Opinions of Friday, 15 November 2013

Columnist: Bokor, Michael J. K.

Haruna Attah slights the NPP

Haruna Attah slights the NPP: What is his real motive?

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Folks, in Ghanaian politics, there is no certainty except the strong conviction among some of us that the Ghanaian politician is not to be trusted to sacrifice personal interests at the expense of the national one.
When it comes to self-serving, what is on the mind of the Ghanaian politician is nothing but making hay while the sun shines (Or as my Nigerian friend puts it: Making HASTE while the sun shines---because the sun won't shine forever!).
Thus, when Ghanaian politicians decide to go into one political camp, we don't expect them to stick there, especially when there is the likelihood that no condition will be permanent therein. The Ghanaian politician can't afford to miss the gravy train.

Over the years, some have used the al-Houdini vanishing trick to appear and disappear from political camps just to get their bread buttered. You may have your own particular examples to cite.

But what has begun emerging from Haruna Attah (we must all know who he is) gives me a funny feeling that he may not necessarily be rooting for President Mahama just because he wants to be given an appointment. Of course, we had earlier heard rumours that he might be appointed to a Ministerial position to head the Ministry of Information or to be the President's Spokesman. It didn't materialize; but he is not fazed as he continues to root for President Mahama.
Here is the latest report on him:

Managing Editor of the Accra Daily Mail, Alhaji Haruna Attah, has told Radio XYZ he voted for President John Mahama in the 2012 general elections and will do everything possible to ensure he wins the 2016 elections.

“…I voted for John Mahama; I think he’s a good president; he’s a good man and I’m going to work towards his sustenance in office,” Haruna Attah, who has always been known to have sympathies for the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), told XYZ Breakfast Show host Moro Awudu Thursday.

“I have a good president right now who I’m going to support all the way to 2016 and beyond”, he stressed.

Dissociating himself from the NPP’s 2012 Vice Presidential Candidate’s maiden Aliu Mahama memorial lecture, at which, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia criticised the Mahama administration’s handling of the economy, Haruna Attah said: “We have a President and we have to support him and let him succeed; let his Government succeed”.

According to him, the wish by opposition elements for the government to fail is highly flawed and must change.

“…They think if they pull down a government, they’ve succeeded in something. When a government fails, a nation fails and everybody suffers,” he said.
(Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=291973)
Hurrah!! A fly will bite an elephant if it can find a weak spot in its hide; and the ant knows best how to do so to force the elephant into killing itself. The big flappy ears are vulnerable and become the target. Our NPP friends are quick to find fault but are hard of hearing, especially about their own inadequacies!!
Haruna Attah is on a mission to prove to them why their “book politics” is not only anachronistic but is also anti-Ghana. Not everything happening in the country is bad as is always trumpeted by these NPP people. And as they go about undermining everything they consider as detrimental to their political cause, they make their politics unpalatable.

Yesterday, they were hounding the Chief Justice with their petition for investigation to be done into utterances attributed to Ms. Victoria Hammah to the effect that Nana Oye Lithur (Minister of Women and Gender Affairs) secretly influenced the judges hearing the NPP’s petition against Election 2012. Even before the dust settles, they have rushed to Parliament with the same petition.
They are running around in circles, raising dust to blind themselves and the gullible segments of the Ghanaian populace just to pursue their narrow, selfish, property-grabbing democracy of sorts. In effect, they won’t relent in their Mahama-loathing campaign of dirty politics. All in a vain attempt to make it difficult for the government to manage national affairs.

Sooner than later, they will know the bitter truth about their suicidal politics, especially when their own followers begin undermining them from within. Harunah Attah has set the pace; even though we may have good cause to question his real motives.

Folks, what do you think is motivating Haruna Attah to go this distance? Of course, he first came to light as a keen and ardent admirer/follower of JJ Rawlings (married to Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings' younger sister) and was appointed the Director of the defunct Ghana Film Industry Corporation.
That relationship soured and Haruna Attah became a vicious critic and tormentor of Rawlings, writing scathing articles to undermine Rawlings' integrity, especially as he displayed his pro-NPP colours.

Those of us who know him can't believe what he is turning himself into this time. Has he turned his back to the NPP and is now speeding to join the bandwaggon of President Mahama? Obviously, especially if we scrutinize his singular demolition exercise against Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for the speech he delivered to mark the first anniversary of the death of the former Vice President (Aliu Mahama).

Well, every good thing will attract support. President Mahama needs our unflinching support, and we will give it to him. Let the Haruna Attahs join us to help him succeed!!

I shall return…

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