NPP scripts obituary 2016!

This was actually the headline of one of our tabloid newspapers in the course of the week, and it captures in sharp relief, current happenings in the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Can you imagine even the Daily Graphic treatment of the story merited condemnatory comment on some radio stations in this country? It was as if the writing of a straightforward news item should be the preserve of political hacks, not which of trained journalists from the most respected newspaper in the country?

NPP communicators openly attacked and threatened DailyGraphic journalists with sanctions if they came to power for giving condign publicity to a press conference that was physically and violently prevented from taking place. The right to free speech is not the gift of any political party or any individual, but a right granted or declared by our 4th Republican Constitution. The subject for speech, be it the stuff of ordinary conversation or press conference, is only

More than attack on press freedom

As if this blatant and shameless attack on press freedom was not sufficient to calm the hearts of communicators in the opposition NPP, I regret to report that I heard the director of communications of the party himself say on a radio station on the day of the incident , that he had neither heard of the name or politics of Joshua Attoh Quarshie, an octogenarian founder member of the party but more importantly, a quondam leader of one of the constituent groups which formed the United Party in 1957, if my recollection of historical events in this country is anything to go by. Onukpa Quarshie was detained in 1958 or so till the coup of 1966.

The United Party was the historical forerunner of the present-day New Patriotic Party. The wilful ignorance by Nana Akomea was obviously feigned and must be taken with a gargantuan amount of salt, especially since he had been a Member of Parliament for a constituency in Accra for sixteen years, and been a Minister of State in the government formed  by that party under the leadership of President J. A.  Kufuor from 2001 to 2009.

Attack on democracy

My epistle for today will dwell on this attack on our democracy that this whole event signifies and the resultant pity that it came from the party seemingly committed to press freedom and the safety of journalists. But it would really attempt to unravel the major reasons why the editor of the tabloid seeks to suggest that events these days constitute the obituary of the largest opposition party in this country.

The current violent image of the party, as distinct from the peace-loving, life-giving and prosperity image of the party under the leadership of President Kufuor, is an inevitable progression from several false postures of the party which have birthed events we all condemn today. Indeed, I make bold to say that the botched attempt by Onukpa Attoh Quarshie is itself solid proof of the departure of the party from its principles and its current adherence to and love for violent resolution of any issue in the party. Less than a year to elections, no serious party should be having purposeless quarrels and lamentations about the composition of its executive and still hope to be able to reorganise, regroup, and re-strategise to have a decent showing in the polls. This is what I consider to be an attack on our constitutional form of government.

The leadership is labouring ignorantly under the mistaken belief that it is fighting a military regime, headed by Chairman Rawlings and that a macho approach to issues is the correct way to make the opponent appreciate the resolve of the opposition.  They have blissfully forgotten that a macho approach suited to military regimes is ridiculous, because that would be illegal anyway, and quixotic like Don Quixote tilting at windmills. We are in a functioning democracy, with active parties seeking power by persuasion and sweet reason, not with weapons of mini and mass destruction. President John Mahama is a calm, peaceful person committed to peace in his party and the country and it is a wonder that some people in this country falsely believe that opposing him and his party should be a matter for violence in our politics.

The feigned ignorance of Onukpa Quarshie was to tell the whole world that this famous person is a nonentity in the politics of the NPP and he does not matter, as if his vote for the party is suspect. It captures the current hue of events in the party, that all should submit unquestioningly to leadership, as if the suspended executives of the party are not ipso facto part of the current leadership.

Macho politics

The party does not realise that the macho politics being happily displayed, to give the impression that their opponents in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) are a bunch of violent men and women is completely false. This double jeopardy of believing the NDC to be a military regime reprised, and a violent party emanates from the even more foolish belief in NPP quarters that the military regime of then Chairman Rawlings and the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) overthrew a government formed by the predecessor party to the NPP.

It is even more starkly ridiculous when one realises that the rump of those who voted for President Hilla Limann in 1979, were the very Ghanaians who hailed the coup which brought Chairman Rawlings to power two and half years later in late 1981. Any political calculation after the tenure of President Kufuor should have taken this into consideration and suggested a different, peaceful approach to NPP politics. Why President Kufuor? Because he succeeded in leading the party to victory in 2000, in spite of having political experience which included a stint with Chairman Rawlings’ military regime as a Local Government minister.

The current NPP leadership reflects the anti-civilian politics of the late General Acheampong and Chairman Rawlings eras, periods Ghanaians have long overgrown in their politics. But it is not mere wistfulness that describes this violent and deadly farce. It is the story of death procured through acid bathing, knife wounds and gunshots which are the results of this misreading of our past; a past we have left behind. Hence the assertion in the headline that such an attitude to power spells doom for the party. Ghanaians now want and desire peace in their lives, and they know where these can be secured.