DR PAA KWESI NDUOM EXPOSED – PART 1

By Yaw Amponsah Berfi

‘…the people can do a comparison and judge us by the content of our vision and our character. I also want to call on the people of this country to challenge us the candidates to show what we have done in our private lives and those of us who have had the opportunity to be in government what specifically we have accomplished that should give Ghanaians the hope that if they vote for us, we will deliver a better Ghana than exists today.’ (Speech delivered by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom to the Institute of Economic Affairs programme, “An Evening Encounter’, May 2008)

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom must be a brave man of sorts to invite public scrutiny into his private and public life at a time when he is under intense attack, both within and outside of the CPP, about his character and credibility.

The first part of this article is a critical analysis of the address Dr Nduom gave at the IEA encounter and some general observations about his politics. Part 2 will examine some of the core issues at the centre of the controversy that has enveloped Dr Nduom since 2001, which indeed started in 1996. The examination will include circumstances surrounding his appointment as a Minister and collaboration with the NPP government, the ‘skirt and blouse’ voting system, his undermining of the leadership of the CPP, his disciplinary record, etc.

Before Dr Nduom‘s coterie of enthusiastic supporters start accusing me of being part of those fueling the SFO Report against him, let me state from the onset that I bear no personal or political grudge against Dr Nduom. I am merely demonstrating the same boldness Dr Nduom displayed when he invited Ghanaians to critically probe his record and character.

For me, politics is a national vocation, which should be underpinned by a dispassionate application of principles and the national interest. Individuals who therefore put themselves forward for national office, not least the position of the President of the Republic of Ghana, must measure up to acceptable standards of decency, morality and good character. We cannot afford to have a national leader who is deeply enmeshed in illicit drugs, money laundering, bribery and corruption, like it happened in Panama over two decades ago under General Noriega. The politics of avocation, convenience and patronage amount to ridiculing that high office and our Sovereignty.

In my estimation therefore, an examination of the record and character of public office seekers is a fair way of ensuring that our leaders measure up to acceptable standards of conduct both in private and public.

Vision At the least opportunity Dr Nduom has not hesitated to remind us of the imperative to campaign on ideas and issues. There is nothing wrong per se with this laudable intention. However, what I find disturbing about the vision Dr Nduom espoused at the ‘Evening Encounter’ is that there is Nkrumaist about it. Even more disturbing is Dr Nduom’s failure or inability to elaborate on how he intends to go about achieving his vision.

One may argue that the twenty minutes allotted to the presidential candidates to outline their vision and programme is not enough to talk about everything. I beg to differ from this point of view, because I believe that the implementation process is equally as important as the vision itself. If we, however, allow that argument to stay, we might as well say that four years is not enough for a president to achieve his/her vision for Ghana.

Anybody with a basic grounding in economics or political economy will laugh at Dr Nduom’s assertion that poverty is caused by lack of access to education, health, affordable housing, low industrial productivity, low incomes and unemployment. These indicators are only symptoms, manifestations or effects of poverty, not the causes of it. Some of the basic causes include; poor leadership, corruption, mismanagement of state/natural resources, underdevelopment of the productive forces, etc.

Political Leadership Ghana is currently at a low ebb in its national life where all kinds of people, some mediocre, others just average, clamour for political leadership. However, political leadership is not about wishes, nor is it just about ambition and dreams. It is an attribute that calls for more than just a shop list of ‘things’ one wants to achieve in society. This attribute is underpinned by a philosophical outlook, a set of values and principles, backed by a programme to fundamentally change the way things are done. In effect, a political leader must have conviction. But I do not see the conviction in the politics of Dr Nduom, nor can I postulate what exactly Dr Nduom stands for.

Inclusive Government Dr Nduom has given all kinds of reasons to justify his close association with the NPP government. We shall deal with this matter in some detail in Part 2 of this article, but suffice it to state that there is something intrinsically wrong with marrying Nkrumaism with the property-owning ideology of the NPP. The UP ideology is an anti-thesis to whatever Nkrumaism stands for. The two ideologies and political traditions cannot co-exist. Not even Fukuyama’s thesis of the emergence of uni-polar politics from the latter part of the 20th century and the ‘end of history’ can justify such a marriage deep seated.

For a clue to what would appear to some people as a conundrum one must look at who the so-called ‘government of inclusion’ benefited: Nduom or the CPP? The CPP has certainly not benefited from a relationship has torn the Party asunder. On the other hand, Dr Nduom has acquired three hotels (Accra, Elmina and Obuasi) and one financial institution since 2001. Why would someone who has benefited so much from such a relationship not seek to capture control of the political vehicle that produced the wealth in the first instance?

In any case, if Dr Nduom’s claim that Kufuor’s ‘inclusive government’ was successful, then why is he offering change – change from what? Would the change entail the same NPP dosage to cure the economic ills of the country? If the NPP panacea is working then why should we opt for a ‘socialist’ pretender when we can vote for the authentic, undiluted stuff? Like they say in the USA, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Corruption Nduom’s half-hearted anti-corruption epilogue is hypocritical, offensive and insulting to the sensibilities of Ghanaians. He sees Ghana’s corruption problem as administrative, and says that ‘what breeds administrative corruption is a bureaucracy gone bad.’

How can someone who has served as a Minister for seven years give a wrong diagnosis to such a major ill in our society? Contrary to what Nduom believes, what breeds administrative is the corruption of the parasitic, unproductive political elite of which he is a part. This elite essentially see and use political power as a means for self –aggrandizement and personal enrichment. Nduom sees nothing wrong about the daily reports of corruption about our politicians. What a pity! So how did all the expensive property crop up at Cantoments, Ridge, East Legon, Airport, etc?

But all said and done how is it possible for a leader of a political party who is charged with impersonation, fraud, tax evasion, conflict of interest etc. by the Serious Fraud Office ever lead a national fight against a canker like corruption? Impossible!

Can the CPP Win? Contrary to Dr Nduom’s claim, most of the ‘popular’ and ‘credible’ candidates who wanted to contest on the ticket of the CPP have all withdrawn.

The rank and file and activists of the Party are disillusioned and demoralized. Party offices in the constituencies are closed down for whatever reason. The structures have once again become dormant and inactive. With barely six months to go to the elections in December 2008, there is no organizational programme and no schedule of work for the elected national organizers.

It is no secret that Dr Nduom is running an independent, personal campaign different from the party at the national level. He has set up parallel structures which effectively undermine the position of national officers of the party. When the good old F A Jantua said this recently, Nduom and his cheap media chap David Ampofo, an NDC boy turned CPP sake of money attacked the oldman and described him as someone who didn’t matter in the CPP. Well, again they exposed their poor knowledge of the CPP. FA, we know is founding member of the CPP, a member of the council of elders, a member of NEC, the second highest decision making body, the Education Secretary of the largest region politically. Does any of these make this man’s voice of no relevance? Kwesi Nduom or Joseph Hubster Yorke has long betrayed his pledge to the national congress of the CPP not to run a ‘Mmobrowa’ campaign. Whatever resources he has mobilized in the name of the party have been channeled to his personal campaign team. No wonder he has been exposed of a letter he secretly sent to President Kuffuor wanting to hijack the CPP.

If even Nduom says all the right things in his political discourse, he is unlikely to win the hearts of CPP activists and convince them of his Nkrumaist credentials. May be the best thing for Nduom to have done was to have gone ahead and formed his own political party, which was an idea he toyed with for a considerable period until deciding that the CPP in its weak state was there for the taking. The wrong calculation Nduom made about the CPP is that the CPP is too big a political tradition to be taken over by an unknown entity like Dr Nduom.

Yes, Dr Nduom was elected at the Party’s national congress; some say through deception, to become the flagbrearer, yet all he has been able to do is to move without the Party with him. How many times has he ever been seen with any of the elected national Party officers? What kind of preparations take place at the local or regional levels before or after his visits. There is no place he has gone without the negative feedback from the Party structures there. Well, he can go ahead and fool himself thinking he can take over the CPP and destroy it as it is wildly speculated in some CIA circles, but the CPP will never die. Even the brute NLC and PP governments could not do that, how much more Nduom who is still battling a credibility situation with the SFO and Ghanaians?