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The Outstanding Candidate In The Chairmanship Race Of The NPP

Feature Article The Outstanding Candidate In The Chairmanship Race Of The NPP
MAR 16, 2018 LISTEN

A year ago many were those who kissed their teeth ‘Mtcheew’ and bawled, “Here we go again - another man of God sucking up to the new president!” This was when the Ameer Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih, head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, pronounced out of personal conviction that Ghanaians had finally found a leader in Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. There can be no question now that the Ameer was right. Today, Ghana has a leader who has the willingness, the ability, and the vision to lead us to prosperity. Today, in the hearts and minds of Ghanaians who love our nation, there can be no doubt that President Akufo-Addo is a patriot’s patriot. Nor can there be any shadow of doubt that this president’s audaciousness will lift Ghana out of the morass of corruption and destitution and light a fire across the continent of Africa. Ghana has a president who is a profile in courage. The West Africans are starting to hang on his every word. It stands to reason that the NPP should follow his lead faithfully. There can be no eye disease or vision impairment severe enough to blind the NPP - particularly the delegates of the national congress - to the foresight of this man who gave the party Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

However, I am not writing to eulogise the president. I am writing to bear witness to the suitability of ALHAJI SHORT as the next national chairman of the NPP. And, as every job applicant requires a reference, I refer to the President only as a referee in Alhaji Short’s job application. In the ten years preceding the general election of 2016 Alhaji Short had worked closely with the presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. In that time Alhaji Short showcased solid loyalty - to the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo and the cause of the NPP. Through thick and thin Alhaji Short stood his ground and finally thrashed the NDC in their ‘pride lands’ of the Upper West. Alhaji Short wins the gold medal in the dual leadership test of loyalty and courage. Leadership requires courage; political leadership with its inherent periods of rejection requires fortitude. Alhaji Short has oodles of every kind of courage and nobody who knows him could ever accuse him of fear or moral cowardice. He played a hugely important role in the disciplinary committee and at the National Council in restoring sanity to the party during the Afoko affair and that speaks volumes of the sagacity and tenacity of the man.

We read from the newspapers that Alhaji Short is a man who has earned the respect of the presidency. We should ask how this man has distinguished himself in the eyes of the presidency, shouldn’t we? Politics is about people. Grassroots politics is based on the ability to deal with people: emotional intelligence. And Alhaji Short is easily the most emotionally intelligent person I know. But, much more than that, this man is the quintessential steward. He understands, perhaps better than any Ghanaian politician, the role of stewardship in leadership. He understands that leadership is all about the people a leader serves and that without the people he serves, there can be no leader. That understanding is what won him the regional chairmanship three times in succession. It served him well in his national role in the National Executive Commitee and the National Council and, indeed, as the dean of regional chairmen. That understanding will be essential to the success of the next chairman of the NPP. I suspect that ten years of working together in campaigns offered the President the opportunity to see at first hand in Alhaji Short those qualities which will make him a great chairman: courage, loyalty, desire, competitiveness, and timing, and stewardship - qualities that come only with time, learning, personal development and experience.

ALHAJI SHORT is the NPP’s man for the hot seat.

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