John Boadu Of NPP Sometimes Baffles Me With His Machismo Posture

It is unfortunate that I sometimes do have the obligation to comment on the character of the soft-spoken New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Acting General Secretary, Mr John Boadu. He could be a nice guy striving to become a seasoned politician. However, the way he reacts to some situations involving members of the NPP where diplomacy might be the best solution, he comes across very hard wielding a cane as though he owns the people. His posture is totally contrary to that of the leader of the party who doubles as the President of Ghana.

While His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo wants the laws to be applied without mercy and with equal respect for every citizen of the land, and at times treading cautiously, Mr John Boadu will come out displaying his machismo character without showing the least respect and understanding for the supposedly momentarily misbehaving NPP members. I do not support any NPP member taking the laws into their hands to act irresponsibly but the manner in which John Boadu comes out to address certain group of NPP members expressing their genuine concerns smacks of political ignorance, tactlessness and vainglorious bravado.

Sometime ago, in a District in the Western region when some NPP members who had been on the ground during the campaign, fought hard to wrestle the constituency from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for NPP protested against the choice of person for the Municipal Chief Executive post as selected by the President, John Boadu went out his own way to castigate them. He said something like, “The same person will become the MCE whether you like it or not. Who cares if you complained to the President? What will you do if you complain to the President and he refuses to listen to you?” I quoted his exact words in my immediate condemnatory publication following his insensitive response to the concerns of the members who claimed not to have seen the person selected for the post during their dangerously fought campaign to wrestle that constituency from the NDC to the NPP.

Those people threatened never again to vote or campaign for NPP in any future elections. Does John Boadu know or understand that winning an election is by numbers and that every single vote counts? When you need the votes of the electorates, you go to them pleading and telling them sweet words but after winning, you become totally different persons. You begin to see the very people you interacted with, courting their support as now ignoramuses who are no longer your coequals to venture within metres of your presence.

Again, a few days ago some NPP member was understood to have invoked some river spirits and deities of some sort to curse some NPP members for failing to register about seven-hundred and fifty of them or ostracizing them from registration. This was to deny them a vote against someone the gurus of NPP have in mind to stand for future election that may not be their choice. The same John Boadu came out spewing his usual ignorance that has the potential to incur the wrath of some electorates.

I see these actions of his as completely myopic. Let me seize this opportunity to tutor him as my younger brother desirous to know the art of politics. Be it known to him that as the pen is mightier than the sword, so are certain words and statements able to cost one political fortune. A vivid example is when the former unelected British Prime Minister Gordon Brown went to election after his two years in the post when it was handed to him by Prime Minister Tony Blair. During the election campaign, he visited a Labour Party stronghold and had the opportunity to visit an elderly woman known to have been voting Labour all her life. The woman complained to him about the influx of immigrants into Britain. It is this issue of immigration that has become albatross hanging around the neck of Labour and weighing them down.

In his car returning from that constituency, someone in the car with him asked for his opinion about the woman. He said, “She is bigoted woman”. Little did Mr Gordon Brown know that his ear phone speaker had not been switched off and his statement was captured on radio stations? That was what cost him any election chances he had. The media took him on. He immediately directed the car to turn around for him to go and apologise to the woman but the harm was already done. Not only did the woman say she would not vote Labour anymore but also, many Labour voters did instantly decide not to vote for Labour in order not to have him elected as Prime Minister. Despite the then ongoing credit crunch, he still stood the chance of winning but for that short statement, he lost the election to David Cameron and the Conservative party.

In France, it must be noted that Mr Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron formed a political party in less than a year to election time. He was not all that a versatile politician. Nonetheless, he was able to win the French presidential election hands down. It was all because the French had become fed up with the mainstream political parties (the Socialists and the Centre right). Although new, the French have aversion to the National Front called in France as Front Nationale (FN) party led by Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marie Le Pen winning national election because of their extremist xenophobe, racism and hatred for the European Union. After winning the presidential election, Mr Macron just selected candidates anyhow with some also decamping from the Socialist in which he had recently resigned as a Minister about a year ago and the Centre right, to him. Without much sweat, his parliamentary candidates won with overwhelming majority.

The French political history is to tell Mr John Boadu that politics is full of surprises so he had better be careful the way he speaks to aggrieved NPP members. You cannot use them when you need them and dump them when you have achieved your immediate objective. It is like someone helping you to climb the ladder. Once you reach the top, you turn your head around to look at those at the bottom of the ladder and think they are nobody but fools. A new party can spring up in Ghana to cause the surprise as happened in France so Mr John Boadu must know how to talk to the aggrieved NPP grassroots.

Are there not any qualified persons among the NPP grassroots supporters? Why is it that the party always overrides the decision of the majority of the constituents when they declare a person they want to stand for the parliamentary candidacy or to be appointed by the President as the MCE or DCE?

The leaders for their selfish reasons will always want to appoint their favourites, friends or family members for positions at the expense of the grassroots who fought to bring the party to power. This short-sighted behaviour by the NPP must stop or it will cost them dearly in future!

The NPP indeed needs a strategist who will coach people like John Boadu when problems do crop up before they go on air to make cock-ups. The strategist will come up with strategies that will help maintain NPP in power for a reasonable length of time to enable them achieve most of their laudable electioneering promises able to liberate Ghanaians from their economic hardships.

A word to the wise is enough.
Rockson Adofo