Should Ghanaians Entrust Their Nation To The NPP?

Should the people of Ghana entrust their nation to the New Patriotic Party (NPP)? Should an opposition party, dominated by violence-prone and criticism-averse politicians, who resort to intimidation and violence to silence their critics, and opponents, be trusted with power in our peaceful democracy?

The short answer to that is: definitely not - not when there is a far better alternative for our homeland Ghana, than the nest of vipers that the NPP has become today. Incidentally, most Ghanaians also agree that there is a need to rid our country, of President Mahama's hard-of-hearing National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.

Alas, both the NPP and NDC are beholden to the very vested interests, which are milking Mother Ghana dry. The plain truth, is that none of their presidential candidates - though good and decent gentlemen on a purely human level - will be good for our nation, as its leader, after this November's presidential election.

Current events show clearly, that  to entrust our nation to the NPP, as presently constituted in its leadership, would be to imperil individual liberties in our country: including the right to freely speak our minds and associate with like-minded fellow citizens.

#OccupyGhana's Sydney Casely-Hayford, was reported to have stated recently that Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, is the best president Ghana will never have. The tragedy for our homeland Ghana, is that perversely, it is a widely-held but unexpressed viewpoint, which is  shared by many middle-class Ghanaians.

Many in that key demographic, see the world-class Groupe Nduom conglomerate, built from scratch, by Nduom and his wife, as solid evidence of Nduom's leadership qualities, and his ability to execute ideas successfully, in serial fashion.

There is no question that a majority of independent-minded, middle-class professionals,  in our country, would dearly like Nduom to run the enterprise Ghana.

If only the Nkrumahist parties would unite and offer Ghanaians a viable alternative to the NDC/NPP duopoly - as Nkrumahists did to enable President Limman win power in 1979 - and select Nduom as their presidential candidate, that will enable many ordinary people to vote for him in November's presidential election. Not many voters feel inclined to vote for the presidential candidate of a small political party, alas.

As a results-oriented leader, he dwarfs both the NDC's President Mahama and the NPP's Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo - and towers far above both in adherence to leadership underpinned by ethics and demonstrable good governance principles.

Alas, however, too many ordinary Ghanaians are unfortunately still stuck in the "My party, my tribe, right or wrong" mode of thinking, which makes them vote consistently, either for the NDC, or the NPP.

Yet, over the years, those two opaque and vested-interests-besotted-and-controlled political parties,  have been taking turns to ruin Mother Ghana and impoverish ordinary people - the hapless  millions that the two perfidious political parties have demanded sacrifice after sacrifice from, whiles in power.

Has the time not now come for ordinary people in Ghana to enjoy their share of the democracy dividend, too?

The question for #OccupyGhana's founders and membership is: What creative ideas do they have, to enable them convince ordinary Ghanaians to stop supporting the NDC/NPP duopoly, blindly, and plump instead for Nduom in the 2016 presidential election?

Hardliners in both the NDC and NPP will never readily accept the election results,  if either party's presidential candidate  loses to their rival party's candidate. And as sure as day follows night, widespread violence will be instigated by them, after the elections, for that reason.

It is said that coming events cast their shadows. The writing on the proverbial wall is bold enough  for those who have eyes to see clearly - in the "boot-for-boot" uncompromising posture adopted by the NDC/NPP duopoly's respective violence-prone hardliners.

It is obvious that for the NDC/NPP duopoly's ruthless, violent and verbally-aggressive dimwits, candidates of the parties in the NDC/NPP duopoly emerging victorious in the November presidential and parliamentary elections, is clearly a do-or-die affair. That is why the good people of Ghana must not allow them to push our country over the precipice, for that reason, under any circumstances.

A vote for Nduom will neatly avert the possibility of any post-election violence. One hopes that patriotic and independent-minded individuals, and non-partisan pro-Ghana civil society organisations, such as #OccupyGhana, realise that potential threat posed by the NDC/NPP duopoly's violence-prone hardliners, to peace and stability in Ghana, after the November elections.

The irritating thing, about the arrogance of the NDC/NPP duopoly,  is that it has become abundantly clear to the world at large, that at a point in time in our nation's history, when Ghanaians want politicians and their spouses to publicly publish their assets, and for political parties to publicly publish the sources of their campaign funds, as effective anti-corruption measures, both those corrupt and opaque political parties - which are not enthused by such a development - are no longer fit-for-purpose political organisations, in the 21st century Ghana, of today.

Today,  our peaceful and democratic  nation's aspirational and resourceful younger generation, who are educated, want their nation to be led by a disciplined and dynamic president, who can transform Ghana into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia - and has a stellar track record to prove his or her ability to do so.

Ghana cannot continue to mark time. Not when it has the potential to become a prosperous society. And there is no time to waste.

To avoid having their country destroyed by the intense rivalry between the NDC and NPP, educated young Ghanaians would be wise to reject both President Mahama, and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo - and vote for Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom instead.

What Ghana needs is a transformational leader with moral authority that commands the respect of all Ghanaians - someone who is honest,  decisive, capable and effective, who has a moral compass and is not beholden to the vested interests now controlling Ghana from the shadows. That is the kind of leader Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom  has proven to be. He will lead the transformation of Ghana if elected president this November.

Luckily, the vast majority of ordinary Ghanaians are convinced beyond doubt, that the nation needs a change of leadership - and should  elect new leaders that can bring an end to our discredited system that has been exploited so ruthlessly by the NDC/NPP duopoly. A government led by Nduom will bring about that much needed transformation.

An NPP, the acting national chairperson of which has made plain, will not commit to a policy that will make it mandatory for government appointees, and their spouses, to publicly publish their assets immediately before assuming office, and immediately after the end of their tenures, cannot possibly bring about a paradigm shift in our homeland Ghana.

The plain truth, is that Ghanaians  will only end up  getting more of the same create-loot-and-share politricks, if the NPP takes charge of the executive branch of government, after this November's presidential election.

As we speak, true to form, the NPP's leadership has not committed to a policy that will make it mandatory for political parties in Ghana to publicly publish all the sources of their campaign funds, and the amounts donated by each of  those sources. How can such a political party bring about radical change in Ghana, I ask?

Furthermore, most Ghanaians also want those in the current regime who have enriched themselves illegally, at the expense of the ordinary people of Ghana, to be investigated, prosecuted and jailed for causing financial loss to Ghanaians and their country, as well as for illegally amassing wealth. Ditto those who served in the two Kufuor administrations.

Is it not instructive that Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom is the only politician thus far, who has promised to probe all the regimes that have held power, since the 4th Republic came into being? Neither President Mahama nor Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo will ever have the courage do so - for obvious reasons: the self-preservation of the corrupt and powerful crooks in the midst of their parties.

Yet it is vital that that accountability exercise is carried out to restore faith in our institutions of state amongst ordinary people - who will then be reassured that the rule of law indeed prevails in  Ghana.

Finally, if even before they win power - and despite the endless accusations of corruption that they have levelled against President Mahama and his regime - the Freddie Blays, the Bernard Antwi-Boasiakos, and the rest of the leading lights of the NPP, arrogantly refuse to commit to publicly publishing their assets and those of their spouses,  and also refuse to publicly publish all the sources of their party's campaign funds, before the November elections, why should Ghanaians entrust Mother Ghana to the NPP?