As Ghana chooses a leader for the next four years, the question is less about the men atop the various tickets as it is about the team accompanying these men. All four presidential candidates have impassioned ideas on moving the Ghana forward and Nana Akuffo-Addo and President Mahama have been serving Ghana wonderfully in various capacities both nationally and internationally for a considerable period of time. Had Ghana been a sole-proprietorship both men would do great at managing it.

However, the country is larger than any one organization, and no one individual could possible run it no matter how well intentioned he or she may be; thus making the group working with the next President very critical. There are some great minds and excellent people working in the current NDC administration whose good work on behalf of the country is being hampered by the intra-party civil-war between the Rawlings camp and late President Mills’ camp and though there has been tremendous efforts to publicly portray a serene atmosphere within the party, this huge problem still exists. It is an open secret that prior to election 2008, there was a rift brewing within the then ruling NPP which would later contribute to its demise. Had the NPP retained power then, I believe precious time needed for government assignment would have been needlessly spent on intra-party squabbles.

Fast-forward four years later and a wider chasm has opened up in the ranks of the ruling government. Even as I write, there are more factions within it than the coalition which over-threw Muammar Khadafy in Libya. Like in Libya, the NDC is mired in too many disagreements and disputes to concentrate on effectively running the country. There are too many shenanigans and vagabonds inside its foot-soldiers parading around the country like American tea-party activists supposedly looking to take their country back form Barack Obama. As it is with the tea-partiers who have virtually hijacked the Republican party, good governance becomes impossible with them .History informs us that any organization which is constantly mired in internal power-struggles ultimately becomes dysfunctional and the growth of any country stays stunted when focus on its development is shifted to bridging the divide amongst its ruling members. Ghana has come a long way in its economic and social progress and as the country continues taking positive steps in development, it would need a well-coordinated army of disciplined and well organized personnel to manage its affairs. An organization in which chaos would not breed should an able-bodied John Mahama and Ibn Chambas be nominated to represent their country as President Kufour famously did. Given the current status of the NDC and NPP’s organizational team,our beloved nation would be better served leaning forward with the elephant.

Fiifi ofori

fiifiofori@gmail.com