Misplaced priorities: Not good for the NDC

Folks, the rash manouevre by these NDC Regional Chairmen spells more doom than the NDC can cope with in its attempt to regain public confidence, trust, and electoral capital to win Election 2020.

I have already made it clear in earlier opinion pieces that what the NDC has to do in this period after losing Election 2016 is not to nominate the flagbearer for Election 2020 but to rebuild itself so it can shed the negative image that made it unattractive to the electorate.

Doing so goes beyond the isolated rhetorical battles that some of its functionaries are fighting with Team Akufo-Addo and the NPP cabal. It calls for purposeful and concerted efforts wrought by genuine interests to put the NDC back in power. It means much commitment to putting the party in the public domain as far as its accomplishments vis-a-vis what is unfolding under Akufo-Addo is concerned. Party growth matters here, not personal aggrandizement.

One major fact used advantageously by the NPP against ex-President Mahama that the NDC apparatus or his supporters therein don't consider as a big blow is obvious: John Dramani Mahama rose through the ranks in Ghanaian politics to become the President of Ghana, meaning that he should have known better than he did when at the helm of affairs. Yet, major problems couldn't be solved, which infuriated the electorate to dump him at Election 2016.

The timeline is obvious: his student activism at the University of Ghana (Commonwealth hall), his role as an Assemblyman for Bole, the MP for that constituency, the Deputy Minister and substantial Minister of Communication under Rawlings, the Vice-President under Atta Mills and President of Ghana. What did he have in mind to help solve Ghana's problems that he couldn't implement but would now want to do on a rebound at Election 2020?? That's a powerful argument.

And what lesson has he learnt after his defeat to do things differently? Another important question.

Folks, I have been quick to suggest that if the strategy of using "Unity Walks" could help the NDC rebuild itself by doing purposeful political mobilization, then, it should be sustained. Unfortunately, reports indicate that such a forum serves the personal agenda and purposes of ex-President Mahama more than needed, especially when others interested in staking their luck at bearing the party's flag are either slighted, shunned, or intimidated out of contention at such forums. They are not given the floor to sell themselves. Too appalling, assuming even that such "Unity Walks" should be designed for self-projection as such!

I have also advised anybody interested in leading the party to Election 2020 to hasten slowly at this time because that's not the party's priority.

Unfortunately, happenings of the sort being reported about the party's Regional Chairmen paint a horrible picture, especially when ex-President Mahama himself has just stated that the time isn't ripe for him to declare his intentions on the flagbearership. So, who is fooling whom now? And what for? Certainly, not for the NDC's good.

What must have motivated these Regional Chairmen to go this way? How about the 80 NDC MP's who sought audience with Mahama to do same when his schedule took him out of the country?

Folks, the matter is worse than appalling now. If these Regional Chairmen had done their assignments well, the NDC wouldn't have been consigned to the opposition. They flopped and are still flopping.

In sum, let it be known that the NDC will run around in circles to its own disadvantage if it doesn't use better ways than this childish and unproductive approach toward re-asserting its influence on Ghanaian politics.

Has any lesson been learnt from the findings of the Kwesi Botchwey report at all? What sort of political mobilization is being done to make the difference?

Overall, ex-President Mahama himself must rise above pettiness so he can prevent a further erosion of support for the NDC. If he gets carried away by such unscrupulous and ingenuous endorsements or lopsided appeals to be where he shouldn't place himself, he will come out none the wiser or better.

It is one thing manipulating the situation in one's own political party to be uplifted as the flagbearer and another winning the hearts of the electorate at the general elections.

A careful assessment of the outcome of Election 2016 should have sobered him to tread cautiously. How many endorsements didn't he get from just anybody or anywhere all over the country where his government's provision of development projects seemed to pave the way for him to win Election 2016? What happened in the end?

Mere public endorsements don't automatically lead to electoral victory. In any case, any contest between him and Akufo-Addo at Election 2020 will be a repeat of Election 2016 unless Akufo-Addo fails to meet the expectations of the voters as far as the factors that doomed Mahama are concerned. And there are obviously challenges already, which must redirect Mahama toward party building, not the mad and premature search for endorsements to lead the NDC.

This is where the inadequacies of the NDC's leaders at all the levels crop up. Mere bootlicking will sink the party.

No more. It is important for ex-President Mahama to rein himself in so he doesn't fall for cheap characters to become the agent to thicken the crisis in the NDC. It is time for rebuilding the party, not grandstanding for personal quests.

I shall return…

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