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12.04.2012 Opinion

The NDC Must Stop Dancing To The Tune Of The NPP

By Dailypost News
The NDC Must Stop Dancing To The Tune Of The NPP
12.04.2012 LISTEN

One of the major weaknesses of the NDC over the past few years is surprisingly the willingness of its members, supporters and sympathizers to swallow hook, line and sinker, the NPP's propaganda concerning it (the NDC).

What is even sad is that leading figures of the party regarded as its strategist who should know better also believe in the propaganda of the NPP concerning what is good or bad for the NDC.

This weakness flies in the face of common sense. Why would a group believe in what their opponents say is good or bad for them? Why should Hearts be convinced by Kotoko that its goalkeeper is not good? If Hearts goalkeeper is really not good, would Kotoko tell them?

Yet, many NDC members depend on the NPP to know what is good or bad for their party. It is this that partly explains why there seems to be no unity at the apex of the party.

There is no doubt, for instance, that the NPP fear Former President Rawlings especially because he is a crowd puller and brings in votes to the NDC. So, the first thing the NPP will naturally seek is to turn the NDC against Rawlings, or vice versa. So, when the NPP began the campaign some years ago that Rawlings will control Prof. Mills if the latter is elected President, instead of the so-called strategists in the NDC seeing through this propaganda and refusing to fall for it, they swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Their whole strategy for winning the 2000 election was therefore that Rawlings and Mills must not campaign together.

Even today, some NDC members argue that Rawlings wants to control Mills and hence the former President must be kept away from the current President. Interestingly, while trying to portray Rawlings as a pariah to President Mills, the NPP rolled out the red carpet for him when he graced the inauguration ceremony of ex-President Kufuor's Foundation last year at Legon. NPP supporters gave Rawlings a standing ovation when he arrived at the grounds of the programme. How they wished he was NPP! Yet, they have convinced the NDC he is not good for them.

The belief in the NPP's propaganda that Rawlings' image will not help Prof. Mills saw the so-called strategists of the party doing everything to separate the two. The end product is what we have today; disunity at the hierarchy of the party; guess who is benefitting? -the NPP.

Today, the NPP is again spewing out another propaganda and sadly, some top members of the NDC have already swallowed it hook, line and sinker and want everyone in the party to believe it and abide by it.

It is an open secret that Nana Akufo-Addo is a wee smoker and a cocaine sniffer. Thanks to his own utterances and other sources, Ghanaians know he is a serial womanizer. Coupled with this is the fact that he is a bad organizer with very poor administrative acumen. It is clear to many NPP die-hards that he cannot be the President of this great country called Ghana.

Realizing the weakness of their flag-bearer, the propagandist of this opposition party have gone to work, shouting from roof tops that the 2012 elections is not about personalities but rather, issues. They argue that the election should be about policies and programmes instead of personalities. Sadly, some NDC big-wigs believe this should be the case.

If elections are not about personalities, why then did the NPP make the personality of Prof. Mills their main theme in the 2008 election? Prof. Mills' health became their oxygen till they declared him dead! So, why are they shifting the goal post now?

If elections are not about personalities, then what are they about? Are personalities not the ones we are going to vote for? Are robots the ones who are going to draw the policies and implement them?

Sure, the 2012 election is about programmes and policies. It is about what puts food on the table. It's about peace and security. Above all, it is about the personalities involved.

What is a good policy and programme when the person who will lead in its implementation is of a dubious character? Why should we believe in a good programme when the persons who drew it up and will lead in its implementation are of very dubious character?

Why does the constitution demand that a person with a criminal record cannot become President of Ghana?

If the NPP have a flag-bearer whose character will not convince even an imbecile that he can be President of Ghana, that is their cup of tea. No one forced them to elect him as their flag-bearer. We will therefore not allow them to shift the goal post.

People within the NDC who believe the NPP propaganda that this December's election is not about personalities should stop deceiving themselves! It is about personalities! It is one area the NDC has a comparative advantage over the NPP and it will be used to the full.

Telling Ghanaians Akufo-Addo is a junkie is not an insult. It is a fact! It cannot be wished away, and by Jove, every Ghanaian should be made aware of this fact. Why should we have a President who wakes up high on wee?

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