The last time I checked, a section of the NDC loyalists were embarking on a series of unity health walks across the length and breadth of the country with the view to forging the elusive unity amongst the disengaged party followers.

Undoubtedly, following their 2016 humiliating election defeat, the NDC faithful have been undergoing a process of grief.

It was, therefore, not surprising when the NDC leadership embraced the concerns of their teeming supporters and decided to embark on a series of unity health walks with the view to bringing all the disgruntled party members under the Umbrella.

However, some observers have been arguing vehemently that the NDC leadership are rather marring the process by throwing their unflinching support behind one potential presidential candidate (Mahama) to the utter disgust of the other potential presidential aspirants and their teeming supporters.

Strangely, though, almost all the unity health walks have rather meandered from one controversy to another.

So, it did not come as a surprise at all to some of us when the NDC’s recent constituency elections were marred by unprecedented confusions amid bribe taking allegations, street fighting and endless bickering.

Given the circumstances, the inquisitive Ghanaians who have been questioning the use of the unity health walk as a conflict resolution tool are absolutely right in my humble opinion.

It is, indeed, quite baffling as to how and why unity health walks can help bridge the deep cleavage within the NDC fraternity.

Whatever the case, for the sake of balanced annotation, let us even agree that the unity health walk is a novelty. But the crucial question however is: how expedient and pragmatic is the supposedly novel idea?

Where is the evidence that the use of unity health walk or assuming responsibility for inventing a supposedly bright idea from scratch will be more pragmatic than ideas and data already developed by experts for resolving conflicts?

Unfortunately, the unity health walks did not do the trick. The cleavage within the NDC fraternity has rather deepened judging from their more recent constituency elections. The anticipated peaceful elections rather turned into street pugilism. How bizarre?

We even hear that in some parts of the country, some NDC Members of Parliament ran helter-skelter for their precious lives. They were allegedly chased away by the irate party supporters over election malpractices. How pathetic?

And what is more, some incredulous NDC bribe givers were shockingly heard raining curses on the gleeful NDC bribe takers for failing to honour their part of the contract.

It is an illustrative case of ‘fear delegates’. Tell me, dearest reader, if that is not a shameful attitude of bribery and corruption, what is it?

We have also heard some contestants complaining bitterly over the alleged vote rigging. Intra electoral fraudsters were obviously at work. Well, we can only sympathise with the vote rigging victims. They have been hard done by.

The worst part of votes rigging is that, the deserving winners’ may never know they ever won. How cruel, how pathetic and how unfair?

I have said time and time again that it is unacceptable for the electorates to go to the polls with a view to voting for their preferred candidate and only for the people behind the scenes to select who should become a winner.

Given the ceaseless conflicts within the Umbrella fraternity, it would appear that we were deceived big time by the NDC faithful. This is because until their recent unity health walks, we were made to believe that conflict is alien to the NDC Party.

Then the NDC leadership strangely turned around and informed discerning Ghanaians that they need a series of unity health walks to amend the deep seated conflict in their midst.

Bizarrely, they have been living in a denial all along. They concealed the pernicious conflict whilst in government. Then the humiliating 2016 election defeat rekindled the deep seated conflict within their midst.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com