What Will Save The NDC From The Jaws of Defeat In The December 2012 Presidential Election?

A gentleman who read one of my blog postings recently, called this morning,  to ask me why I am so insistent that President Mills and Vice President Mahama,  ought to resign from their positions - and  be replaced by a new National Democratic Congress (NDC) ticket consisting of Martin Amidu for president,  with Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings,   as his running mate.

Well, that potent game-changing NDC ticket,  will put the New Patriotic Party (NPP) permanently  on the defensive -  by  dramatically altering  the dynamics of the December 2012 election campaign.

It will provide the NDC  with the opportunity to set the political agenda,  with their own unassailable winning-narrative for the December 2012 election  campaign.

That  new NDC narrative, will   urge Ghanaians to elect a  new metaphorical broom to sweep high-level corruption away for good,  and  finally end the impunity of our ruling elites.

As most ordinary Ghanaians know to their cost, our nation's ruling elites,  have,   over the years  (both before and under the current  democratic dispensation of the 4th Republic),  gotten  away with stealing and  siphoning off  trillions of cedis  of taxpayers' money.

A tough-minded leader, able to end their impunity  by prosecuting the crooks amongst them - from across the political spectrum -   who have participated in the brutal and repeated gang-rape of Mother Ghana for decades, will win the presidential election by a landslide.

The vast majority of ordinary Ghanaians understand perfectly that high-level corruption is Ghana's number one problem - and electing a  leader they trust can deal with it is something that most will willingly do.

Is the Martin Amidu narrative's shorthand, "ending  gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana" not  something that will resonate with the vast majority of ordinary Ghanaians?

Do they not all  sense that somehow there are two nations in Ghana now:   the prosperous nation of "haves" -   in which most families own   fleets of expensive vehicles;  an array of posh houses; shop in the most  exclusive and expensive retail outlets in Ghana; can even afford to give  their offspring  the most expensive private education in Europe and North America,  and elsewhere in the developed world; and,  most mystifying of all to the "have-nots", the fact that the "haves" never seem to feel the pain of daily existence in Ghana, no matter how harsh the economic climate gets?

And above all, most  befuddling of all, for ordinary Ghanaians, is the practical evidence before them (in the shape of shiny new expensive vehicles and a cornucopia of architectural designs of   Hollywood-style homes in gated communities) that  Ghana's   rich are indeed getting even wealthier - and in inverse proportion to the free-fall in the living standards and quality of life of their half of Ghana, the nation of "have-nots".

Who will not vote for an NDC presidential  candidate like Martin Amidu,  promising to end this iniquitous societal situation?  Is Amidu not a politician  who has demonstrated to ordinary Ghanaians, in a very practical manner, his disapproval of  elite-rip-off culture - evidenced by a belief in the rule of law that underpins his personal  motto  that all are equal before the law,  in his eyes, and that impunity in Ghana must therefore be ended?

Has he not demonstrated  clearly that he can fight the  high-level corruption, which  is slowly bleeding our nation to death, I ask, dear reader?

Which politician in Ghana would have done what he did,  in risking his ministerial position  protecting the national interest - in the face of a determined   onslaught on him from  wealthy,   powerful and well-connected crooks,  out to dupe Mother Ghana?

It is a wonder that the NDC refuses to seize this 11th-hour lifeline available to it,  that a Martin Amidu candidature represents -  at practically no cost to its unity.

Is it not a fact that both President Mills and Vice President Mahama were reluctant warriors - before being finally prevailed upon to accept  to stand as the NDC's  candidates in the December 2008 presidential election, which  ended in that  near-miraculous victory for their party?

Alas, the trouble about the geniuses into whose hands President Rawlings' NDC has now fallen, is that they are such  a hard-of-hearing lot   - and,  despite their undoubted intelligence and impressive educational backgrounds, have proved to be  serial-bunglers:   many of them seemingly   blinded  by "Awoof sika" (easy money, to non-Twi speakers).

Well, if they fail to listen to some us,  yet again, as they did when we advised them, when they first came into office, that if they wanted to ensure a tangible legacy, then they ought to quickly get to talk to  the Chinese - whom we said would willingly loan Nkrumah's Ghana as much as US$20 billions,   to fund projects for them:  such as the Accra-Paga railway line,  and at least 500,000 affordable houses in each of the ten regions  - they will end up being soundly defeated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December elections.

They must stop their whistling-in-the-dark bravado,   end their politics of never-ending propaganda, and, above all,  stop deluding themselves that President Mills will win a second term -  and demand instead that both the president  and  vice president step aside now,  to save their party from imminent defeat.

At this stage in the game, they must literally start thinking what probably for them is the unthinkable -  get Martin Amidu to stand as their candidate for the December presidential election, with Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings as his running mate.

That is what will save them from the jaws of certain defeat in the December polls. A word to the wise...




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