Kwabena Nyamekye


He came to us from the CPP – fleeing the wrath of the Danquah-Busia students whom in 24 February 1966 wanted revenge for the injustices visited upon them under the CPP. Danquah-Busia students at Legon such as Lawrence Otu Cantey and Anthony Kludze, had been jailed without trial under the hated PDA and any CPP student was fair game that day. Nana Addo, in his own words a young Marxist and CPP member fled Legon campus in just his shorts and singlet pursued by a mob baying for his blood. He reappeared in 1979 this time sporting Danquah-Busia colours but with a twist.

With the decline in health of Kofi Busia the big question was who his successor was. Nana Addo and his supporters felt the post of presidential candidate should go automatically to William Ofori-Atta while others felt democracy should prevail and that we needed primaries. The democratic faction won and also lost. Primaries were held but before that the UNC had formed with Nana Addo as Deputy General Secretary. Going into the 1979 election we were divided. The United National Convention was formed as a hate group – targeting Victor Owusu leader of the PFP.
We lost much to the delight of Nana Addo and his party. Their attacks had worked. Victor Owusu was a divorcee and so could not be President (neither was Nelson Mandela) etc. Come the run off in 1979 UNC supported the Nkrumahists and we were whipped. It is a funny world I must say because come 2008 when Nana Addo needed the Nkrumahists to help him win the election they sat on the fence and refused to commit themselves. He went down to a defeat and most probably Victor Owusu is still laughing his head off at this delicious turn of events.

In 1992 he is back in our fold as his UNC escapade was a distant memory and we were happy to take him back. In 1998 he contests the flag bearer post and loses in Sunyani at Congress. Interestingly the day after the vote all the candidates went to Church including even Malik Alhassan a Muslim, except Nana Addo who left the Congress in a fury just after JA Kufuor was declared winner. We should have known that this was a dangerous sign and that he had not learned how to be a team player and to accept defeat within his own party.

However in 2000 he is happy to accept a ministerial job as JAK shows all of us how to unite a party. Come 2005 his reward is hooting organized by thugs from Nima! We have always wondered who was behind this. What we do know is that the New Statesman proclaimed Nana as a better English speaker than JAK and so he should take over the party as he will be a better president because of this . Obviously no one in Wenchi read the New Statesman as Nana Addo was whipped there by Mahama and as we know that is Busias hometown – so much for the Danquah-Busia tradition if we can’t win in Busia’s hometown!

He manages to secure the flag bearer spot in 2008 by claiming it was his turn. This was a subtle threat that we realized from day one. If you deny me my turn I will wreak havoc on you. Given fears of 1979 and the UNC we caved in to him. 2 defeats later, costing us 4 swing regions and our comfortable parliamentary majority, he is taking us at top speed to another defeat. He is at war with Afoko, Agyapong, JAK, etc etc. He claims we can still win even if we are divided. He goes to campaign in Abuja, ignoring central region where we need to win to ensure victory. He is seen with Angela Merkel while ignoring foot soldiers in Wenchi.

And now this. He has hounded out Afoko, physically seized party HQ, he has planted dynamite within us with his No Nana No Vote (now this slogan will be used as a threat by all candidates in future) he has divided us without even breaking away like he did the last time

We have lost 2016. We will probably lose 2020 and likely lose 2024. From 1979 to this millennium Nana Addo has divided us and led us to defeat upon defeat
Oh NPP – This divisive man we have elected King!