Saturday 12 August 2017

What Conclusions Will Ordinary Ghanaians Draw From The Dismissal Of Martin Amidu From The NDC?

At any given point in time in our democracy, it is vital to have  viable opposition parties able to keep ruling parties in check, on all fronts, and offer sound policy alternatives to those of governments of the day.

We must also never forget that every political party in each true democracy  on the planet Earth is essentially a broad church - within which there might exist differences of opinion amongst leading party members, from time to time.

Above all, we all need to understand that political party members need not necessarily have to get along personally or be close friends either - as long as at all material times they  are tolerant of divergent opinions on controversial issues that divide them, which might crop up periodically.

For the sake of the hardpressed ordinary citizens of our homeland Ghana, the various factions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) must not lose sight of their main constitutional role: ensuring that those who now govern our country do not eventually  end up enslaving Ghanaians by stealth and gang-raping Mother Ghana.

Having publicly expressed their frustrations with each other on various media platforms recently,  the various factions in the NDC would be wise to let sleeeping dogs lie for the moment.

The wisest course of action  for the NDC's leaders to take,  for now, would be to focus on creative  policy formulation to produce  innovative initiatives that will redound to the benefit of ordinary Ghanaians, which  will make it possible for their party to return to power once again someday - perhaps after years roaming in the political wilderness.

Lest they forget: With the benefit of hindsight, clearly, it was unwise  for those around President Mills to insist that  Hon. Martin Amidu ought to be dismissed by the the president from his NDC administration - at the particular  time when Mills finally  did so.

And it will be even more imprudent for the NDC to  now dismiss him from the party - for the repercussions this time round could prove fatal for a political party whose leading lights might probably soon find themselves on trial for causing financial loss to the state: in some of the very first cases to be taken on by the Special Public Prosecutor.

Whatever their faults as individuals - and let us not forget that none of us is perfect either: for we all have our own faults too being mere mortals - both  former President Rawlings and Martin Amidu are key NDC figures in the public's imagination: whom many ordinary people in Ghana (for indeterminate reasons) somehow believe to be politicians dedicated to protecting the national interest when it comes to fighting and exposing high-level corruption.

The NDC lost power in 2016  mainly because t he party's leadership failed to read the national mood correctly - which was  that many Ghanaians  were thoroughly fed up with a regime widely perceived to be corrupt. The party's leadership must not repeat the same mistake again in dealing with the 'problem'  that some of the NDC's leading lights clearly feel Martin Amidu represents.

Strategically, dismissing Martin Amidu from the NDC is not smart politics. Full stop. What other senior figure  in the party commands the same degree of respect and admiration that  millions of Ghanaians have for Martin Amidu as an anti-corruption campaigner, I ask?

Let the NDC's current leaders learn from U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's wise words about the potential threat the then FBI Director, Edgar J. Hoover could pose to his administration: "...it's better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in". Most insightful.

Dismissing Martin Amidu from the party will backfire on the NDC as sure as day follows night. It will be a very shortsighted move and incredibly daft in a society that has clearly had enough of high-level corruption.

Consequently, as they meet to deal with that mischievous petition-of-convenience now before them - which was apparently filed  against Martin Amidu by some disgruntled NDC members - the question the NDC's leaders must ponder over is: What conclusions will most ordinary Ghanaians draw from the dismissal of the much-admired Martin Amidu from the NDC? Food for thought.

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