Politics require strategies and top among these is the ability to neutralize and put your opponent on the defensive at all times. If done well, at least two benefits accrue. The first is that you succeed in making your opponent waste valuable resources and dissipate his time and energy for nothing but frustration. The second is that you are quick to spot the traps your opponent set for you. In essence, one aims to beat or neutralize the opponent. From this maxim, and judging by the success of the then candidate Mills house-to-house campaign, the NDC cannot sit aloof and let Akuffo-Addo have his peace of mind on his so-called ‘listening campaign’ which is just a copy of one of the NDC’s success strategies of election 2008.

The effectiveness of a house-to-house campaign (which is useful only to opposition candidates) though expensive cannot be underestimated because it works like magic. Its efficiency can be attributed to the closeness of the candidate to a voter. Not only does it give the ordinary voter the chance to look deep into the eyes of the candidate and form his or her own lasting opinion, the candidate also gets to know the real issues bothering voters for which he can focus on to campaign against his opponent, the incumbent. Moreover any perceived accusation such as cocaine addiction in the case of Akuffo-Addo can be mitigated through colourful dress ups. But the highest and best form of efficiency of a house-to-house campaign lies even more in the ‘spreading of the word’ done voluntarily by the voter after the visit, and the fact that in the villages a voter is at once won due to the immense sense of privilege to have been visited by a potential president.

This is one of the factors president Mills won many votes in the villages which are generally known to favour the incumbent party. We can all recall how happy voters were especially those in the villages to have been visited by professor Mills between late 2007 and early 2008, and the result this interaction yielded in the subsequent general election. Even hard-line university graduates were won over when the then candidate Mills was seen on television interacting with students in their dormitories. Within this time the already formed perception of president Mills as a humble man shot up, and this perceived humility which whiles winning voters such as the religious to his side, was at the same time robbing his main opponent Akuffo-Addo of votes by those who perceived him as arrogant

Therefore, one of the foremost strategies the NDC should employ right after the Sunyani national congress is to go after Akuffo-Addo and make useless his so-called listening campaign. In fact there are so many ways to bring down this Akuffo-Addo’s campaign that I do not care naming one of the tactics that could be employed. Besides, whether the NPP read this piece or not I trust the NDC to find every way possible to make waste this so-called listening campaign. One of the easiest tactics is hooting, and what will be so embarrassing than for Akuffo-Addo to be hooted in public. This tactic was introduced into our political domain by no other person than Akuffo-Addo himself and he should be made to swallow his own pill. We all recall how Akuffo-Addo and the NPP clandestinely employed some youth to hoot and embarrass president Mills in public right after he was elected as the NPP’s presidential candidate, and what perfect a time and environment to let him reap what he sowed during this his so-called listening campaign. And here, I warn the NDC that any such aggressive tactic must be done in the highest form of anonymity that will in no way suggest the involvement of the NDC in order for Akuffo-Addo not to gain even a scintilla of public sympathy.

Many may question this aggressive strategy but there are several reasons to adopt it. First, the NPP understands nothing but aggressiveness; keep quiet and play the good boy and they will make you dissipate all your energy for nothing through useless propaganda and demeaning acts such as the famous Amina saga. As such the NDC should do all they can to neutralize this aggression and the only effective means is to square the NPP head on. Second, an incumbent president cannot relegate state affairs to a house-to-house campaign, and even if this was possible, chances are that it will be a disaster as voters may take the opportunity of such closeness to demand favours from the president failure of which to honour will yield the opposite result of the intended visit. So, the only way for the incumbent to if not gain, also not lose by not being able to use such an effective tool, is to go after his opponent who is in the better position to use it to gain more support.

Don’t judge me wrong for I am speaking as a concern citizen who witnessed the NPP’s eight years of property grabbing democracy which benefited only but a few and therefore believes we cannot hand back the affairs of the state to such avaricious group of people so soon. One of my biggest prayer request leading up to election 2008 was for the NPP to lose so that they would not share the oil resources among themselves alone. How can a whole country get only 10% shares in almost all the oil contracts signed by the NPP while just a few of their members alone own more than 3% shares of some of these contracts? Which is better, leaving the oil untouched for future generations or spending the 10% shares to cater for the resulting environmental hazards that will result from the drilling of the oil, not to mention the lost livelihood of the affected communities?
As such, although I believe it is a good thing to be changing the ruling party from time to time, at the moment (and having no credible alternative opposition) we need the NDC to stay in power to put in place rules that will make it harder for the NPP to practice their looting of state property before they ever get the chance to come to power again. We all thus need to join hands to fight off the NPP’s all-die-be-die attitudes to win power at all cost. Can you believe the NPP has been indirectly encouraging population growth in their strong holds to enable them easily wins power in the future? We may as well add to our constitution that a party must in addition to winning more than fifty percent of the national election must also win at least four out of the ten regions to curb this diabolic ambition which if not stopped will lead to massive unemployment in future.

In sum, the general consensus is that the NDC has so far been on the receiving end despite being in power: it has been well beaten and neutralized by its main opponent, the NPP. This look-warm attitude by the NDC should therefore be corrected as election 2012 looms and it should start with the destabilization of this Akuffo-Addo’s latest listening or hearing – or whatever he choose to calls it -campaign strategy. He should be made to feel pressure, embarrassment and dejection. Remember, taking the fight to the opponent is part of the game and a ruling party like the NDC should not shirk from using this trusted weapon.
By Ato Dadzie