A GNA feature by Nana Kodjo Jehu-Appiah
Accra, Aug. 14, GNA - The battle lines are steadily being drawn for the large army of political pundits whose adrenaline level has been increased by allurements the red carpet treatment the Ghanaian taxpayer would offer them if they ever mounted the Presidential throne at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

Ghanaian politicians are warming up for good things to come. Whoever gets the nod to become the Head of State after the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, would be making history by occupying the spacious Presidential Palace being built by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Flagstaff House.

News about the huge capital being mobilised by the NPP and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Election 2008 showdown is mouth watering.
The NPP has slapped a whooping amount of 250 million cedis as filing fee for the over 20 presidential aspirants of the Party, while the NDC has been able to raise 700, 000 dollars at a fundraising ceremony in the US.

Very soon the NPP, NDC, the Convention People's Party (CPP) and other political parties would hit the roads with brand new four-wheel drive vehicles draped in party colours and fitted with public address systems to win the hearts and minds of Ghanaians.

The purely constitutional process has given politicians the dynamism, energy and innovation to explore the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual realms to package their campaign messages. The Ghana News Agency quoted Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who is among the personalities vying for President John Agyekum Kufuor's seat, as having said at Tamale: "It is God who appoints leaders." He said most often it was those people looked down upon, who were ordained as leaders by the Supreme Being.

Vice President Mahama has since gone beyond the sermon to convince voters why they should vote for him. He has been quoted by the media as telling constituency executives of NPP that he had served his political apprenticeship under Presidential Kufuor for seven years and was now matured and capable to take over the leadership mantle.

In Bolgatanga, where he was among a group of Northerners honoured for bringing the North into the limelight, he pushed his political ambition to a universal sphere, by calling on voters to rise above religious and ethnic considerations in the choice and selection of leaders.

It is very interesting to listen to the former Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor who is gripped by the novelty ambition to succeed his elder brother.

While tongues are wagging why Dr Addo Kufuor should succeed his brother, he has called for ceasefire based on the argument that he was an individual who was qualified like any other Ghanaian to be president. He was quoted by an Accra daily that he would not be serving his conscience and God if he failed to contest for the presidential slot of the NPP.

Those whose job it is to spread the gospel have also been caught in the political web. One Apostle Kwamina Ahinful has already looked into the heavenly realms and through his column in an Accra daily, ordained Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the next President of Ghana.

He warned former President Jerry John Rawlings in the same column to undertake a period of dry fasting to brighten the chances of his Party recapturing political power.

Apostle Schambach Amaniampong, Head of the Christian Redemption International Ministry, also predicted the split of the NPP if the numerous contestants for its presidential slot failed to carry out their political campaigns with circumspection and decorum.

The presidential slot for Election 2008 of the once buoyant CPP has attracted a Pathologist, Professor Agyemang Badu Akosah; Lawyer, Bright Akwetey; Economist, Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum and Entrepreneur, Dr Kwaku Osafo. Though political underdogs, it would be interesting for the CPP to capture power and occupy the new Presidential Palace at the Flagstaff House from where the ideologue of the Party, the first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah operated as Head of State.
Election 2008 would offer interesting moments for Ghana. Already the wild promises have resumed. The forerunners of the election are promising to mend the economy, ensure job security and turn the former Gold Coast into a paradise.
The NPP presidential aspirants are eagerly touring Ghana to market themselves to Constituency delegates, while it is money harvest time for the constituency executives, who have nurtured the Party behind the scenes. The juicy tip after every meeting fits into the national campaign for wealth creation and poverty eradication.
For whatever reasons, Election 2008 must help to deepen good governance and the democratic process.
It is not good for the citizenry to feed fat on politicians without critically assessing them before voting for them.
The trappings of red carpet treatment should promote good leadership and not bad governance often justified by untenable excuses. Ghanaians would soon be reading new sets of political manifestoes often filled with flowery promises that most often turn into demonic corruption and bad governance.
Getting a better leader for Ghana now is not negotiable and may God bless our Homeland Ghana and make our Nation great and strong; bold to defend forever the cause of freedom and of right...