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21.07.2015 Feature Article

The Talensi By-Election, A Case Study For The NPP

The Talensi By-Election, A Case Study For The NPP
21.07.2015 LISTEN

The Talensi by-election is one of the most keenly contested elections in the political history of Ghana. After keenly following the pre and post by-election issues, I write this article to humbly express my views to the reading public.

Before this by-election, a lot of bad stories came from the backyard of the NPP. The most elephant issue was the continuous internal wrangling among the rank and file of the NPP. I however thought the Talensi by-election was a good opportunity for members of the party to let bygones be bygones so as the unity force could be employed to retaining the Talensi seat. As to whether the NPP did enough to address the issues before the by-elections is only known by insiders of the party. Let me categorically state in a jiffy the possible causes of the woefully performance of the NPP in this election.

Firstly, the acidic attack on the Regional Chairman of the NPP, the late Adams Mahama still have very fresh wounds on the people of Upper East and many people across the length and breadth of Ghana. It appears the party did little or nothing to healing such wounds and as such many could not take away the perceived violent posture of the party. The NPP should have known better that, the good people of Talensi would do a protest vote against the NPP candidate. Coming events indeed cast their shadows and should not be any surprise to the NPP. The damage caused by this internal wrangling cannot be repaired by lip service and window dressing. An extra mile must be taken by the party elders or I see the NPP trailing behind come 2016 elections.

Notwithstanding all these, the message used by the NPP at Talensi was without value to the people. “Dumsor” and economic mismanagement were not fathomable because the real life situation in Talensi is more practical than economic theories from text books. The campaign message was therefore skeletal as compared to the NDC which was concentrating on infrastructure. Many of the communities in Talensi just had electricity while work is ongoing in others. In short, “dumsor” is very strange in the land of Talensi and could not be employed as a useful propaganda tool.

More so, NPP spent so much time unnecessarily castigating the NDC instead of concentrating on the strengths of their candidate. That position made the NPP petty instead of being on top of issues. I think that, the NPP must come out with a better political strategy because too much pointing of fingers on the EC and the security makes them appear more violent than ever. As for the activities of the Bolga bull dogs and the invisible forces, the least talk about them the better. Their existence is not good for the future of the NPP and Ghana’s democracy.

We have reached a level of our democracy where the people have better understanding of issues and cannot be deceived or induced in any form .if the NPP do not handle itself well , trust me, 2016 election shall witness the worst performance of the NPP.

One could actually come to the logical conclusion that, politics is about strategies and not cacophony of noise over the media. Anyway, the memory of the dead is a warning to the living. I believe the NPP and all the political parties in the country would learn lessons out of this disgraceful defeat of the NPP in the recent Talensi by election.

Shall be back soon as the events unfold.
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