Introduction

Prior to 2000, the NPP was then in opposition and was fighting very hard to wrestle power from the NDC. In order to achieve this feat after two unsuccessful previous attempts the party executives adopted several unique strategies. One such strategy was to draw on the support and free services of the students in all the tertiary institutions in the country. The ruling party (NDC) had incurred the wrath of almost all tertiary students in the country and students’ dislike for the NDC in the 1990s was so strong that some student supporters of the party had to virtually go underground. Students who were supporters of NDC had to hide their affiliation to the party in order to stand for positions in NUGS, SRC of JCR because they stood no chance of winning.

There were some instances where aspiring candidates were summoned to a students’ forum at the Legon Central Café to answer questions on allegations of having links with the NDC. Those were the days when a sitting SRC president was nearly impeached for calling off a students’ aluta (demonstration) on radio without consulting with the student body. Those days were really tough days and almost every student in the country supported the need for a positive change.

NPP Party forums at E9 - Legon

The NPP took advantage of disaffection among students against the NDC and exploited that to its advantage. Party stalwarts invaded Legon and other campuses on regular basis organising forums. They talked about the need for a change and better life for graduates. Legon students always trooped to E9 on top of the University Bookshop to listen to the NPP stalwarts at these forums. The stalwarts spoke so well and sounded so convincing at these forums. One did not need to consult an oracle to conclude these guys were really self made men. In fact wealth was dripping all over them and they would not need money from the highly indebted mother Ghana to survive.

They were all seasoned scholars who had chucked several successes in their areas of expertise. They were very talented men who had all it took to lift the country to a level where it would flex muscles with the Asian Tigers. There was Kwame Pianim a business mogul who is an in-law to an American millionaire or something of that sort. His millions it was whispered could solve the perennial water shortages that bedevilled the guys in the Vandal City (Commonwealth Hall). In fact this problem kept the slender thighs in the Lake City (Volta Hall) away from the city. There was also Jones Ofori Atta a renowned economist who together with a team of seasoned economists had written several alternative budgets to NDC budgets. His wealth could transform Korle Bu from a grave yard to an ultra modern hospital. The sort of hospital that would make the nurses so satisfied that it would blunt their razor blade tongues and they will stop insulting patients.

The list was endless. There was also the Nana himself who spoke fluent English through his nose most of the time. He was a very successful business man who had so much money and could bank roll the party all alone. There was also JA Kuffour an Oxford graduate. He spoke softly and appeared to be so meek, affable and humble. There were rumours that he was often haunted by the ghost of his brick factory. How could such a meek person be compared to Bokassa, or Idi Amin Dada, or 50 Cent just after eight years of ruling?

High hopes for students

The students loved the NPP guys so much and threw all their weight behind the party. Most students did not only campaign for the party but also volunteered as party agents in very hostile regions and had scars to show for it. In the end the election was won and most students in Ghana went agog. The guys in the Vandal City were more jubilant because they could now swim in the lake (Volta Hall) without drowning. Azuma koko (porridge) or Daavi’s Banku would be a thing of the past. The V- Mates (Vandals) could now compete with the softies in Legon Hall over the sisters in the lake because they can afford kelewele (Spicy chopped fried plantain).

Hopes were raised and dreams were dreamt not only by students but ordinary people on the street as well. Petrol prices would no longer be increased to raise revenue as Kwesi Botchway had done for many years. This meant trotro and taxi drivers would no longer increase fares arbitrary. In fact the filth engulfing Accra would be a thing of the past and Alajo would no longer experience flooding in the rainy seasons. There was hope that our children would no longer study under mango trees. They would no longer share their mats with blood sucking mosquitoes in the night.

The ‘man with a vision to save mother Ghana from oppression and suppression was now the president so everything would be cool. The man with a vision greater than the great heroes of all time, (the Osagyefo) would bring hope to the hopeless.

Dashed hopes

A few years into the administration ‘the man with a vision’ suddenly became visionless. The first thing he did after taking the reigns of power was to increase petrol price by 60% and also granted loans of $20.000 for MPs to buy luxury cars. The people understood the 60% petrol increment because the country had gone HIPC but found it a bit difficult to understand the $20,000 car loan. The man with a vision started to develop a huge appetite for globetrotting and went on numerous pleasure trips abroad under the guise of courting investors. The same reason was given by NDC when Rawlings was travelling too often. Strangely in our part of the world it is the presidents who are more skilful in sourcing investments.

When the ordinary people in Asafo and Jamestown sleep in snatches due to lack of sleeping space in over crowded homes ‘the men with a vision’ put up luxury mansions on government lands in Airport, Cantonments, and Roman Ridge. When patients sleep on the floor and on wretched beds at Korle Bu and KATH ‘the men with a vision’ justified the need for presidential palaces. They also justified the need for sophisticated motorcade system made of expensive bullet proof cars for the president when a very simple one would save the tax payer. They justified the need for presidential jets; the same thing the NDC did which annoyed many Ghanaians.

The country is known to have a long and winding history of poverty, starvation, mosquito menace, malnutrition etc but not assassination attempt on a sitting president. The only known one is the Kulungugu bomb throwing incident involving the ‘Show Boy’ himself which he survived. The spinning doctors of the NPP hopped from one radio station to the other justifying every unjustifiable action of the party. They kept doing that till the people of Tain decided enough is enough. The Vandals hopes of going for the slender thighs in the lake city were crushed. They had to make a sudden u-turn and go back for their ‘exte white shoes’ they abandoned when the election was won.

Conclusion

NPP have not only disappointed all the tertiary students who laid down their lives for them in the 1990s but the country as a whole. The party has let everyone down by being unable to deliver on their promises and losing power after just two terms. The Leaders must admit their mistake and apologise to the whole nation and bow their heads in shame. After eight years in power nothing spectacular happened which was different from any other government the country had ever had. The only unique thing is the extreme level of waa waa, which is now haunting them. What do they need all those money for when they claimed they were already self made men.

Francis Kwaku Egu

Kwakuhull@yahoo.com