Wednesday 17 August 2011

PRESIDENT MILLS' RE-ELECTION IN DECEMBER 2012: IS THE POLICY OF BEING TOO CAUTIOUS THE GREATEST RISK OF ALL?

India's first post-independence prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, once said: "The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all." It still constitutes pretty sound advice to politicians worldwide - and ought to inform the way President Mills serves out the rest of his tenure.

One hopes above all, that going forward, Nehru's advice will guide those surrounding President Mills, who instead of looking at the broader picture and being magnanimous in victory, by reaching out to the former first lady, Mrs Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, have rather ended up alienating her further still.

Why did they allow themselves to be goaded by those rank amateurs - the many clowns amongst the so-called friends of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings (FONKAR): the shameless opportunists who clearly see a heavily-laden gravy train, when they see one?

The people surrounding H. E. President Mills will have to do more bigger-picture-thinking, if they want the president to be re-elected to lead the Republic of Ghana again - and to serve out a second and final four-year term.

More astute political operators would have rather elected to quickly reach out to the former first lady, particularly at the point when she was at her most vulnerable - after her defeat by President Mills in the July Sunyani primary, to select the NDC's candidate for the December 2012 presidential election.


Would Mrs Rawlings not have been amenable to any such conciliatory move on the part of the presidency, when it mattered most then, I ask, dear reader?

If the president's inner circle want their party to fight the next elections as a strong and unified force, they ought to reach out to the vanquished Mrs Rawlings - and act with dispatch to mend fences with both her and her husband: before it becomes way too late for any such reconciliation to take place.

As a matter of fact, if truth be told, politically, they have no choice in the matter - as a decision by her to stand as a candidate in the December 2012 presidential election, will almost certainly mean defeat for President Mills by his main opponent the New Patritic Party's (NPP) well-financed Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.

For there to be any chance of re-uniting the NDC in time for the December 2012 polls, the important thing for President Mills' advisors to do, is to get Mrs Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings back into party's mainstream. At all costs.

The NDC can ill-afford going into the next presidential and parliamentary elections as a divided party - with Konadu & Co. standing as independent candidates in the presidential and parliamentary elections, battling their party's official candidates.

That will be a complete disaster - as the unnecessary splitting of votes will only end up letting through candidates of the NPP; Convention Peoples Party (CPP); and Peoples National Convention (PNC).

Finally, dear reader, it is now obvious to most independent-minded, as well as fair-minded and discerning Ghanaians, that the power-hungry tribal-supremacist and elitist individuals, who control it, have opted for a negative December 2012 election campaign - in which the NPP will focus on neutralising the positive effect on the generality of Ghanaians, of President Mills' best personal attributes: his sincerity, humility, undoubted honesty and compassion for his fellow human beings.

The NPP's campaign battle-plan seems to centre on deliberately questioning President Mills' integrity, at every turn, between now and the day of the December 2012 presidential election - by constantly attacking and questioning his sincerity; humility; honesty and compassion for his fellow human beings.

Naturally, there are, of course, some pundits who think it is a very clever strategic move - and that the super-ruthless and cunning individuals, who have such a vice-like grip on their party and control the opposition NPP's "Enkoyiea" propaganda war, believe that they have struck the political equivalent of a particularly rich seam of gold.

Their hope, is that by focusing on the verbal twisting of the nature of the president's character and personality, and raising doubts about him in the minds of ordinary Ghanaians, by openly and brazenly calling him a weakling and hypocrite, who is turning a blind eye to corruption in his own party, they can scuttle any chances he has of being re-elected as Ghana's president, for a second four-term, permanently.

It is a crucial tactical aspect of the negative campaign strategy that the faceless tribal-supremacist individuals who think they 'own' the NPP (and provide the bulk of the funds in its over-flowing war-chest), hope will help smoothen that party's path back to power again, in December 2012.

Thus far, those geniuses in charge of managing the president's image, have failed woefully to capitalise on his strongest points - his many positive personal attributes.

That is why if those who surround H. E. President Mills at the Osu Castle, do not want the chances for the re-election of their party's candidate for president in December 2012, to be totally destroyed by the NPP's potent "Enkoyiea" propaganda narrative, they ought to finally come to the conclusion, that indeed those of us who have called on them - right from day one when they assumed power in January 2009 - to publicly publish their assets (as well as those of their spouses too) are indeed right, in saying that it will put clear blue water, between the president and all his political opponents: and make him unassailable, in the December 2012 presidential election.

They must act quickly to publicly publish the assets of all the NDC's political office holders, from the president down to the last district chief executive in charge of Ghana's smallest district - together with that of their spouses.

At this stage, it is that singular act of political courage that will be their Mother-of-all-political-game-changers, and save them from certain defeat in December 2012.

Alas, it is doubtful if they will be returned to power again after the December 2012 election, if they fail to do so - and do so quickly.

In that regard, let them be guided by the wise words of India's late leader and friend of Ghana's founding father, Osagygefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru:
"The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all." A word to the wise...

Tel (powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.

No comments: