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NDC Admits Losin; But Designs New Strategy

Feature Article NDC Admits Losin;  But Designs New Strategy
OCT 28, 2016 LISTEN

Below Is A Memo From NDC To NDC. It is published unedited.

CONFIDENTIAL:
We are now in the final stages of regaining power for a third term. All plans and strategy put in place since the beginning of the year is well on course and I will urge you all to remain steadfast in our strategies towards this elections. The points 1-6 outlined below are the observations made by an independent research and consulting firm (name withheld) to research into the political and economic atmosphere and provide their views on the upcoming elections, especially that regarding our prospects for retaining power. It is now becoming obvious and increasing clear that our opponents are fired up and the moment is on their side and unless we act quickly, and remind ourselves of the implications of an electoral defeat this year, we might find ourselves in a deep hole.

I cannot sum it better than what DZIFA ATTIVOR suggested when she indicated on a political platform, in the early part of the year, that a win for our opponents would mean a majority of us serving in jail. Here are 6 potential reasons why this consultant thinks that the electoral terrain has become difficult and the map for victory seen to be diminishing by the day and why we must act fast and activate our alternative electoral plans to avert defeat and gird our loins for the December battle.

  1. The current economic conditions are not in our favour and our opponents have exploited this fact. We have been reliably informed that the President has been briefed adequately by his trusted agencies on the threat posed by the current economic conditions and there is angst among some Cabinet Ministers on why the VEEP has not come out to defend the current economic conditions vigorously. His response to Bawumia's prognosis on the ailing health of the economy has been POOR, INADEQUATE and UNIMPRESSIVE.
  2. More disturbing is the increases in petroleum prices and imposed taxes that have been festered on the population in the course of the week. Just this week, the prices of petroleum products have been increased on average by 8 percent. One may ask why is this being done barely a month away from elections. We seem to have forgotten so soon that the same fate befell the NPP just before elections. The public outcry led to a back-track of government's policy action at the time and created an atmosphere of public mistrust for the government. The same scenario is being played out in this cycle spells BAD OMEN for the Government.
  3. The intense political activities by the numerous political parties is making the regional path to victory very difficult. Let me explain this further, the PPP efforts in the Central Region is making things difficult. Our Founding Father's campaign in the Volta Region is enlightening the region and people are becoming more aware of shortcomings in our commitment to bring them development. The Volta Region is going to be tough. The NDP's participation in the elections is likely to pull votes away from the NDC and this would have to be countered on all fronts. The NPP's efforts in the Northern Region led by Dr. Bawumia, seem to have divided the North. We understand that as a strategy, the party is spending three weeks in the North to campaign further and convince the electorate why the NDC should be voted out of power. So far this seems to be working as we are witnessing the pockets of disenchantment in the three regions of the north.

    The Greater Accra region is toss-up and the rate could be tight here. The Eastern Region has traditionally voted for NPP and the Western Region has been a swing in the 2016 elections. Obviously, the regional math presented here is indicative of the fact that the election may not be smooth sailing.

  4. The perception of corruption having taken roots in Government seem to have been ingrained on the minds of the electorate. The Government has not done well enough to shrug off allegations of corruption and this is a battle ground area in this election.
  5. This perception of an incompetent Government is also deep-seated and this point has been hammered by the opposition NPP over and over and over and the electorate now seems to believe that they are dealing with an incompetent Government. Adding to this is the fact that the country is in a mood of change. Separate engagements with a lot of the country's development partners also suggest an expectation of a change in government.
  6. The credibility of the Manifestoes presented by the two main political parties is also playing out in the public domain. While that of the NPP seem to be gaining traction, that of the NDC, especially that which seeks to highlight infrastructural development achievements, is being portrayed as phony. Some sections of the media have taken it upon themselves to verify these projects and the verdict out there suggests that infrastructure development has fallen short of promised expectations. What is more damaging to the ruling government is the perception of 'artistes impressions of projects' being paraded as projects that have been duly completed. This smacks of public deceit by Government and signifies huge implementation gap as far as fulfilling of post-electoral promise are concerned.

The above conditions presented by our consultant is indicative of strong headwinds going against the ruling Government. What we need to do under the circumstances. Urgent steps must be taken to prevent the less relevant minority parties from participating in this year's elections. Ensuring that they do not participate in this year's elections will provide room for the Government to 'use-up' their votes. The EC has taken a good step in this direction but at this stage it is a bit worrying how the suite of legal actions are going to play out especially when the Supreme Court has in the immediate past sounded note of caution to the EC to ensure that the elections are not jeopardized while ensuring free and fair elections. This could go wrong.

Given VEEP'S weakness in defending current economic conditions, steps to malign the NPP Vice Presidential candidate is of the urgency. We need to dig to far ways of planting a scandal on him to make him look ill-credible. We need to dig into his past and come up with something.

Election transmission modalities played in our favour during the last election and we need to insurrect immediately, a repetition of old school modus operandi which saw through our victory during the last elections. We will rely strongly on the coordination between the office of the Chief of Staff and the deployment of National Security apparatus in this vein.

Lastly, because of the limitations imposed on us from the economic and perception of corruption dimensions, we might want to resort to politics of tribalism, religion and intimidation to scare voters away from the December elections. Active engagement of all forces on the ground would be needed. OCTOBER 7, 2016.

CONSEQUENCES.
Dear reader, just critically look at what you have just read and look at what has been happening over the past few weeks. The Vice President Kwesi Amissah –Arthur just went to respond to Dr. Bawumia's epistle at the University of Cape Coast, but his audience were economic students. As for the smaller political parties and their situation, the least talked about, the better. The campaign of tribalism and religious division is not accidental. It is a programme of the NDC in every election cycle. To the NDC, it is better for this country to be in flames than for it to lose elections.

They are few, we are in the majority, let us wake up and defend this country from any group of hooligans bent on holding this nation to ransom. We are many, they are few, and cannot divert the destiny of this nation. The Dzifa Attivors cannot hijack this nation to protect their crimes against humanity. Open your eyes and be vigilant on December 7, 2016 for the sake of future generations.

Daavi, three tots of mahogany bitters.
[email protected]
By Kwesi Biney

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