Banana Democracy, Kangaroo Games, and NPP Dictatorial Aficionados

Twa-no-tia-ma-yenko! Let us show the Youth Advocates where power lies! The infantile chest-beating political silencers! Shame-on-You; Shame-on-Me! What is democracy? Freedom of speech, freedom of practice, or both? Can we speak of democracy without physical evidence of democratic practice? Shame-on-You, and Shame-on-Me!

Our Executive Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey was quoted two weeks prior to the August 7 elections on Fox Radio in Ghana that: “I know who is going to win; I would be a fool if I did not know that; and it will be a massive win” - July 2010. This statement and several other developments, such as bloating the electoral register prior to voting, showed that there was no level playing electoral ground. Did you hear the gossip on the Election Day? Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, the front runner of Africa's most respected Democratic Party was denied voting from a polling booth in Accra and had to travel several miles to cast his vote elsewhere, also in Accra. Did Nana successfully register to vote in many polling stations; and how many of them?

An independent fact finding team has already been sent to Ghana and working hard on the ground to find electoral malpractices to build our case why OMOV is the best method. And I will love to publish our findings when the job is complete. When will NPP learn? Our National Executive Council (NEC) adopted several faulty practices in our electoral system that they themselves have complained bitterly before. Some of these practices are one, shifting the goal posts at the eleventh hour; two, Volta Total Win; and three, combinations of several practices. By the way, how many ballot papers were spoiled? Does that mean that even our polling agents do not know how to vote? Are we serious? Look the delegates system is dead wrong! We will report many more as we get them. The NPP Youth League will never condone wrong doings. We will always stand by the truth.

In 2008 NPP primaries in the Asante Akyem North Constituency, the voting venue was shifted at the eleventh hour from Konongo (the District Capital) to Agogo. This same practice was repeated in the just ended NPP flag bearer elections in Asante Akyem South. The sitting NPP MP of the Constituency, Hon. Gifty Ohene Konadu, reported on Fox Radio that she waited several hours at Juaso, the official venue for the Constituency voting, had been shifted to Bompata within one hour prior to the elections time without the knowledge of even the Electoral Commissioner. The MP waited until a passer-by (possibly an NDC sympathizer!) told her to proceed to Bompata. It worked in Konongo Asante-Akyem North; and must work in Juaso Asante-Akyem South. Shame-on-you; Shame-on-Me!

Can Nana Akufo-Addo confidently claim overwhelming win of almost eighty percentage of the electoral box of a political party full of so many Konongo Fordjours [simply on a silver platter]? One hundred percent here; ninety percent there! Hip… Hip…Hip…Hurray, Nana is the winner! Interestingly the Nana-is-the-Winner tape was not played to the beat of the kangaroo dancing. Perhaps the bandstand at the background had seen the kangaroo games at display and needed not hurt the feelings of our numerous Youth. Shame-on-You; Shame-on-Me! Of course if it worked in 2008 NDC Total Volta Win strategy; it must work at all cost in 2010 Total Abuakwa NPP Win strategy! Congratulations Nana; Ayekoo NPP on our successful elections!

Our party is an internationally respected organization with decent democratic credentials. In one of our heated debates here, I proudly made this statement for our party at the envy of opposing parties such as NDC and CPP. The challenge was if NPP, an offspring of UP, was that much democratic, it would not have sponsored (I do not believe this!) the overthrow of the democratically elected President Nkrumah. It is true that President Nkrumah was democratically elected to govern Ghana over a period of time stipulated by the National Constitution. President Nkrumah later on overthrew the Constitution and declared himself life president with a one-party state - a criminal move against the will of his own people - that deserved all the condemnations. I support the overthrow of that government.

Our party is great; it will stand up to any illegal act to deny our people the true democracy. We have the best socio-economic policy framework any political party could have; and I am proud of my party. However, I admit that our party has been poorly managed, lately, by selfish and dictatorial so-called devotees. I am glad that the whole world is now drawing closer to my campaign of One-Member-One-Vote [OMOV]. Our recent election has shown that when the number of people is increased in voting, peace reigns and democracy is deepened. However, our continuous commission of error is the increment of the number of ballot boxes; rather than the increment of the SIZE of the ballot box [one big box not 5000 boxes].

With OMOV, everybody can vote from anywhere (in their comfortable bedrooms) into the huge ballot box sitting in the office of the Electoral Commissioner somewhere in Accra. With OMOV there is absolutely no Cheating, no Coercion, no Takashi, and no Bugabuga. OMOV exerts a lot of pressure on the contestant (not the voter) to convince the voter to give his/her vote to him/her. OMOV is an issue-based strategy. The best presenter of issues with practical implementation of our NPP policies wins at the end of the day, period (and not kuluulu). The hand-twisting manipulative handiwork of desperados with strange figures, although may seem democratic, negates the votes as convincing representative.

One interesting statement made by our dear Chairman and repeated by the General Secretary after the recent election is that they hope to increase the NUMBER again in our future elections; or perhaps extend the franchise to the entire members of our family. I must congratulate our officers on that message. Good Job, folks, I appreciate that! Please do not just increase the number of voters with the number of boxes. Please simply allow our one million (1,000,000) card carrying members throw their votes into one single ballot box. Many ballot boxes are the causes of electoral fixations. If you do not understand how the OMOV strategy works, please use the IDEA CHAMPIONS; and we will be glad to do it at no cost.

Nevertheless, the question is not about knowledge; it is about honesty. The previous executive teams under Harouna Esseku through Peter MacManu and the current one under Jake Lamptey have been very much aware of the authenticity of OMOV but they would simply not let it function until their anointed one sails through. It must be our collective expectation that Nana Akufo-Addo will go down into the annals of our party history as the last old man to end the traditionally dysfunctional old delegates electoral crap in NPP [be it extended or shrunken numbers].

The future must embrace pure democracy, decency, honesty, and collectivist decision-making era. If we do not set up a very tough non-corruptible structure today, anybody from nowhere can manipulate the selected few delegates to win power and control our party at our own displeasure. Now, where do we go from here? I call upon all our dedicated party hardliners not to give up, join my lone voice, and institute OMOV for our party electoral system. The world respects our peaceful, human rights dedication, and our readiness to free mankind from desperation and coercion; and even freer to express themselves through voting. Please say it loud and clear that it MUST BE: One-Member-One-Vote (OMOV). I urge our NEC to seize this opportunity to make name for it; please create history.

The Way Forward

Congratulations again, Nana! Please pay attention to me here carefully. It is only you and nobody else in NPP currently who wants to be president of the Republic of Ghana. Therefore you must sit down quietly alone in closed doors in your comfortable bedroom; and ask yourself how possibly you can secure that dream. A bit of advice here, if you will take it: When Ronald Reagan wanted to be the president of the United States of America, he quickly shifted the goal posts and embraced his arch-rival in the then bitterly contested Republican Party's presidential primaries, President H W Bush, Sr. as his running mate. Again, when Barack Obama wanted to be president of the United States of America, after successfully securing the Democratic Party vote, it was rumoured that he had personally wished Hillary Clinton as his running mate but a lot of pressure was born on him. He threw the challenge to his own party to seek head hunting; peace ruled and today we have President Barack Hussein Obama as the president of the United States of America.

Closer home, when John Mills wanted to be president of the Republic of Ghana, he sought for unity in a general consensus, threw a challenge to his party members to seek a running mate for him and John Dlamani Mahama became the most compromising candidate within the lots of Betty Mould-Iddrisu and Spio Garbrah. And even inside your own NPP, when candidate John Kufuor wanted to be the president of the Republic of Ghana, his last chance was to secure the Northern territories trust. There was a politics of conditionality to be satisfied then; and that was, pick a Northerner as his running mate. He quickly opted for his own favourite, Alhassan Yakubu, but our Northern elders told him point blank, NO, it must be Aliu Mahama instead. I like this one! A leader must be malleable and be able to work with any Ghanaian; regardless of gender, religion, race, tribe, or height. Now pay attention to this: John Kufuor did it; will Akufo-Addo do it?

The way forward is simple, and that is: Smooth transfer of power from the senior citizens to the Youth. Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is the champion of the Youth agenda that we trust can represent our interests at that top level. We want him as your running mate; plain and simple! Forget about the divisive pronouncements made by old man Harouna Esseku, which does not bring unity. Chances of winning the 2012 elections are high (only if we work together). Therefore if you want to be president of Ghana, then we should work together by picking Kwabena as your running mate. Do not pay attention to the NDC crossovers emanating from the Tain Constituency electoral fraud. There will be many more NDC criminal strategies to divert our focus. Are these not the same crossover strategies that swayed the CPP votes to NDC? Be careful! I also do not believe in the old traditionalist dysfunctional North-South electoral strategy or tribal-based strategy. Facts and figures do not match up. If you want, I can present a detailed document that negates that political mindset. Choose Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a compromising winnable candidate who can bring success to our party; and not window-dressing losing candidates for hypocrisy sake.

Please select Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng as your running mate and the Youth will promise a total win in 2012. We promise to support Kwabena with money, our physical presence on the ground campaign, and policing the electoral boxes 24/7 until the final declaration of results before returning to our base. I strongly trust that if Nana Akufo-Addo believes that it is his turn now (aduru-ne-so), then it must be someone else's turn tomorrow. He should not create confusion in the party with future electoral malpractices in the election of flag bearers. The running mate we choose today will carry on becoming the president after he had exhausted all his terms.

Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng in Perspectives

Team KFB will take charge of our campaign message. NPP Youth League would want to take control of the policy issues to campaign on. We are not going to sit down and see a wild campaign message for our party designed by inexperienced people in Europe and/or London-England. We want to be part of the winning game or where necessary, the losing game. We must all share the glory, success story or the blame, if it needs be. We need broad consultations with our party and the general public to form our winning campaign policy strategy; submit it for thorough scrutiny before putting it in the public domain.

Therefore we need to start early enough to do our work. The next step will be designing the war boardroom, where campaign warfare will be done. Mapping the must-win zones on the Ghana map. Elections anywhere is war that must be tackled with all kinds of tactics - guerilla warfare, bit of marketing, attaching members to every single home in Ghana just like in our college internship, consciencism, and counter actions. Elections are competitions; and competition is simply competition that must be planned to win. And the winner is the one with so many counted valid votes; and not the spoiled ones observed.

Kwabena is a very honest, respectful, dutiful, disciplined, and obeys instructions as observed throughout his professional career; and NPP Youth League strongly recommends him as our presidential running mate. NPP cannot afford another humiliating defeat this time round. Failure should not and cannot be the option. It is our collective expectation that our flag bearer and the party will pay special attention to the Youth. John Kufuor smartly made empty promises to the Youth to win power and locked himself from the NPP Youth advancement. Youth neglect had always been the traditionalist old political strategy to win elections; hence we will not be surprised if Akufo-Addo does same.

Nevertheless, if the Youth demand is denied as usual, proceed to general elections and lose again, one thing I can promise is that insurrectionism will set in and the flag bearer will never be forgiven. He would wish that he was never born; and all heaven and hell will fall loose. We will not entertain hard to listen and executive stubbornness again. Please pay attention to the Youth demands, which are: choosing the Youth representative as presidential running mate; and given the responsibility to design winnable campaign policy message. This is a must-win election period; and we need to put our differences aside and work together for our common goal. Please choose Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng as our presidential running mate to balance the equation. Thank you!

Konongo Fordjour, Boston-USA
E-Mail: [email protected]