Bugri Naabu Has a Point for Nana

Personally, while his name is quite familiar, I don't know much about Mr. Bugri Naabu, who is described as a founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Still, I firmly believe that the Tamale-based NPP member's cautionary note to Nana Akufo-Addo must be taken with the utmost seriousness that it deserves. In a gist, Mr. Naabu would like the NPP flagbearer for Election 2008 to pursue the process of selecting his running mate with extreme caution.

We, of course, agree with Mr. Naabu for one simple fact; and the latter is that the gaping inability, or woeful failure, to settle on the choice of a running mate, on the part of the perennial presidential candidate of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC), can only point to one thing: the fact that the outcome of Election 2008 primarily depends on the strategic choices made by the ruling NPP.

His failure, significantly, also points to the glaring fact that Professor John Evans Atta-Mills has absolutely no constructive agenda, whatsoever, for the future rapid development of Ghana at all levels of national endeavor. Otherwise, what could really have prevented Professor Atta-Mills, more than a year after his peremptory appointment as the NDC presidential candidate, by the party's founding-owner, Mr. Jeremiah John Rawlings, from selecting a running mate, perhaps the most elementary decision for any presidential candidate to make, and an obvious test of the latter's leadership preparedness?

Or in the latter sphere also, is the former Legon law school lecturer waiting for instructions from the Ridge residence of the “One-man, One-toilet philosopher,” otherwise known as the Dzelukope Mafia capo? If so, and we have absolutely no reason to doubt the same, then those of his ardent critics who have observed the symbolic surrogacy of Ghana's quondam Tax Commissioner cannot be logically impugned.

It is also not in the least bit surprising that, according to reliable media sources, most of the strategic decisions recently taken, vis-à-vis the participation of the NDC in Election 2008, have been so effected in the Ridge residence of Chairman Jato June 4th.

We also wholeheartedly concur with Mr. Bugri Naabu that: “It is not a forgone conclusion that a running mate should necessarily come from a particular region or religion” (Ghanaweb.com 1/7/08). We firmly concur with Mr. Naabu because we have the eerily striking example of President Kufuor's selection of Alhaji Aliu Mahama, twice, as the former's running mate to guide us against the vapid theory of “regional balance.”

The foregoing, of course, is not in the least to imply that ample consideration ought not to be given to the need for all sections of the country to actively participate in our Fourth-Republican democratic process.

And it is for the preceding reason why he could not be more dead-on accurate, when Mr. Bugri Naabu also adds that: “A running mate should be a time-tested and marketable personality who can improve on the political fortunes of the NPP in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Volta regions, where the party has fared badly since 1992.

More importantly, we exhort the NPP presidential candidate for Election 2008 to select for running mate, an eventual vice-president whom as president, Nana Akufo-Addo could readily and publicly endorse, should the occasion so demand, as a presidential aspirant or contender, once the substantive president readies himself for retirement as President Emeritus, or Elder Statesman.

We also need to emphasize, once again, that historically, the Volta Region has voted along the Danquahist line, as witnessed in Ghana's 1960 presidential election and the ones before the latter. It is, therefore, time to revisit the proverbial drawing board and capture some of the Danquahist magic, as it were, for the kill.

In the northern reaches of the country, as well, the New Patriotic Party needs to revisit the ideologically unifying campaign strategy of the William (Paa Willie) Ofori-Atta-led United National Convention (UNC) during the 1979 general elections. And while, of course, the UNC clinched a piddling 13 parliamentary seats, still, the distribution of the latter across the country makes for worthwhile study and emulation. And here also must be emphasized the fact that the UNC's failure to clinch a far greater number of parliamentary seats, hinged largely on the superficial fact of the advanced age of Mr. William Ofori-Atta, the UNC presidential candidate. And on the latter score, we appropriate the adjective “superficial,” because the Ghanaian electorate, largely young and inexperienced, was woefully misled into confusing graceful and sagacious aging with outright senility, and thus the rash and patently unwise decision to elect the almost wholly untested Dr. Hilla Limann, an otherwise fine scholar and a brilliant diplomat, nonetheless.

Needless to say, President Kufuor's abysmally tactical failure to either overtly or covertly endorse his two-term running mate, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, may be aptly envisaged to have considerably complicated matters for the NPP presidential candidate for Election 2008. The preceding notwithstanding, his remarkable resilience should witness Nana Akufo-Addo making all the most constructive and foresighted choices for Ghana during most of the coming decade.

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing. He is the author of “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: [email protected].