It is believed that many political parties have been destroyed by their supporters than by their opponents, and that is the case of the NPP. The party has disintegrated and as Kyeiwaa would put it, the Elephant has become “funeral”. It will be extremely difficult for the NPP to win power again in Ghana – the truth is that any political party which remains in opposition for more than two terms is likely to remain there for many decades if not forever. I am going to prove this in a moment with surgical precision.
Wale Okediram stated in his novel, “Tenants of the House” that money is the fertilizer of politics, and he is right. Political campaigns in Africa and for that matter Ghana are extremely expensive; therefore, losing elections for more than two consecutive times can be detrimental to a political party.
Raising funds for subsequent campaigns could be difficult since few intrepid financiers would want to support a serial loser. Perceptibly, there is no doubt that the NPP is in financial crisis, and the revelation of the party’s indebtedness to the Prudential Bank is a clear justification of the point I’m trying to make.
It has been observed that one-party hegemony in many transitional democracies are partly due to the factionalism and internal squabble among the democratic actors which are organized as opposition political parties. The signs are not too good for the NPP. What is happening to the party is much deeper than what is being perceived. I will do a cutting-edge analysis to make my point.
The 2016 presidential election is going to be a pay-back time. The reason being that, but for a split in the UP tradition, Victor Owusu would have been elected president of Ghana in 1979; and some people in the Ashanti Region where Victor Owusu comes from seem not to have forgiven the Akyem Mafia who initiated the breakaway.
William Ofori Atta, popularly known as Paa Willie lost the PFP flagbearership race to Victor Owusu in a presidential primary election. As if to say that there is no permanent loyalty in politics but only permanent interest, the truculent members of the Akyem caucus in the PFP broke away and formed a new party called the UNC with Paa Willie as their flag bearer. Kikikikiki, I hear wopana was their General Secretary. Please don’t ask me who wopana is. I don’t want any trouble.
So, it happened that in the 1979 presidential election, Dr. Hilla Liman of the PNP had 35.32%, and Victor Owusu had 29.86%. Interestingly, Paa Willie got 17.41%, meaning if he and his group did not breakaway, Victor Owusu’s chances would have been optimised. Since no one had more than 50%, the election went into a second round, and shockingly, the UNC painfully supported Dr. Hilla Liman who won by 62.0% with Victor Owusu trailing by 38.0%. Hehehehe, I will term this as cruelty on stilts! Kindly find below detailed results of the election:
(First Round)
Hilla Liman PNP 631,559 (35.32%)
Victor Owusu PFP 533,928 (29.86%)
William Ofori Atta UNC 311,265 (17.41%)
Frank Bernasko ACP 167,775 (9.38%)
Ibrahim Mahama SDF 66,445 (3.72%)
John Bilson TFP 49,104 (2.75%)
R.P. Baffour IND 8,812 (0.49%)
Kwame Nyanteh IND 8,480 (0.47%)
Mark Diamond Addy IND 5,959 (0.33%)
Alhaji Imoro Ayarna IND 4,874 (0.27%)
(Second Round)
Hilla Liman 1,118,305 (62.0%)
Victor Owusu 686,097 (38.0%)
Chai, do you get the filla? So, you see, this is the underlying cause of all the troubles in the NPP. Some Asantes have vowed to pay the Akyem Mafia back for what they did to them in 1979, and they mean to pursue this agenda with unflinching intent. Because of this, there have always been a struggle between the Asante and the Akyem groups with the ultimate aim to control the party, resulting in the political gangsterism we are witnessing today.
If you think I’m just doing propaganda, please check the composition of the factions and judge for yourself. In case the Asantes succeed in 2016 which is very likely, the music will play on: there will be counter sabotage anytime an Asante becomes an NPP flagbearer unless the party splits along those ethnic lines. I saw the election of Paul Afoko as the NPP national chairman, a huge step to solving this problem because he is a northerner, but now that he is being chased out of office, there is going to be serious problem from whichever angle one decides to view it.
Honestly speaking, the problem of the NPP is getting interesting, apart from the court case hanging on the neck of the party and some party stalwarts calling for the arrest of Freddie Blay for contempt of court, a group calling itself Save NPP Now has petitioned the International Democrat Union in Norway for Nana Akufo-Addo to step down as a flag bearer. And I believe the pro-Afoko cum Asante factions are going to push this very hard in the coming days.
It is now apparent that there is going to be a protracted legal tussle which will go beyond 2016. With this and other aforementioned issues, the Elephant won’t only be sent into the bush, but its body would be perpetually buried in a grave deep inside the bush. Awwwww, it is so sad, the Elephant is gone too soon. Kikikikiki, what a shock!
