Opinions of Saturday, 25 April 2015

Columnist: Appiah-Osei, Lawrence

The True State Of The NPP As Of Today

The President of Ghana, HE President John Dramani Mahama gave the State of the Nation address to Parliament where some dignitaries were seen dozing off because of the many projects and programs that the President showed through a PowerPoint presentation. A week later, the NPP gave what they termed “The true State of the Nation” address in which they compared the achievements of President Kuffour’s 8 years to President Mahama’s 2 years in governance. They did that and concluded that President Mahama has not done anything at all. It is only in the NPP that 2 can be equated to 8 and comparison be made. I have also come to say the true State of the NPP as of today.
The true State of the NPP started with the elections of their Regional Chairmen in which 7 out of 10 of Nana Akufo-Addo’s selection lost in the elections. That was in fact, the beginning of greater surprises to come. It was followed by the National Executive Council elections in Tamale in which all of Nana Akufo-Addo’s key selection for national positions in the NPP lost. The most visible were the positions for the Chairmanship and the General Secretary. Sir John who campaigned on the ticket of Nana Addo lost the Secretary Ship position to Kwabena Agyapong, who was on admission at the hospital. Kwabena Agyapong did not have any message yet, he beat Sir John hands down. Paul Afoko, despite the drug charges brought against him that forced him to suspend his campaign for some time, also won the Chairmanship position without sweat. These two gentlemen are definitely not Nana “boys”
Then came the elections for the flagbearship position of the NPP. Nana Akufo-Addo, seeing danger that he might lose the elections, decided to bribe and corrupt all the delegates with GHC600, 000.00. I don’t blame Nana for being corrupt especially since he knew that he was gradually losing the party to the Kuffour/Alan faction. Anyone who would lose 7 out of 10 Regional Chairmen, Party’s Chairman and General Secretary would definitely find a way to corrupt. The problem with Nana is that some people still think that he is not corrupt even when he had bribed his way to become the 2016 NPP candidate.
Immediately after Nana had bribed and corrupted the delegates with either GHC20 or 25, he won the mandate to lead the party into the 2016 elections. His supporters then went from one radio station to another defending Nana’s corrupt money as donation and that since the elections were over, everybody should let the sleeping dogs lie. Some of us will never let the sleeping dogs lie until it is generally accepted that Nana is corrupt and a dangerous politician. They also said that Nana Addo did not give the corrupt money to the party headquarters but directly through the constituency executives because he did not trust the current National Executives of the party. This is the true State of the NPP as of today.
As if that was enough, but no, the NPP still has some things to offer. A former Presidential Candidate of the party, Yaw Osafo-Marfo was caught on tape suggesting that 86.5% of resources in Ghana come from five regions: Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Western and Central. He said the NPP should not ignore these five regions, unfortunately they have no say in the management of those resources. He emphasized that if you are not from any of those five regions, then you have no business being the manager of those resources. He concluded that what we are seeing in Ghana is the direct opposite to what should be happening and that, this unfortunate situation has never happened in any part of the world. If the NPP is not a tribal party, then what is it? This is the true state of the NPP as of today.
Members of the NPP are always coming up with a new drama. Some few months ago, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, the Assin Central MP was at a studio and claiming that the NPP is a foolish party and he doesn’t know why he still belongs to that party. He said emphatically that because of the foolishness of the NPP, they will stay in opposition forever. He said because of the foolishness of the members of the NPP, that was why Yaw Osafo-Marfo could meet with the Council of Elders and what was discussed in private got leaked to the press. He continued to ask whether the NPP was ready for power in 2016 and he gave his own answer and said NO. He didn’t understand why a foolish party like the NPP would want to rule Ghana in the next 2 years. It will never happen. The Ghanaian voter is not a fool.
When the true NPP was almost ready for the Parliamentary candidates selection, they came up with something they called “Affirmative Action” The Affirmative action “thing” was going to allow only female to contest their female MPs. The filing fees for non-MPs would be GHC10, 000.00 plus GHC20, 000.00 development fees. Making it a total of GHC30, 000.00. This is the party whose members are crying and saying “Ghana is hard.” Last but not the least, a bogus idea of the plan was that constituencies in coastal areas in the Greater Accra region should be contested by only Gas. When the semi-foolish in the NPP realized that this decision by the National Executive Council was a foolish one, they demonstrated against it and the NPP quickly retracted. This is the true state of the NPP as of today.
Then finally came the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Paul Afoko, the Chairman of the party announced that Dr. Bawumia would be the person to lead the NPP into the 2016 elections. I am sure Paul Afoko said that after he had taken into consideration the health and age of Nana Akufo-Addo. Nana is 71 very old years and will be 72 in election year, so Paul Afoko in his wisdom decided to give Nana some break. As soon as Mr. Afoko said that, those who had said they will bring Nana Addo in a wheel chair to contest elections pounced on him. Mr. Afoko, the Chairman, had no choice but to come the following day and retracted that statement. The NPP as of today has been reduced to an opposition party that can’t take a decision and stand by it for even a week. These are the same people who want to rule Ghana in 2017. Can you imagine that? Definitely, they have lost their way. Ghana is not for them.
Everybody in Ghana knew that the Affirmative Action and the “Dr. Bawumia will lead the NPP into 2016” decisions were just to make the party unattractive to Ghanaians and what does that mean? Agenda 2020 is born. It is only some few members in the NPP who do not know that Agenda 2020 is in full force and those are the people Hon. Ken Agyapong described them as “foolish people” In Ken Agyapong’s words, the rest of the people belong to the foolish party in opposition. In other words, in the NPP, you are either foolish or you belong to that foolish party. I hope I have been able to say the true state of the NPP for you, and these are all facts. I shall return……… Now the National Anthem.
Meanwhile, the Grand Inauguration of Friends of John Dramani Mahama (USA Chapter) is coming on live at the A & C Banquet Hall. 12740 Darby Brooke Court. Woodbridge. Va. 22192. The date is Saturday April 25, 2015 at 7.00pm sharp. The Guest Speaker is Cobby Boahene, a former Chairman of NDC USA and currently a Businessman. For more information, please contact the number below. Ede bee Ke Ke Ke.
Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol)
Chairman
Friends of JDM (USA Chapter)
Appiah65@Hotmail.com
703-400-1621