By: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

The caption above was the slug that I had intended to give an article that I had intended to write last September, about the time that the National Organizer of the then-main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was reported to have picked up nomination forms for the presidential candidate of the party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Well, the reader ought to be aware of the fact that the aforesaid article never got written. But I kept the printout of the news article on which that old, never-written column was to have been based. And, finally, like a ruminant quadruped, I have decided to regurgitate and masticate and spill the morally quite enlightening contents of this fast-yellowing news article into the public domain, if also because Mr. John Boadu’s prediction back then had mirrored my own or vice versa.

The news article in question was captioned “Akufo-Addo is the man to beat in December – John Boadu” MyJoyOnline.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/14/16). Which was precisely my primary motivation for printing out the same. I had almost completely forgotten about this article until last week’s parliamentary debate on the maiden Akufo-Addo budget brought it back to mind. Last week in Parliament, among others, the National Democratic Congress’ representative for Keta, a traditional stronghold of the Trokosi nationalists, Mr. Richard Quarshigah, accused the Parliamentary Majority of having plagiarized one of the policy planks of his former boss, namely, former President John Dramani Mahama. Well, as far as I can remember, at no point in time prior to then-Candidate Akufo-Addo’s campaign promise of establishing one factory in every district in the country, had the same promise or policy agenda been known to have appeared in the manifesto of the then-ruling National Democratic Congress or any of the party’s campaign platform pronouncements.

But, of course, nearly every Ghanaian of age knows the NDC as a party of hoodlums and brazen opportunists who believe that they have an inalienable right to stealing the intellectual property of their main counterparts without being compelled to either desist or apologize for the same and promptly retract. We know for a fact that Nana Akufo-Addo’s “One District, One Factory” industrialization policy agenda was directly inherited from the “District Industrialization” policy agenda originally initiated by the Kufuor-led government of the New Patriotic Party. In other words, the policy of rural industrialization and development has always been closely associated with adherents of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo Tradition ever since anyone can remember.

On or about September 13, 2016, when he picked up the nomination forms for then-Candidate Akufo-Addo, Mr. Boadu publicly noted the fact that then-President Mahama had not spoken publicly about the possibility of having Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives periodically elected until the now-President Akufo-Addo publicly announced the same. And then President Mahama came swinging and smirking and declaring that should he be retained at the Flagstaff House, come December 7, 2016, he intended to have all local executive appointees or administrators elected directly by the people they had been designated to serve. Now, this would be very humorous and even a tad entertaining, if Mr. Quarshigah had not taken his accusation of NPP plagiarism of a purported NDC policy agenda so seriously.

And, oh, I nearly forgot to add that one of the Ahwoi Brothers had even been commissioned by the Mills-Mahama regime to pen and publish a dissertation justifying the reasons why it was all too politically savvy and practically expedient for all MMDCEs to be perpetually appointed by the Flagstaff House or the Presidency. In his quite memorable interview with the media, the NPP’s National Organizer had also highlighted the need for the Electoral Commission’s key operatives not to be afforded free rein to railroad the smaller political parties through the imposition of exorbitant filing fees, which punitively prevented the leaders of these smaller parties from actively participating in the country’s otherwise robust democratic political culture, and thus inimically militating against the salutary enhancement of the same. Mr. Boadu’s argument appeared to be on firm and solid ground because as the critic aptly observed, the budget of the Electoral Commission is directly funded by the government.

Currently, the filing-fee refund policy, based on the ability of a presidential candidate to clinch 25-percent of the total national ballot, and 12.5-percent in the case of parliamentary candidates, only favors candidates of the two major political parties. This issue may need to be taken up by both Parliament and the Apex Court, although last year NDC’s National Campaign Coordinator Mr. Kofi Adams was fully convinced that this clearly invidious filing policy of the EC was not a problem because it was highly unlikely to affect NDC operatives in the foreseeable future. What a visionary politician!

Ultimately, if the EC wants to remarkably enhance its credibility and reputation, it may have to promptly review and amend some of its policies. For instance, the EC could decide to halve all filing fees and make them nonrefundable, especially if the Commission could also justify its previous claims of not being adequately funded, as well as its staff’s not being adequately salaried.

By: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net
*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs