NPP – The Writing On The Wall

Time Check: circa 500 years before Christ. Venue – the world's plush capital, BABYLON, and the King was His Majesty Belshazzar – at his super executive Palace.

The King had thrown a lavish ultra luxurious party of wining, eating and dancing, then all of a sudden, reader, a hand appeared on the wall and wrote: “MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN” (read Daniel Chapter 5).

According to the prophet Daniel, what the inscription meant was that the King has been judged and condemned and his Kingdom divided. That very night disaster befell the King – he was murdered.

I am NPP, heart and soul, so just before the elections I kept on boasting to my circle of friends that Nana Akufo-Addo will win the ballot, one touch, with minimum of 60% votes, and that because of our mode of conducting parliamentary primaries to select candidates, we will win Parliament but with a lower reduced majority.

Come December 6, 2020, I motored up to Berekum, slept in my house, then early morning I went to JINJINI, voted for Nana and was back in Accra by 4pm.

Then the results started trickling in, slowly…wait a minute – what is this? Nana Akufo-Addo has won alright, but with just over 50% of the votes, and John Mahama, with all that we know against his maladministration – the man got 47%!!!! Am I hearing right?

But hold on – what is happening in Parliament? Big gurus falling left, right centre – HAJIA ALIMA MAHAMA, the down to earth Minister of Local Government, rejected by her people in Nalerigu after fighting tooth and nail to make it a Regional Capital!!! BONIFACE SADIQ, the Independent MP that JA Kufuor made a Minister and brought him to NPP, who became NPP-MP for Madina, popularly known as Zongo Boy, booted out of the House, YAW BUABENG ASAMOAH, NPP Communications Chief, sacked from the House; BARBARA OTENG GYASI, the flamboyant Tourism Minister removed…reader, as many as 21 Ministers and Deputy Ministers kicked out of the House!!!

NPP said Madam Ama Sey was an “illiterate” so they prefer a lawyer, like me, for Akwatia. The voters said no to the lawyer, and after John Boadu has gone on air to run down the NPP sitting MP for Fomena for daring to challenge the way we do primaries and going to Independent and WINNING hands down, problem!!!

Reader, what is happening? Or what happened? As for Nana Akufo-Addo I don't have problem with him. I dare say he is the most hardworking hands-on President ever to rule Ghana.

I hear in the early days of his Presidency, he was so determined to implement free SHS that notwithstanding the blinding problems associated with it, if you go to his office and start drawing circles around free SHS, he will tell you straight faced – “walk out.”

Look at one District One Factory odyssey, look at creation of six new regions, look at one District One Million Dollars, look at restoration of nurses allowances, teacher trainee allowances, the new roads, Pokuase, Obetsebi Lamptey and Tema interchanges…most truly Nana is very hardworking, always on the move, travelling to every nook and corner of the country.

But if all that I have said above is true, and yes it is, how come he had only 50%? Does it mean the voting population is not bothered by the free SHS, the factories, the roads? But no problem – Nana Akufo-Addo won, one touch, which is endorsement of the electorate for him, over John Mahama.

But Parliament!!!

As at the time of writing, Sunday night, 13/12/20, the figures are still not very clear. Out of the 275 House, NPP could not make 140 – just about 138 or so.

What happened?

Peter Mac Manu, one time Party Chairman and Campaign Manager for Nana Akufo-Addo said it all: NPP must review the WAY we select parliamentary candidates; otherwise, the writing is on the wall.

Why should a small group of so-called delegates made up of only party executives – polling station and constituency executives meet to select a candidate? Why not open the gate wide – every card bearing member of NPP should be able to vote for the person he or she prefers as a candidate.

Why should somebody somewhere sitting in Accra decide that you people in so, so and so, allow this woman or man to go unopposed? Why? So if they are fed up with him or her they should still tolerate him or her? Very well. December 7 will come.

Look at OTI Region – oh my God – we lost all the eight seats, and I was not surprised at all because an NPP faithful from Kete Krachi came and told me “Captain the way your people are behaving upstairs about Oti Regional politics, we will lose ALL the seats!!!”

It is very terrible that as many as 111 out of the 275 member House are NOT coming back. That is very serious.

If any MP wants to come back to the House, I recommend strongly that you join hands and make a law that all DCEs should be elected by direct universal suffrage.

When that happens, so much pressure will be lifted off the shoulders of the MPs. Go to Accra and make laws for Ghana, but here, the capo is the DCE, whom we voted for, with our ballots. If he does not perform we will change him!!!

Right now, until we elect DCEs, you the MP, you MUST visit your Constituency at least every two weeks, you should attend funerals, outdoorings, weddings, visit them in church, make fat donations (don't ask me where you will get the money from…)

If you don't do this, they will accuse you of being ARROGANT, POMPOUS, SELFISH and so on, and come December 7 they will vote against you!!!

The next four years ahead is going to be very interesting; Nana Akufo-Addo, the popular President, working with a highly balanced Parliament.

Tactically, he should not make any MP a Regional Minister outside Accra – they should be inside Accra to attend sittings of the House. All the key Ministers like Foreign Affairs, Finance, Education, Local Government, Defence…should be held by NON MPs so that they can concentrate on the job and travel both in and out of Ghana – the MPs must be in Accra, and attend sessions of the House, otherwise the populous NDC opposition will make Parliament work almost impossible…

Holala, NPP are you reading me, my people? The writing is on the wall. We joke, the next four years at our peril!!!!

From Nkrabeah Effah Dartey