With This Zero Solidarity In The Party, Is The Ndc Wroth Dying For?

During the PNDC era, Rawlings did NOT deem it fit to groom some journalists to champion the cause of the revolution from 1982 – 1992 when he stepped down as a military Head of State to a civilian president and served two terms.

Throughout the NDC regime under J. J. Rawlings from 1992 – 2001, journalists who worked in the state media and pro-NDC media stated rightly that the NDC does NOT RESPECT OR APPRECIATE their efforts, and so a good number of them TURNED against the then NDC government by describing Rawlings as the Common Enemy of Ghanaians. When the NDC lost the general elections in 2000, 99% of the media houses including the electronic media turned against the NDC in opposition led by candidate Mills. We had only 3½ pro-NDC news papers that were very sympathetic to the cause of the NDC and those journalists remained committed and continued pursuing the cause of the NDC until others joined them and they fought day and night for the return of the party to power.

However, after 8 years of being in opposition, the NDC does not RECOGNISE or even know the IMPORTANCE of the MEDIA as a tool in championing its Better Ghana Agenda. Excuse my language, but it is the stubborn Truth because it did not start with President Mills, it all started with Ex-President Rawlings civilian regime from 1992 – 2000. Staff of pro-NDC newspaper are NOT MOTIVATED, they are denied government advertisements, NDC Ministers, DCE’s and MCE’s does NOT buy these newspapers etc etc. One whole year and some months into the Mills administration, the situation is still worse. Is the NDC sleeping or dreaming in this country? I remember reading an article in the “Ghana Palaver” on Monday March 1st 2010 where Government officials and top gurus of the NDC refused to attend the funeral of a journalist who once worked as a staff of the “Ghana Palaver” even though they were invited to grace the funeral ceremony and they rather visited an NPP man’s funeral in 2009. It is unbelievable, and one may ask this question, is the NDC cursed? The answer is a big no – but the zero solidarity of the NDC will eventually collapse the party and it will be very difficult to rebuild – I am NOT a doomsdays prophet but once it happened to several committed party members across the country and nobody cares, it will eventually spread like wild fire and our journalists, our party cadres, our foot soldiers, and even the neglected starving cadres of the 31st December revolution would rise up and tell the government and the party leadership that – Enough is Enough because you cannot use them during the revolution, during the civilian administration for 8 years plus 8 years of hellish opposition and Dump THEM LIKE RUBBISH ONCE MORE.

Pro-NDC journalists were slapped with heavy fines whilst we were in opposition – Nobody coughed, the then NDC minority in parliament remained tight lipped.

Hon. E. T. Mensah was illegally arrested by Kufuor’s BNI, Hon. Dan Abodakpi was illegally tried by a Kangaroo Fast Track High Court set up by Ex-President Kufuor for NDC members only. Hon. Tsatsu was illegally jailed and apart from the Socialist Forum of Ghana led by Comrade Kwesi Pratt Nobody raised a finger against Tsikata’s plight.

Hon. Richard Kwame Peprah was also jailed illegally, Dr. Asem Fofro was severely beaten by NPP thugs at a People’s Assembly in Sunyani, one Mr. Annor, a Radio Gold reporter was beaten to pulp by Kufuor’s security Guards in 2009 when the NDC returned to power, and I just read the front page of the “Ghana Palaver” which stated that the staff of Ghana Palaver were going on strike to compel the publishers of that paper to give them their monthly salaries as well as other bonuses since they could not sacrifice any further.

We, the NDC were the MINORITY in parliament, we could NOT cough when even members of the minority were harassed and arrested illegally by the vicious and vengeful government of the NPP from 2001 – 2008. Today, 2010, the NDC is in the majority but cannot utter a single word and we all have to sit down and allow a mentally deranged hot head like Nana Darkwa to insult Ex-President Rawlings by making false allegations against him and went further to dare Hon. Kofi Adams to confront him, and when Kofi Adams responded, our Hopeless members of the Minority decided to boycott Parliament and forced the government to release him and set him free, and yet the top gurus of the NDC, the Majority leaders in parliament and the pro-NDC media did nothing apart from issuing press releases and press conferences. I don’t believe Nana Darkwa will be set free anyway – Our Hopeless minority leaders can go to Hell if they boycott parliament again. These are the main reasons why Hon. Dan Botwe stated at Akwatia during the by-election that the NDC is in power but the NPP is in control – Why did he say that? Yes, they control the public and civil service as well as the judiciary and they have a vibrant media to match – so why wont he say that?

PRO-NDC MEDIA AND SEIZED CARS

The NDC would be committing a political suicide if it turns its back to the few media houses that are championing its cause.

The party has started digging its own grave by refusing to respect or appreciate the patriotic efforts of these journalists who dared the NPP from 2001 – 2008 and some of them were heavily fined, and nobody raised a finger because we had a SILENT MINORITY at that time. Today we have a SILENT MAJORITY in parliament and the only thing they could do was to plead with the MINORITY who engaged in CRIMINAL SOLIDARITY with Nana Darkwa, the NPP activist without self-respect and boycotted parliament to return to the House. Yes, our silent majority behaved as if the NDC did NOT emerge from a revolution. The action of the minority group in parliament attracted national attention and the impish political activist became an instant hero and Hon. Kofi Adams was rather seen as the villain – How sad. As if that was NOT enough, the government came out with a statement disassociating itself from the very case. Now, when Rawlings shouted “who born dog” people did not understand him. As I am speaking, Raymond Archer, editor of the Enquirer is facing the music in court, should NDC activists and committed supporters be left to their fate to carry their own cross when they fall foul with the law? Should they be left to their fate when they are wounded, sick or whatever happens to them? I suggest that seized cars at the Tema port should be given to the pro-NDC media houses and other progressive media staff to also draw free petrol from the government chest and use these vehicles to champion the cause of the NDC at the grassroots, and all corners of the country to preach the Better Ghana Agenda. The NPP did it from 2001-2008 why can’t the NDC do better than them? If you starve the media, you are taking oxygen out of the party for it to die because it cannot breath.

The NDC must find the reason why majority of the newspapers turned against the party whether in government or in opposition.

2) The NDC must find out why even some journalists working in the state media did not want to have anything to do with the party even before the elections in 2008.

3) Is it true that the NDC always used committed journalists who work for the party and dump them later? 4) Is it true that the NDC does not Respect or Appreciate the media? If it is true – the NDC leadership must build bridges and mend its ways. The NDC must wake up and solve this media problem otherwise, we will pay a bitter price for it – because with the election of Jake Obetseby Lamptey as the National Chairman of the NPP, they are going to be very aggressive and the NDC must also match them boot for boot. They have already started burning the country’s vital assets in order to blame the Atta Mills government and make it unpopular to enable them come back to power in 2012.

BEHAVIOUR OF SOME DCE’s

Any keen observer of the political scene cannot fail to realize that some DCE’s who have been appointed by the President to serve the people rather want the people to serve them, and some of them have created factions within the party to the extent that hardworking party members who have been appointed to the various assemblies are being intimidated, frustrated, beaten up and even rejected outright by some DCE’s who are NOT the Appointing Authorities in favour of their cronies and favourites. I suggest to the President to FIRE such arrogant DCE’s who have turned themselves into untouchable demi-gods all over the place. These few DCE’s think that they can do whatsoever they like and get way with it – NEVER.

Those DCE’s who have suddenly grown horns in the various District Assemblies must know that the Assemblies are not their private companies for them to gang up with some self-seeking constituency executives to form their own Appointment Committees and continue to reject hardworking party members who are duly appointed by the government only for them to state that they CANNOT work with those appointees with attempts to overturn such appointments and replacing them with their own stooges. I am appealing to His Excellency, the President to DISMISS such DCE’s outright, to serve as a deterrent to others since he is the only person that can remove the overgrown horns of those arrogant DCE’s in their various districts because they are liabilities bent on destroying the party and NOT assets to the party.

In terms of party solidarity, the NPP is 100 miles ahead of the ruling NDC party which scores O solidarity since 1992 to date 2010. The NPP is doing exactly what the late Dr. Nkrumah’s mighty CPP did over 44 years ago, yet 90% of NDC members including this writer are all Nkrumahists, so I don’t understand the reason why we lack party solidarity. It starts right from parliament House, through our cabinet and Regional Ministers, to the National Officers down to the Regions and constituencies ending at the party branches or polling stations. When an NDC member gets into trouble in the course of doing party activities, Nobody comes to his aid, nobody thinks about him/her at worst, some NDC members would rather gang up and jubilate over his ordeal with others fanning fire for him to burn to death by even adding that you are TOO KNOWN or very TROUBLES SOME. Carry your own cross and get lost, once you land into trouble whilst working for the party. No NDC member thinks or talks about you, whether you are an MP, a Minister of State, a pro-NDC journalist, a DCE, a lawyer, a Regional or constituency executive, a branch executive or an ordinary foot soldier of the party, no one cares a hoot about your plight.

Is this the characteristics of the New NDC that we campaigned and marketed vigorously to Ghanaians and they voted for in 2008 and 2009? No, I doubt it.

This is UNFAIR. We must reshape a better humane party with a strong solidarity among ourselves as True Patriotic comrades strongly united to push forward The Better Ghana Agenda of His Excellency President J. E. A. Mills and finally put our opponents and enemies to shame. I believe this is the best way forward because the present situation within the party is too bad. Why is it so? This is the question we used to ask during the revolutionary era. Without party solidarity, thousands of NDC members died like paupers un-noticed, unrecognized and are completely forgotten since the party’s formation in 1992.

Everywhere you go, since the return of the NDC to power in 2009, scores of party supporters are saying that they would advise themselves in 2010 if they are not recognized by the party – note that they are complaining of recognition and respect by the party leadership and not talking about their employment or even asking for money. The present dynamic National Executives of the NDC must reverse this trend in a manner that will surpass the massive solidarity in the NPP to enable the NDC become MORE attractive and stronger. Yes, they can do it and finally stop this Hollow party solidarity in the NDC forever. The NDC as a party THINKS about the NEXT GENERATION whilst the NPP on the contrary always THINKS about the Next Election to enable them introduce their property owning democracy and loot the coffers of the nation – like they did from January 2001 to January 6th 2009 leaving the National Coffers empty for the NDC to grapple with. Yet when the NDC government increased road tolls, their negative propaganda machinery was set in motion nationwide. Let every NDC member Home and Abroad BIG or Small remember this famous proverb that “When they come for your brother TODAY and you don’t PROTEST or COMPLAIN, They will come for you TOMORROW and NOBODY will PROTEST or COMPLAIN and you will cry your own cry. Is that clear? I hope I am RIGHT.

Finally, the BIG QUESTION I am posing to the whole Akatamanso Family is that, with this zero solidarity in the party, is the NDC worth dying for? Party members must answer this important question because there was a time when seven (7) people were given Gh¢7 million to share among themselves and one (1) did NOT get a pesewa from that amount and this is our country Ghana for you. This time, we NO GO SIT DOWN at all.

This writer was a June 4 cadre, a CDR cadre, and a card bearing member of the ruling NDC government and have been in the trenches throughout the years of the 2 Revolutions to the 2 Democracies from 1992 to 2010. IS ANYBODY LISTENING? I am done.

Aluta Continua!

Clement Sangaparee

Municipal Organizer

United Cadres Front

Obuasi Email: clement sang@yahoo.com Distribution All Media Houses Accra