Rawlings' influence on December 2008 – a curse or a blessing?

For how long will J. J. Rawlings remain a critical factor in Ghana politics and what is his place in the December 2008 elections? I will answer this question in due course. I will in the meantime share some thoughts with you which will provide a meaningful context for my answer.

I campaigned for the NPP in 2000 as an apostle of CHANGE. This change has produced two important results. It has helped enriched our multi-party democracy by giving us the opportunity to see another party in power and have a feel of what they can also do. Secondly, it has helped the NPP move away from their year 2000 TICO campaign fleet to state-of-the-art 4-wheel drives, a clear sign that the party has moved forward. The NPP may have its faults but it has in many respects built on the foundations laid by previous governments and have done some things better than the NDC had previously done. Of course they have also done worse in some other areas.

I still remain an apostle of change not so much because of the things I have against the NPP. For some of us true floating voters, we believe we should VOTE FOR CHANGE every eight years and only retain a ruling party in power after eight years if and only if it has delivered extra-ordinary results that generally exceed our expectations.

This formula is premised on the fact that there are tremendous benefits to be derived from peacefully voting for CHANGE anytime we do so. Let us look at some of these benefits.

First of all, voting for CHANGE will send the strongest signal to all politicians that none of them can take Ghana's POWER for granted. Taking power for granted is a recipe for complacency, arrogance, self-righteousness and loss of touch with the people!

A peaceful vote for change will further consolidate Ghana's position in the community of stabilized democracies and further enhance international goodwill for the country. We peacefully changed government in 2000 and it has yielded the dividend of massive financial and moral support from the international community since 2001. It can only get better with another peaceful change!

We need three or at least two strong political parties to sustain a true multi-party democracy. A ruling party will grow stronger and stronger when kept in power for too long whilst the others get weaker and weaker when they remain in opposition for too long. This may lead to a de facto one-party state. Voting for change is therefore a vote to strengthen the pillars of our fledging multi-party democracy!

A party coming from opposition into power naturally has a stronger motivation to improve on the records of the previous government. It thus has a greater chance of doing better than a retained incumbent party. Besides, our experience has so far shown that a party in power does not accept its mistakes. A culture of sending ruling parties into opposition to learn from their mistakes will help put them in a better position to be more sensitive to their error rate when they next get back into power.

The Americans practise this formula very well. They vote for change every eight years almost as a rule. The only exception in recent history was the retention of the Republicans in 1988. Americans rewarded the Republicans at the time for winning the long standing cold war against the Soviet Union, an achievement they considered as extra-ordinary, given their thirst for world supremacy.

All fair minded Ghanaians will credit the NPP government with some respectable achievements especially in the area of GDP growth. However, for a party that won power on the slogan “let your living standards determine your vote”, the litmus test for extraordinary success should be the extent to which these GDP growth figures translate into better living standards for the generality of our people.

What is more, JAK's philosophy for fighting corruption has been as unrealistic as Mbeki's attitude towards HIV in South Africa. Mbeki left South Africa with one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world in much the same way as JAK is on the way of leading Ghana into the corruption hall of fame. JAK knows that corrupt practices are formulated in ways that do not leave visible trails for the non-trained eyes to see. There can therefore not be a better way of showing disinterest in fighting corruption than asking the public to bring evidence before government can act.

In addition, matters relating to accounting for the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the two presidential jets, the presidential mansion, pair trawling, CNTCI and IFC loans, political arrogance, the drug menace and the sale of VALCO to non-existent buyers have conspired with fate to negate most of the political mileage the NPP expected to gain from the NHIS, NYEP, the expanded frontiers of free speech and a growing GDP.

Voting for change every 8 years is thus the surest political formula for creating a prosperous Ghana. The change we voted for in 2000 has been good for Ghana and the time has come to once again vote for another change. Donor funds will be hit by the global financial crises and we have to show why the little that will be available should be given to us. A peaceful vote for change is the most dramatic way of staking this claim!

The opponents of the NDC have gone to every length to paint the party as black as they can, all in the bid to making us believe that it is not a credible alternative. It is important to clarify the point that the political party called the NDC is not the same as the PNDC which was the military government that preceded it.

The December 7 election results have driven home the fact more than ever before that Ghana has for now become a two party state. If we continue to visit the sins of the PNDC on the NDC, it means we will have a situation where the NPP will rule forever, even if they don't deliver the best value for our money. What will happen in such a circumstance is that the career politicians in the NDC will over time begin defecting to the NPP, eventually leading to a one party state. Is that what we want? But let us for a moment stop and ask ourselves one question. If the NDC is that evil, why does the NPP accept defectors from the evil party? Why have they accepted Bugri Naabu, Frances Esiam, Maame Dorkono and their likes from the so called evil party? Can't we smell any double standards here? They use the PNDC misdeeds to discredit the NDC purely for political gains and nothing more!

For how long will we Ghanaians continue to allow Rawlings to be a factor in who we vote for? Why should we allow the personality of Rawlings to hold the political process to ransom by allowing him to remain an overriding factor in the choices we make? The only way we can exorcise Rawlings from frontline Ghanaian politics is to give Atta Mills the opportunity to come to power. Even if he rules for only one term, he will leave the party with a new image that will forever relegate the personality of Rawlings to the background. Hit lists will then disappear from our campaign landscape. Fear mongering will also disappear. This will leave us with the core bread and butter issues to contend with in future elections. It will force future political campaigns to be issue driven and I bet all of you that the country will be the winner in the long run.

The opponents of the NDC would not want Rawlings to be exorcised from our body politic because it works to their advantage. Even if they make unpardonable mistakes, they know they can use Rawlings' name to get re-elected. What of you and I who want the best for this country? We should not allow a situation where even mediocre governments from other parties can continue to use Rawlings' personality to gain unfair electoral advantage and the time to stop it is NOW.

If a ruling party will have to win power and be retained, let it be purely on merit rather than on the fear of a non-existent threat.

Now you see why those of us who are not hard core supporters of any party should use December 28 to complete the change process we started on December 7 for a better political future for the country.

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