Reflections of the 2008 Elections. Yaw Bannor.Let me begin by expressing my warmest CONGRATULATIONS to President Mills. He has won a hard fought campaign. President Mills enjoy the honeymoon while it last.The thought that I will have to pick a pen to write a congratulatory message to President Mills, never crossed my mind. In fact, I considered the prospects of Mills presidency not unlikely, but quite far fetch.

The notion of electing the vice president of the befuddling, maniacal Rawlings, of the murderous "p/NDC" junta, was an anathema to common decency, an assault on reason. Charismatic Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP presidential candidate, was impressive in the debates, forceful in eloquence, with keen grasp on the issues Ghanaians were grappling with. Mills, on the other hand, had to find his own voice even within the NDC, since the Rawlingses usually upstaged him. The results came in. Fellow Ghanaians saw it otherwise. The declared presidential election results were very close (J. E. Mills 50..23 and Nana Akufo-Addo 49.77). The best way to describe the presidential electoral outcome: "photo-finish". Nana graciously conceded, dropping all legitimate legal challenges, clearing the way for Prof Mills to be sworn in as President of the Republic of Ghana. The closeness of the election of 2008, does not suggest a rejection of the beloved NPP, but rather failure to "close the deal".Since the election was so close, many Ghanaians are looking for clues, searching for answers, and asking themselves what actually happened, especially to the then ruling NPP presidential and parliamentary campaigns.

First Pres. Mills, and the NDC had an early start. Mills was declared a flag bearer of his party about 2 yrs before the general election, while the NPP candidates were still fighting a bruising primary contest, with bitter wounds, principally between Nana and Alan (Cash) Kyeremateng. Alan conceded to avoid a run-off election at the December, 2007 Congress at Legon. With barely a year left to the general election, some believe the NPP never quite fully recovered from its fierce primary intra-party fights. In fact, Alan had to be gently 'lured" back to the party after complaining of "mistreatments" of his supporters, by some elements in the party. Clearly, there is need for early primary season in the NPP to heal all aggrieved wounds, and bring all the different factions of the party together for victory in the general election.

Apparent DISCONNECT between constituency party executives, and the constituent electorate. Many local supporters of the NPP were disappointed with some of the MPs, and party leaders did not address their concerns or allow other contestants to compete for parliamentary seats, during the primaries. Hence emergence of independent candidates, leading to loss of control of parliament. Failure to discipline errant party "bosses". In every human institution, there are those who will make inevitable mistakes. It is encumbered upon leadership to "keep" errant party functionaries in check, when those "mistakes" occur. I believe the NPP party leadership could have had a better response in dealing with Edumadze, Bartels, Anane, Amoateng, and others who were "perceived" as having violated the public trust. Some of the allegations against some NPP members were not criminal at all, but here again, the lack of effective, coordinated media response, further deepened the perception of official malfeasance. The lesson is; non-response in the court of public opinion equals guilt, which allowed the NDC to define the NPP, and control the daily campaign message.

Failure to build Bridges. Pres Kuffour went out of his way to make deals with the CPP, PNC, and several key leaders both from within and outside the NPP party, from different regions of the country, promising them various cabinet and ministerial positions. While such promises may sound as politics as usual, it certainly brought all the party faithfuls and "floating sympathizers" to the NPP fold, for his eventual victory. Hence, the emerging flag bearer, should REACH OUT to as many people as possible, and BUILD lasting political BRIDGES across the country, and across the TRIBAL divide.

Yes a non Akan can become NPP flag-bearer indeed!!! While Mills had the Rawlingses, and other NDC "luminaries" to campaign for him, there was obvious absence of President Kuffour on the campaign trail. Did President Kuffour keep his distance, or was he asked to keep his distance? His absence, may reflect some of the residual primary bitterness between Alan and Nana, since Kuffour "not-so secretly" embraced Alan's candidacy. The lesson is obvious; since the President is the "father" or "head" of the NPP family, COMPLETE NEUTRALITY in the primary season on his part, is our best option for party UNITY, for effective general election campaign strategy. Which leads to my next point. Campaign style, and strategy. Frankly, Mills borrowed idea of "CHANGE" versus Nana's "Moving Ghana Forward, and I Believe in Ghana" in my opinion were quite effectively packaged, and delivered. The main differences in campaign strategies were the "ground operations". Mills had door-to-door campaign, like President Kuffour did in his 2000, and 2004 elections.

Nana adopted media, radio, TV and rallies, which are standard electioneer tactics, though they may seem as distant, and impersonal to some discerning "floating voters". Many foot-soldiers of the NPP, complained of not receiving necessary "electoral amenities" to reach the voters, especially in the villages. The lesson is clear; Ghanaians want to see their would be President up close, and personal, the so called "retail politics".The daily verbal exchanges between the NPP and the self centered Rawlings, elevated the latter's distractions to the front pages, while relegating the NPP message of superb record of achievements off to obscurity namely, NHIS, School feeding Program, Insurance for Pregnant women, Oil discovery, $600m Eurobond, $500m Millennium Challenge Grant, cancellation of external debts through HIPC, stabilization of the cedi, controlled inflation, better interest rates, cleaner streets (zoom-lion), press freedoms, etc., The NPP should have truly kept with "Moving Ghana forward" theme/message, and its record of achievements rather than engaging in verbal spat. Complacency? It was obvious to even casual observer that the NDC was really hungry or itching to get back into power, given the record of real achievements by the NPP in 8yrs versus nearly 20 yrs of wasted chances to advance the nation under Rawlings' NDC.

Remember Rawlings chain (hunger pains) ? The NPP reportedly, became so complacent, and self-assured of "one-touch", that it ignored several warnings of "planned rigging" and "Macho intimidation" by the NDC in Volta, and parts of Greater Accra. All NPP needed to win the election in the first round was a mere 60,000 votes (apprx). There were over 300,000 people who did not vote in Ashanti alone, in the first round. Several hundreds of thousands of NPP voters did not vote in the first round in the Eastern, Brong-Ahafo, Western, G/Accra and other regions as well. A little bit of get-out-to-vote "effort" like bus-fare, insecticides to spray cocoa farms, fuel for fishermen, and "electoral amenities" to support and coordinate TESCONactivities, in monitoring polling places, in "troubled" areas, would have changed history.

Folks, COMPLACENCY, petty differences should NEVER have been allowed, to rub us of VICTORY.NPP will rise again, and will rule again, but for now, we need to heal all the divides. President Mills deserves our support in running the country. Hopefully, His Excellency, J. E. Atta Mills, would not turn the realms of the administration of the nation to Rawlings, the "bastardon" of political chaos in modern Ghana.

Congratulation, Sir "Asomdwehene" Mills..

Yaw Bannor abrantea1@yahoo.com