Ghana, The NDC, Prof. Mills and Dr. Spio-Garbrah: A Crucial Decision Moment

As the days go by the NDC is moving towards a crucial point in the party’s history. December 16th will determine the fate of the NDC party regarding its chances of ever coming into power again, at least in the coming years. For the NDC, election 2008 will actually be decided on December 16th 2006. The argument is that it is who wins the primaries that will determine whether the NDC wins the presidency or not.

Though there are four candidates vying for the flagbearership of the party the general consensus is that the race is between Former Vice President and twice (or three times???) defeated candidate Prof. J. E. A. Mills and Former Communications and Education Minister Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah who is also the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. Analysts believe that businessman Eddie Annan and Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu are running behind their pals judging from the reception they have been receiving at the constituencies throughout the country. That leaves the NDC with a choice between Prof. Mills and Dr. Spio-Garbrah.

One of these is supposed to be leading the NDC to victory come 2008. But who will that be? It is believed that the professor, having suffered defeat twice at the hands of the NPP, has learnt from his mistakes and is back this time to take what belongs to him. He has taken real practical measures to ensure that this time around he does not miss the target. He has changed his campaign team, distanced himself from former president Rawlings, though he managed to keep Kwamena Ahwoi and his brother Ato as the chief advisers. Some analysts also mention that at the moment the only thing that divides ex-president Rawlings and his top aide Victor Smith is Mills. Victor Smith openly supports Mills while his boss is believed to have advised Mills to drop out of the race.

The prof is also trying to stay away from the label he received as being too soft, which led to the masses calling him Asomdweehene, and is stepping up his campaign with some aggression, through Ayariga and Nii Lantey Vanderpruye. The prof, believing that he is the candidate most well known to the delegates is doing everything in his power to convince NDC delegates that just as Kufuor made it at the end of Rawlings’s second term, he (Mills) will cause history to repeat itself.

The other side of the argument is actually in favour of Spio-Garbrah who is believed to be a communications and political super heavyweight whose jabs and punches will make the NPP kiss the boots. Spio is said to have demonstrated his unique qualities when he recently launched his campaign at the teacher’s hall in Accra. Throughout his campaign he has proven to the NDC delegates and the Ghanaian masses that there is an alternative to Prof. Mills. Spio’s exhibition of eloquence and accuracy made the Ghanaian Chronicle caution the NPP against how lethal this communications guru can be to them. His grip of facts and figures on the economy and how to communicate it to the people is unmatched in the NPP.

NDC members both home and abroad, believe that both Prof. Mills and Dr. Garbrah are capable of becoming the NDC flagbearer, but only Spio is capable of going on to win the presidency. At least Atta Mills has a lot on record to show that he cannot win power for the NDC.

It is said that it takes two to tango. A strategic presidential candidate certainly chooses a like-minded running mate well in advance. My research has indicated that both Mills and Spio are planning to have John Mahama as running mate. However sources close to John Mahama say that John finds a Spio offer more credible than a Mills offer. This is because in the 2000 election Mills disappointed Mahama by choosing Martin Hamidu above him. As if that was not enough, Mills went ahead in 2004 to select Mumuni instead of John.

Many watchers are of the opinion that the NDC’s winning pair is Spio-Mahama and are even calling on Prof. Mills to step out of the race and make way for Spio-Garbrah, if he loves the party. NDC insiders are asking the prof to, for once, be his own man, and stop being pushed around by the Ahwois. First Rawlings was alleged to be pushing him around, now it is the Ahwois (except Kwesi Ahwoi who actually wants prof to leave the race and make way for Spio), and very soon it will be Victor Smith, Ayariga or Nii Lantey.

At the end of it all the Ahwois and Totobi Kwakye, who is still fighting for his own health in the UK, have landed the prof in a very uncharacteristic trouble with the media, by making him deny that he spent over three months in South Africa for medical reasons. My sources even tell me that before being referred to South Africa he had actually sought medical help in China. The NDC stands to lose a lot, including election 2008, if they make Prof the flagbearer at a time when his very health is becoming a campaign issue.

I have once spoken as the Apostle, now I speak as a patriot who believes in the scripture that says: ‘if the righteous shall take their place and rule.....’. “The punishment of those who refuse to take part in the government is to live under the government of worse men”-Plato. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”-Edmund Burke. Long live democracy, long live Ghana.