It is becoming very obvious that the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not prepared to cooperate with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the rest of Ghanaians to move this country forward.
When on January 7, 2021, the new House of Parliament elected a new Speaker from the NDC camp by a margin, which may suggest that one or two NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) supported the NDC’s Alban Bagbin, the opposition party erupted with joy and celebration. It claimed that it could now coerce NPP MPs to toe the NDC’s line, and it also meant hard times ahead for the NPP government.
Last week, there was the need to vote again on the floor of the House. This time, it was to decide the fate of three nominees for the position of ministers of state. For reasons best known to it, the NDC leadership did not want Osei Akoto, Oppong Nkrumah and Hawa Koomson to sail through, and had wanted to use its numbers in the House to crush down the hopes of the three ever becoming ministers again.
However, of the total of 275 members of the House, ten were absent; leading to an “electoral college” of 265. That 143 or 53.96%; 155 or 58.65% and 161 or 60.75% of the House gave the nod to Osei Akoto, Oppong Nkrumah and Hawa Koomson respectively, clearly indicates to me that the NDC MPs looked beyond partisanship and viewed the whole process in the interest of the nation. To them, despite the alleged hiccups, the three can deliver and the nation will gain.
Unfortunately, an ugly noise resounded from the leadership of the NDC. The Minority MPs were termed traitors who betrayed the cause of their own party. Even the Speaker of the House was not spared, as if to say his role as Speaker was to shepherd the NDC MPs into towing party lines. Constitutionally, this is impossible, however, what does one expect from a party leadership which recently demonstrated that it does not understand what the law is all about.
It is now obvious that the NDC leadership would want to reject all government nominees because it did not recognised H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as President.
The NDC leadership is more determined to make sure that nothing works in Ghana over the next four years. And Parliament is the main avenue to execute this diabolical plan. Then come 2024, it will turn round to blame the government of lack of direction in governance.
Granted that the name patriotic is not found in the full name of the NDC, however, as social democrats one will expect this socialist party to fight for the ordinary person, but not seen to be preventing any good policies of the ruling government from improving the lot of the down-trodden.
The NDC leadership has clearly exhibited its deepest inward ambition of not seeing or making manifest any progress in the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian. To them, in all matters, it is their party’s interest first. But who decides party interest? The leadership, of course. The NDC MPs have on the other hand demonstrated that in all matters, it is the nation first. To them, the love of Ghana supersedes all else.
The leadership of the NDC was again exhibited the fact that NDC-Party-Live-Matters-Above-All-Else when in his response to the Supreme Court rulings, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, never spoke in the manner that would unite this country.
On August 29, 2013, after the Supreme Court declared that he had lost the election petition, then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, even though he expressed that he did not agree with the verdict, came out boldly to say he accepted the court’s decision, and went on to congratulate John Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential elections. He also asked all Ghanaians to unite and rally behind the then president and government for the sake of Ghana.
These patriotic words were missing when ex-president John Mahama spoke on the Supreme Court’s verdict on the 2020 Elections Petition. It was more of accusations and inciting the NDC followers to be up in arms.
The Election Petition of 2020 was clearer to most Ghanaians who followed the proceedings because of two major things that came up. John Mahama could not bring any proof to court to establish that the elections were rigged in favour of the current president. And none of his witnesses could also prove that none of the presidential candidates was able to cross the 50% plus line.
No one is saying that the ex-president should come and say he supported the Supreme Court verdict, however, he should have spoken healing to this nation, and he would have stood out as a statesman.
This if-it-is-not NDC then Ghana can burn is not helping matters here. Because, as soon as it became obvious that NDC’s John Mahama had lost the elections, the leadership of that party made sure that it convinced its followers that their flag bearer was cheated.
Near violence visited the land as numerous NDC supporters took to the streets to demonstrate their anger against the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa. Even when common sense finally prevailed and John Mahama decided to go to court, some members of the leadership, urged on the youth to continue causing mayhem as a means to show that they rejected the declaration of the results.
However, in the end, even with some so-called law lecturers attempting to tell us that the law can be manipulated to play to the gallery, most Ghanaians understood that John Mahama had no evidence that he was cheated in the presidential election. Ex-president John Mahama could have used this opportunity to repeat some of the things that Nana Akufo-Addo said in August 2013. But not so, the NDC leadership’s policy that in all matters, the party’s interest supersedes national interest was clearly made manifest in ex-president John Mahama’s speech. This cannot be said to be nation building.
Hon Daniel Christian Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
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