I charge at NDC straightaway. They are dishonest. They thrive on ethnocentricism. NDC have always played the political games to let the minority tribes - Ewes, Northerners, Gas, Brongs, Fantes etc feel uncomfortable with Ashantis and thereby take political advantage of it. So whichever party is seen to represent Ashanti interest will be dishonestly tagged anti- poor, anti-Zongo, elitist etc. In our present set-up, the NPP led by Akufo Ado is portrayed to represent an IMAGINARY elitist gang in Ashanti. Fact is, Ghana voting pattern is always a referendum on how we dislike or like Ashantis. Asantes have become a victim of tribal hatred for no apparent reason. There’s no objectivity in Ghana elections now. This is the foundations of NDC political winnings.

Let John Mahama steal all the monies. Let him commit all the crimes. Let him dissipate and misuse the national treasuries. Let him continue to say his cabinet knew nothing about $800m dollars judgement debt pay-out in 3 years. Let him also deny his cabinet knew nothing about $400m GYEEDA allotment in 3 years. In any serious country these separate issues will bring down a democratic or military govt. But not in Ghana! Even all of them together do not mean nothing to the Ghanaian voter. Ghanaians will still vote for NDC and John Mahama because Akufo Ado, the rival, is seen to be representing interests which minor tribes strangely with no real reason want to avoid. The Ghanaian will not consider Akufo Ado’s programmes.

The voter interest is where he comes from ie the ethnicity factor. It will be the same scenario if Alhaji Dr Mahmod Bawumia is still the Presidential candidate of NPP. Thus, Ghana is paying the price of consciously or unconsciously allowing some forces wanting to somehow keep the Ashantis out of central power to pan out to cloud our choices. So any party Ashantis will support will continue to deal with such unfortunate mindset. That is the struggle which has created the unending animosity and tension in Ghana politics even since the 1950’s.

Prof. Kofi Awonoor the great tribal jingoist expatiated the situation in his infamous book about the ‘Keep Ashantis out of central power’ in the 1970’s. As usual, hypocritical as the Ghanaian is, he does not want the subject to be mentioned. The Ghanaian wants the subject buried in the sands without open discussion despite the manifestations, workings and operationalization of the wicked doctrine which discerning minds see as having done and is still doing great damage in our socio-politico spectrum. The win of President JA Kuffuor in 2000 was mainly due to the fact that dictator JJ Rawlings had ruled for a long time without much improvement and the NPP win was inevitable. Kuffuor had that advantage of the need for a change.

My interest is that we must respect all tribes. All tribes have a lot to offer. There are bad Ashantis. There are bad EWES. There are good Ashantis. There are also good EWES and good Northeners. We should learn to live with these facts. Therefore, I reject the anti-Ashanti sentiments which the NDC and their bigots have strategised to exploit over the years to win political advantage. It is not fair. We want peace in Ghana. So we should not do things which don’t bring peace. Our prayers should target that we refrain from doing things which don’t bring peace. Just praying for peace is meaningless and abstract.

We must pray that NDC/Mahama/Amissa Aidoo/Tsikata group stop their apparently unnecessary and vindictive tendencies, manifestations and mindset of; - denying Ashanti youth scholarships;- deliberately denying Ashantis positions in Military, Police, Immigration, Fire Service High commands;- denying Ashantis top places deliberately in the Civil Service, Public Services, Commissions, Parastatals; - frustrating and putting impediments in Ashanti businesspersons’ initiatives to bring them down; - relegating of development of the economic Kumasi airport but rather deliberately give priority to the less economic Tamale airport to spite Ashantis; - not fully paying attention to the more economical Accra-Kumasi –Techiman Road (central corridor) but rather prioritize and sink resources into constructing the less economical Accra-Asikuma-Hohoe-Bimbilla-Yendi (eastern corridor) -- just to bypass Kumasi and reduce its importance and thus punish Ashantis; - stopping the provocative play of the age-long mischievous, false and shameful political machinations to portray to other minority tribes including Zongo settlers that Ashantis hate them and look down upon them and that they should rather vote for NDC which likes them and will look at their interests;- stop their ongoing campaign to deceive Northerners telling them that Akufo Ado, Dr Mahmou Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey challenged John Mahama Presidency because their NPP culture looks down upon Northerners who they want to remain hewers of wood and drawers of water.

NDC must stop these damnable evil acts and Ghana will be free and ready to take off without the drawback political bickering and tensions. NDC should stop these provocations based on falsity, jealousy, vindictiveness, hatred and Ghana will be peaceful. The fortunes of NPP will be determined by how their next crop of leaders confront the NDC ethnocentric campaign.

John Yawose