Thank God that Spio, Iddrisu and Eddie didn’t pull an “Alan-K” on Atta-Mills

Members, sympathizers and well-wishers of the NDC should register their deep gratitude to Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu (and his wife Betty Mould-Iddrisu), Eddie Annan and Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah for not having succumbed to the ‘Alan-K’ temptation to defect from the NDC following their loss to Professor Atta-Mills at the NDC Congress in December 2006.

Before the NDC Congress, there was widespread media speculation that there would be untold violence and conflicts at the NDC Congress, which would lead to its fracture and the possible departure of some leading members. This speculation was in reference to what apparently happened at the Koforidua Congress of 2005, where the Party elected its national officers and after which a number of leading personalities in the Party, led by Dr. Obed Asamoah, announced their resignations from the Party to form what has now become known as the DFP. Contrary to this media speculation before the NDC December 2006 NDC Congress, the opponents of the NDC have been confounded by the fact that all the major competitors in that race came forth to support Professor Mills and continue to remain within the NDC, no matter their various degrees of disappointment or even anger at both pre- and post-Congress developments. More recently, despite the open insults hurled by some NDC members, sympathizers and anti-NDC activists against the Rawlings family for preferring Betty Mould-Iddrissu as a running mate to Prof. Mills, all NDC stalwarts have continued to stand firm and unshaken. Neither Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni nor Betty Mould-Iddrissu have uttered any words of disappointment, resentment or threatened to break away.

With reference to the December 2006 NDC Congress, despite allegations of various electoral malpractices that helped to cause the lopsided 81% victory for Professor Mills, his principal challengers, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama and business mogul Eddie Annan continue to support the NDC party and the Mills campaign. Alhaji Iddrissu chairs the National Campaign Team, with Eddie Annan and Spio-Garbrah as members. And both Eddie Annan and Spio-Garbrah also are both prominent members of the NDC’s National Fund-Raising Committee.

- Eddie Annan, for example, despite his previous large donations to the Party and notwithstanding receiving an almost undignified percentage of the votes at the NDC congress continues to support the Mills campaign. He unlike Alan-K hasn’t given in to public bitterness.

- Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama, despite not only losing at the Congress to Atta Mills - who is his junior by many years in politics -, and despite Atta-Mills’ refusal to select his wife, Betty Mould-Iddrissu, as his running mate, has not given in to bitterness and left the NDC. He has indeed presented a pick-up truck vehicle recently to the NDC to support the Mills campaign.

- But most of all, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who was the popular challenger to beat Atta Mills in the December 2006 elections, and who has since that election been reportedly marginalized by some in the Mills Team, has also not given in to bitterness and abandoned the NDC. He has actually openly pledged and has paid most of a $10,000 commitment to the Mills campaign through the party headquarters. He has been on various radio and TV programmes to campaign in support of Atta Mills, and helped publicize the Nigerian-coined description of the NPP government as a “Chopocratic, Kleptocratic, Cocainocracy”—a jaw-bending phrase that many NDC activists are now throwing at their NPP opponents throughout Ghana.

So we commend these gentlemen (and the lady) for their class and party loyalty. However, it is important for the NDC Council of Elders, party leadership and the Mills Campaign Team to take lessons from the NDC’s own splintering past and this recent development in the NPP. The central message is that every politician has options. They can continue to stay within a Party to support, they can join another existing Party, they can form their own parties, and they can run as independents. That is why, following any Congress, more needs to be done by the various levels of the Party hierarchy to try to heal wounds and bring former opponents together. Such healing doesn’t happen by accident. And from all reports, Atta Mills, in spite of his “Asomdwee” reputation is not a natural unifier—hence the departure of the Goosie Tandohs, Obed Asamoahs, Okaija Adamafios etc., without a word from Mills. As such, even though there has been media speculation about the possibility of Dr. Kwesi Botchwey becoming a DFP flag bearer, there is scant evidence that such news moved the Mills Campaign to attempt to rein in such an eventuality. It is as if the NDC is not aware that Botchwey as a flag bearer of the DFP would have been a much more formidable opponent to Prof Mills than the totally unknown Antwi man the DFP has now come up with. Interestingly since that unknown personality was crowned as DFP leader, he has yet to make any public statements that one can associate with a political leader and future President of Ghana.

It is general knowledge within the NDC that many in the Mills Team have a “Oh, let them go” attitude to the possibility of various people leaving the Party. The NDC has a strong chance of winning the 2008 elections. But, lacking the finances of an incumbent government and the charisma of a Rawlings-type candidate, it must work harder on such basics as party unity and not take disaffected former candidates for granted. Even where such candidates do not resign, they may not be motivated to put in their fullest effort if the Party’s leaders and Mills in particular treats them with aloofness—as is his penchant. Wining an election requires many elements, but it is not about how many people you can quarrel with or encourage to leave your party. The NDC, and Prof Mills, should take useful lessons from the Alan-K fiasco. High handedness only leads to defections; and Akufo-Addo’s choice of a running mate may lead to yet more NPP defections, improving even more the chances for an NDC victory in 2008.

‘If you want a friend in politics, get a dog’ – US President Harry Truman