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13.02.2011 Feature Article

NANA ADDO INSIDE-OUT, NDC GOT IT WRONG!

NANA ADDO INSIDE-OUT, NDC GOT IT WRONG!
13.02.2011 LISTEN

Our choice of words is not coincidental but a hint of ourselves; simply put they are extension of ourselves or “audiolization” of our thoughts. This implies that what we say can't be separated from what we think and consequentially who we are. This takes me to a statement made by Nana Addo on 9th February as he addressed party faithful in the Eastern region. Although he spoke Twi but I think the English translation published by citifmonline serves right and I quote “They have intentions to intimidate us in 2012 because they believe that we the Akans are soft and cowards. If that is the thinking, then we shall see. At least during the Atiwa bye-election, we showed a little of our colours there” He continued “You must understand that this party was formed by courageous people. Our leaders who formed this party that has now become the biggest political movement in Ghana were not cowards. So in 2012 we need to be courageous because all die be die. All die be die” he repeated.

My greatest shock is the nick naming of this speech into “all die be die” after the last four words. NDC has actually capitalized on this statement to lunch their political missiles on him, accusing him of being a war-monger. I must confess that most of the arguments I have listened to in reference to this statement are just petty and paltry, digressing from the bone to the meet since it's cheap to feed on. Surely, I don't intend to canonize Nana Addo neither do I intend to demonize NDC. My basic mission is what exegists will say, 'there is not text without pretext, stick to the text' and to be really fair to Nana Addo, we must deal with the text, the statement he made. From this we can really divulge his thoughts and then turn him inside-out.

First, let's take the first statement: “They have intentions to intimidate us in 2012 because they believe that we the Akans are soft and cowards”: Its obvious that Nana uses the plural pronoun “They” in reference to the alleged intimidators. And uses “us” in reference to his addressees himself included but then he further describes the “us” as referring to “the Akans”. This leaves us with various suppositions to arrive at what Nana intended. Lets take the suppositions in reference to the alleged intimidators. One: The alleged intimidators are not Akans. Two: The alleged intimidators have political interest in 2012. Three: The alleged intimidators have a certain sentiments of Anti-Akanism in them and finally the intimidators in one way or another had a confrontation with Nana and his addressees during Atiwa by-election. These are at least the obvious deduction we can make from this first statement.

Now lets move to the next sentence; “If that is the thinking, then we shall see. At least during the Atiwa bye-election, we showed a little of our colours there”: In the second part of the sentence, according to the translation, Nana Addo syntactically indicated that the first sentence is a supposition to which he introduced conditional phrase; “if that is the thinking”. However this is not the same with original audio. The actual expression is “saa” which could be better translated as “is that so”. Hence it's is more subjunctional than conditional. Then he follows it with a challenge – to a certain degree a threat saying “then we shall see”. Then Nana Addo somehow goes ahead to exalt some of their credentials as he contrasts the supposed view of alleged intimidators that Akans are cowards by citing the Atiwa bye-election as a moment in which they (the Akans) manifested an iota of what they are capable of doing.

As part of the exaltation of their credentials, Nana Addo takes inspiration from the courage of the founders of the party (obviously NPP) as he says: “You must understand that this party was formed by courageous people. Our leaders who formed this party that has now become the biggest political movement in Ghana were not cowards”. There are some difficulties here. First, it's not clear as to whether the founders of the party and his addressees have common ancestry - Akans. But from the preceding sentence, it is logically and syntaxically valid to make such inference. The second difficulty is the distinction between his addressees which he qualifies as Akans and the party. The two pronouns “we” from “we the Akans” and “our” from “our leaders” are certainly referring to the same people: his addressees = the Akans = the party. Therefore Nana Addo does not make any distinction between the party (NPP) and his addressees (We the Akans). In short they are interchangeable, I will revisit this later. Now let's turn our attention to the latter but famous part of the sentence which I deem as very petty.

Nana Addo rolled down the curtain saying: “So in 2012 we need to be courageous because all die be die. All die be die”. This sentence begins with the adverb “So” which indicates a conclusion based on his previous assertions. And clearly he does so by exhorting his addressees to be courageous even if it entails the optimum sacrifice in this case death. Therefore he stressed the need of sacrifice by using a common pidgin adage, “All die be die”. Hence the “all die be die” in context is an exhortation to sacrifice for themselves, the Akans, the party, the NPP. And with this, I now move to make some observations based on the analysis.

One, the “all die be die” isn't an issue for he is only inducing the spirit of sacrifice among his addressees, the Akans, the NPP. However it becomes an issue especially in reference to the reference he made of the Atiwa bye-election. Where the NPP took the law into their own hands and chased the alleged Azoka boys out, strangely all the Azoka boys were better athletes than all the NPP boys therefore they could not arrest even one. But the questions that lingers is, does Nana Addo subscribes to violence, because he in fact endorses the Atiwa violence as a manifestation of him and his addressees, the Akans, NPP true colours: it's a little demonstration of their true colours.

Two, here is where I disagree with the NDC and the media. They obviously missed the point by highlighting the last phrase of Nana Addo and that's “all die be die”. Certainly the statement “all die be die” is not dangerous than the assumption and the deliberate instigation that “they” intend to intimidate “us”, the Akans/party. In fact from the text it is not clear who this “they” are. The only obvious inference will be that this “they” refers to a group of people who are not Akans eg. Krobos, Voltarians, Northeners, Gas or a political entity, which he sees as an epitome of anti-Ankan sentiments.

But then I have very simple inquiry into certain presumptions of Nana Addo; Was Nana Addo speaking to only Akans, because even if it is in the Eastern region one can't suppose that all the people listening to him are Akans, mind you the Eastern region is not indigenously inhabited by only Akans there are also Krobos. Besides, I am an example, I am from the north but was born and bread in the Eastern region. And if all the people listening to him were not Akans did he care about these non-Akan party faithful who there to listen to him. How did they receive such comment, did they feel they are outsiders according Nana Addo's speech?

This is what I personally deem very dreadful of Nana Addo's statement, to equate tribes with political parties and worst of all to incite the people into thinking that certain things happen because their obvious opponent sees them as a tribe that is made up of cowards and therefore takes the advantage to bully them. This is dangerous. Note, things went the way the went in Kenya last four years because the political leaders campaigned on tribal grounds, Kikuyus against the rest of the nation (Luos, Luhyas Kalenjins, Kambas, Kisiis, Meruans etc,) and vice versa. So when things erupted most tribes especially the Kalenjins and Luos (the tribes of Rutho and Raila respectively) turned against Kibaki's tribe, the Kikuyus, who form the majority of 22% of Kenyans. A politician of Nana Addo's caliber, shouldn't have made such statement. He must apologize especially from this particular angle.

Finally, I wonder what Nana Addo will be telling people from other tribes especially when he moves into areas in the North and the Volta. Besides, who are Ambrose Dery, Aliu Mahama, Hajia Alima, Dr. Bawumia, Anthony Karbo, Mustapha Hamid etc in the party which he has equated to the Akans? Are they Perchers?

Yirpaale Sondah
[email protected]

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