A call to President Mills and Rawlings Doesn’t the current wrangling between the president and the founder of the NDC reminiscent of the Roosevelt and Taft war in what Wikipedia puts it, ‘one of the most dramatic political feuds of the 20th century’? However, it is not the damage that could be done to both the President and the founder of the NDC party that I am interested in, but rather the future of the NDC party as a whole.

No party or person needs to learn from the present state of the CPP than the NDC and Jerry Rawlings. On that day in 1949 at Esikadu in the Western Region, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah proudly proclaimed the birth of a never to die party, The CPP. With his charisma, charm, eloquence, crowd-pulling gift, and a genuine zeal to transform not only Ghana, but the whole of Africa, Nkrumah ushered in a new era in Ghana’s politics. And it did!

Within few years the CPP out-maneuvered all parties including the UGCC to win for Ghana, the Independence that had eluded many independent fighters. Sixty years on however, and the proud party Nkrumah formed is a failing one that struggles to win even 2% of a national election. But the unpopularity of the CPP today is understandable in that there were genuine factors that led to its present state: soon after Nkrumah was overthrown, the party was banned from engaging in active politics and could not resurrect until 1996 when the National Convention’s Party and the People’s Convention Party merged to form a new CPP.

There is today no party that looks so destined to follow the CPP than the NDC. The NDC as it stands is virtually a one man party unlike the NPP, and it is hard to imagine if CPP, a party that won Ghana independence finds itself struggling to make just 2% of the mark, the NDC, given its current tribal and personality factions would survive when Jerry Rawlings is no longer in charge. Before I talk of what the NDC needs to do, let me take a detour and talk about the two most influential men of the party. I have fault, particularly with Jerry, but more so with His Excellency the president.

Jerry seems to think the only way to get people to listen to him is to terrorize them. He does not believe that he can play a better role to the current government than what he is doing now. His actions, especially letters from his office makes one wonder if he is not bent on undermining the president. There is nothing wrong for the ex-president to congratulate or wish societies, chiefs or certain groups of people well, but the way it is normally presented smells of one trying to usurp the presidency. If it’s the Black stars, Jerry will quickly issue a congratulatory message before the presidency issues its own version. If it’s the hajj pilgrimage, the former president will hurriedly wish them well before the presidency puts out its own version. I cannot recount congratulatory messages of any former U.S president making daily headlines in the media. It is time Jerry gives Atta Mills room to govern peacefully for I think president Mills genuinely believes in Ghana in the same way that Jerry does. I may be proven wrong, but I do not see Atta Mills looting the national coffers like some leaders did, or spending the nation’s resources on unnecessary celebrations and buildings. He is focused on not wasting the country’s resources, a practice which has been the norm in the past even though this is incurring the wrath of many. Is this not one of the qualities Jerry Rawlings has been championing for years? But, the president is equally at fault.

Is neglecting the same people who fought tooth and nail with him in one of the closest elections in the history of mankind the right thing to do? Surely, the president is making a big mistake if he thinks he can do without his party, most importantly those who fought day and night to secure victory for the party. If what aggrieved, but competent people like Spio Gabrah and some MPs are trumpeting, of being left out for unknown faces is true, then they have a case. It is like Obama saying to Robert Gibbs, his campaign’s communications director and current White House Press Secretary after the election that you have no place in my government.

How can the president govern, or ever dream of implementing any of his well intended ideas without the backing of his party? How can the U.S government pass its health care bill without the backing of its own party representatives in congress and the senate? How does the president envisage the passing of his well intended policies if he lacks support from his own parliamentarians? It is disheartening to hear the majority leader in Parliament who is supposed to promote his government agenda in the house is not in support of the president. This is like Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives opposing president Obama. Bagbin has gone even to the extent of suggesting that the Vice president is a president in the making. I hope the good relationship we have seen so far between the president and his vice does not deteriorate through such pronouncement

If it’s true the president has brought on board people who were just sitting by unconcerned during the days of opposition and has overlooked equally competent people like Spio, then he is sending a wrong message to future party leaders. For how on earth should those who genuinely fought openly in the face of all adversity, to energize, encourage, persuade and sell the NDC ideas to the masses, be sidelined for others who perhaps were flirting with the NPP. An example is P.V Obeng. Unless he was acting as a spy for the NDC, then those complaining of people like P.V Obeng have a case. I don’t support Ekow Spio-Garbrah especially for his ‘team B’ description of the current ministers, but couldn’t Spio have been used somewhere given his experience? The president should not think he can govern alone without the help of his party, and it is time he takes all necessary steps to bring every party member on board. But I fault Spio and his followers too, especially Mr Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, the MP for Kpone Katamanso who openly criticized the competency of the information minister. People really don’t know how to sell their ideas. Was the MP thinking that going public with his criticisms would make the information minister get sacked? Never! Everyone would have thought the president is being dictated. He too has some ego and would want to be seen as the one calling the shots. Rather, had this MP sought audience with the president and convinced him with facts, perhaps Zita could have been replaced quietly by now. As it stands, Zita may never be sacked, in fact the president may decide to let Zita hang on for a long time to come. These developments in the NDC does not augur well for a party which Ghanaians gave it a second chance to prove it is not as it used to be. The NPP however, are looking on with keen interest, and they can’t believe that in less than a year after being booted out of power for their profligacy, they suddenly find themselves in line to win the next election. There is no political party in Ghana today that has to be more concerned about its future survival than the NDC. Unlike the NPP which was not formed on the weight of just one man, the NDC cannot boast of such a quality. Instead of Jerry Rawlings constantly bashing the government, he should dedicate his time building and solidifying the unity in the party. The NDC as it stands now has an ever growing Fanti group, Northern group, Ga group, and the ever powerful Ewe group, and it is how this development is handled that will make or break the party when Jerry is no more actively involved. If better structures are not put in place to prevent power struggle in post Rawlings era, I do not see why the NDC will not disintegrate into a party that cannot match even the 2% of the vote that CPP is struggling to achieve. The Ewe’s will feel they are the sole owners of the party just as the Ashanti’s believe they are the only people to lead the NPP. This will be met with full force by the ever growing potent of the Fanti and the Northern group. Sooner, the party that Jerry fought so hard to build may vanish like it was never in existence.

The major institutional structure Jerry Rawlings and all party faithful should champion now is to hand over the powers of the party to the people. The NDC should seriously consider adopting the U.S style of electing its presidential candidates. Jerry should champion the expansion of the number of people allowed to elect party executives for the sake of the NDC’s future. Every region should be allowed not less than 15,000 votes when choosing the party’s executives, especially the presidential candidate. This will limit the powers of few groups of people looking forward to take control of the party. But if Rawlings is thinking of how he can “greedy bastardly”, as he puts it, get things done his way, then his children will live to regret his legacy.

As it stands, with all apologies to the CPP, the NDC is indeed another CPP in the making. If proper structures are not put in place, the party may die with the founder. For Rawlings to implicitly tell the president to take his government and him taking his party is not the right way to proceed. Rawlings can oppose Atta Mills should Mills intends to stand as a presidential candidate for 2012, but his antics may backfire this time. He may succeed in seeing to the defeat of Atta Mills, but the supporters along the coastal belt will teach the NDC a lesson in return.

In short, I like the way the NDC-NPP politics in Ghana is shaping up like the Republican-Democrats politics of the U.S, or the Labour- Conservative politics in the U.K., and we wish it develops to the level in these countries, although the competition could be so great and all the more better for Ghana politics if CPP could be a third force to reckon with, like the liberal democrats in the U.K. We need a stronger NDC and NPP and it is up to us all to fight for this by placing the powers of the parties into the hands of the people as done in the U.S, and I hope the ongoing Roosevelt-Taft war between Atta Mills and Rawlings do not take us to a single-party dominated political system. By Anthony Afful-Dadzie (ato.kwamena@yahoo.com)