Decision time: Nana Akufo-Addo/Dr. Bawumia your sure bet.

I assume that most people have put the December 7 shock, or the Black Sunday story, behind them and are looking forward to the prospects of December 28.

As to whether it would be another shocker or otherwise largely depends on what one does or fails to do. What one says or fails to say, as well as what one hears.

Arguably, the most essential commodity from now to December 28 is Time.

 It is, therefore, no wonder that the leadership of the two main political parties are moving swiftly to win as many new votes as possible while keeping the hearts they have already won.

In the camp of the NPP, some have started the blame-game which I can emphatically say is suicidal for them at this particular moment.

The parliamentary losses, though painful, should not derail the attention of the NPP, their supporters and sympathisers from winning the impending presidential run-off.

It would serve Ghana a great deal if, at this time of our democratic dispensation, we have two parties, each, controlling the executive and the legislative steering the affairs of the country.

But this is not even likely to happen, as all four independent parliamentarians-elect as well as those on the PNC and CPP tickets are reportedly ready to work with the NPP.

For the NPP to win the December 28 run off, a lot of things need to be considered.

The blame-game should stop forthwith. Complacency that led to voter apathy must also cease.

The NPP supporters must accept that, Nana Akufo-Addo did not get the required number of votes not because the NDC covered a lot more space than the NPP or that, they had the right message.

I would not want to take anything away from the NDC.

They are the second largest party in the country and as such command some respect. However, after stretching to their last limit, they could not win the presidential slot.

The reason for their failure is not far-fetched. They could not contain the achievements of the NPP'S eight-year rule in relation to their 19 years (PNDC years inclusive).

As a result, they could not help but use unconventional campaign tactics and confound the electorate.

 Dear reader, before you cast your vote on December 28, I ask you to demand answers to the following questions from the NDC:

1. Is the NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME not better than the previous CASH and CARRY system?

2. Has the CAPITATION GRANT not made basic schools free and more accessible than ever?

3. Is the SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME, not relieving parents of their burdens, thereby putting monies indirectly into their pockets?

4. Can anybody deny the immeasurable benefits pregnant women and their unborn babies gain from the FREE PRE-NATAL MEDI-CARE SCHEME?

5. Can the NDC refute the NPP"s claim that, they (NPP) government has added more kilometres of motorable road networks in their eight years than the P/NDC's 19-year rule?

6. Can the NDC prove that, they managed the economy better than the NPP?

7. Can the NDC challenge the NPP's claim that our international reserves at the time the NDC left office could last for just two weeks, as against the current three months?

8. Has the NPP managed to bring down inflation from over 40% to the current level of about 18%, whilst interest rate has fallen dramatically?

9. Has Ghana really found oil? If yes, are they prepared to apologise to the NPP and the general public for mocking the NPP when the announcement was made on the floor of Parliament to that effect?

10. What is new in the NDC now which is different from the NDC of eight years ago?

Whilst the NDC try to provide you answers to the above questions, have you as an individual taken time to think of why Nana Akufo-Addo went beyond the big shots in the NPP to pick Mahamudu Bawumia, a celebrated economist, as his running mate?

The answer is simple: the country's economic prospects are now brighter than ever, and requires someone with an in depth knowledge of the factors that have caused this growth at the helm of affairs.

With the envisaged oil revenue, which has been a curse for many countries, he found it prudent to have a vice president who understands the dynamics of economics.

Was it not sheer bravery and unparalleled vision that informed this choice of his? I hope those with floating votes are listening?

To the (aggrieved) NPP supporters, some of whom refused to vote or switched camp on December 7, I entreat you all to come home, for home is where your heart is.

Though you have a point, you are known where ever you are as NPP supporters.

There is no guarantee that the NDC will treat you any better, individually, than you are treated at 'home'.

One of the skills the founder of the NDC is noted for is making friends to achieve his objectives and dumping them later.

If you are in doubt, look around him if you can find any of his friends from 1979, through early 1981 to the present day.

Not forgetting Kow Nkensen Arkaah, who helped him win his first elections in 1992. Surely, you can not afford to deny Ghana the leader she deserves- Nana Akufo-Addo.

It is an open secret that, some NDC supporters have put on the cloak of Nkrumaists and are perpetually using the CPP/UP clashes of old to open old wounds.

What they forget is that the overthrow of Dr Limann's PNP in 1981 by the PNDC - which metamorphosed into the NDC - was the last nail in the coffin of the Nkrumaist tradition.

The result is the 3 seats the CPP and the PNC could win all together in last Sunday's elections. After all, in the beginning was a UGCC, before the INDEPENDENCE NOW and INDEPENDENCE GRADUALLY theories set in to orchestrate the separation and the sordid situation that ensued

I wonder how we, as a nation would have fared had our Third Republican Constitution been allowed to run its course.

As we wait to make the biggest decision of our time let us not only look forward but move forward with

NANA AKUFO-ADDO and DR. BAWUMIA'S partnership of hope.

LONG LIVE GHANA!
LONG LIVE NPP!!
Kwasi Mensa Oduro
[email protected]