Ghana's Politics Has Changed: The NDC Now Needs Honest Leaders Wise Enough To Listen To Good Advice

Not too long after the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) Hon. Alban Bagbin stirred the hornest's nest with his famous Mahama is running a friends and  family regime (to paraphrase him) complaint, I had a conversation with him.

The pain in him was palpable. Tears welled  in his eyes as he spoke about how a president he loved as a brother was surrounded by people who seemed to forget that the NDC, a party for the ordinary  people of Ghana,  had made promises it needed to fulfill.

He felt he had to put the interests of ordinary people, and that of the long-term survival of the NDC as a mass party with a nationwide appeal that transcended ethnocentrism, above his love for the president and take a public stand that would shake Mahama and make him see the real situation his regime was in more clearly.

He knew his stand would attract criticism from those who could not see what was happening and the effect it could eventually have on the party's hold on power, but said he could live with that.

He also said something that has proved prescient: "Nana, Ghanaians aren't moved by spin-doctoring because they are an aspirational people who want to get ahead in life. That is why they always want their governments to fulfil the promises they make to voters. The Stan Dogbes  are inexperienced young men who have no idea what grassroots people require in their leaders. I am prepared to risk my relationship with the president to rid the NDC of their baleful influence over him. Time will prove how right I am."

Well, that was then. Today, if the NDC wants to become a mass party again, its leaders must focus on fashioning policy ideas  that can be harnessed to end the huge disparities in wealth in our country that threatens our nation's long-term stability. That is why it needs to find brilliant servant-leader-types to take it forward into the future.

And all the nembers of our nation's political class must understand clearly the importance of the digital economy to Ghana's future and the massive entrepreneurial opportunities it offers our younger generations.

They must also recognise the vital need to protect the remainder of our nation's natural heritage in aggressive fashion; find creative means of providing the private-sector with inexpensive long-term credit to provide well-designed and well-built homes in new  smart planned green cities across Ghana; access to quality healthcare;  free education from kindergarten to tertiary level; and  above all, let blockchain technology underpin  the digitisation of government ministries, departments and agencies, as well as the creation of new digital currency for Ghana.

Despite our many faults as a people, our nation is on the cusp of achieving greatness and political parties that don't understand that Ghana can only succeed if it has honest leaders who surround themselves with clever and equally honest professionals who are world-class in their respective fields, will not attract voters.

Only politicians who actually care about ordinary people - instead of seeking power just to line their own pockets - will be successful in future elections in this country. The NDC must take that into account in choosing their leaders at all levels. What the NDC needs are honest and caring leaders who are wise enough  to listen to  good advice.