of the beneficiaries.

This dissipated after the full list of 268 names, encompassing all endeavours of Ghanaian life including foreigners, was announced in a release from the Office of the President recently.

By A.R. Gomda