Struggling Man, No Time To Lose!

IF YOU were a “hippie”, a “guy”, or a disco-going “show boy” in the early seventies, you will surely remember a Jamaican musician called   Jimmy Cliff of “Synthetic World” fame.  In 1973, there was this hit song by Jimmy Cliff titled “Struggling Man, No Time to Lose”. 

In those days some of us who were really struggling in life loved this song so much that we sang it even when in the bathroom.

We were hustlers, you know, and time was not on our side.  Jimmy Cliff wrote in that song that every man has the right to live and so there is no time to lose as we must move on. 

He said as the sun lights the day, so also the moon lights the night.  In my moment of tranquility, I have come to understand Jimmy Cliff more than I did thirty-six years ago. 

Today, members of the New Patriotic Party are struggling men and women and they have no time to lose.  That is why they must move on.

The NDC in opposition did set a precedent which is worth emulating by the NPP now in opposition.  To put pressure on the ruling NPP government, the NDC formed a group called Committee for Joint Action. 

This group did not give the government any breathing space whatsoever.  They were later called the Wahalians and did spit fire. 

They demonstrated against anything.  They even nearly entered ex-President Kufuor's bedroom to see what was happening there during the night.  Even when nature frowned on us and the Volta Lake nearly dried up leading to power outages, they blamed it on Kufuor. 

The numerous demonstrations did not take place in Accra alone but across the nooks and crannies of this dear country.

Ex-President Rawlings, then candidate Mills, Asiedu Nketia, Ama Benyiwa Doe and some top leaders of the NDC were seen among the demonstrators, using unprintable and uncouth  words against the NPP government.  During all these demonstrations, not a pint of blood dropped. 

The sometimes rowdy demonstrators had their way as they even pelted policemen with stones and burnt tyres on our roads.  It was a test of the patience of the Kufuor administration.

Sometimes the NPP government was pushed to the wall beyond human endurance but still the former President asked the supporters of the NPP to stay calm for the unity of the nation. 

The supporters of the NPP accused ex-President Kufuor of being too lenient with the demonstrators but still the Gentle Giant kept his cool.  The gentleman did not make any comment even when ex-President Rawlings compared him to Atta Ayi, a notorious armed robber.

Now that the NDC is in power, it is payback time for the NPP.  The party should not sit down and leave everything to the temperament of the NDC government.  The NPP must as a matter of urgency begin assembling their warriors for a showdown with the NDC government. 

Even though President Mills is calling on all Ghanaians to forget the past and forge ahead in unity to develop the nation, no NPP member should take him seriously because what is good for the goose is as well good for the gander. 

When the Vodafone deal was going on, then candidate Mills led a demonstration against the sale.  Let us wait and see whether they will make any attempt to sell any state property for non-performance.

For a start, the leadership of the NPP should start importing red cloths to be used as hand and head-bands for the impending demonstrations that will rock the nation in due cause.

The NPP should give the new regime sometime to adjust and organize.  But if they wait and things are not going on as they promised, alluta should surely start rocking our cities.  When that happens, we do not expect any brutalities by the security forces because when they had theirs no one was brutalized. 

I know the heat will be so unbearable and the chips will start falling.  I can not tell the name of the new pressure group but what I know is that the name will be like “Yasesamu Anuyeho”  (We have regretted changing).

My political mentor (name withheld), once advised  me that in politics one must try to pay back anyone who had done you wrong  whiles you are alive.  He reasoned that since only God will be the final judge when we all die, we should leave that judgment to God. 

According to him, here on earth, we should endeavour to pay people back in their own coin when it comes to politics.  He does not believe in “fa bribiara ma Nyame” (give everything to God). 

Looking at what the NDC did to the NPP government when they were in opposition, I believe in the philosophy of this my political mentor.  This is not the time for the NDC to say we should forget the past.  No, they must also brace themselves up for the impending demonstrations, criticisms and the accompanying insults. 

If for example there is a dramatic increase in the price of crude oil on the world market and the NDC government decides to increase the prices of petroleum products, we will demonstrate against the increase. 

If the rains refuse to come and our crops whither, we the farmers will demonstrate.  With the global economic crisis looming and the prices of commodities skyrocketing, the NDC government should expect us to demonstrate sooner than later.  It's a matter of time.  This is a case of   “Odi aye me, menso me ye no bi”.  You do me, I do you, that's all!!!