Can Kweku Baako’s proposal save CPP?
It must be some way going into an election knowing in your heart of hearts, from the very word go, that you will lose! My reference is to all, especially the non-NDC/NPP presidential candidates.
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The most audacious attempt to date - one that seemed to convince many people that a balance shift was possible - has been Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom’s 2008 bid on the ticket of the CPP. What a campaign! But alas, when the chips were down, the status quo remained ante. He was no NDC/NPP candidate.
Whatever happened to the CPP magic? Even the most incurable optimist in the CPP knows that all that is left for it is the wand, not the magic.
Many young people do not really appreciate Kwame Nkrumah. Even among the youth to whom his ideals have been sold, they have a difficulty with finding a post-1992 Nkrumaist endowed with the same wisdom, economic pragmatism, political astuteness and charisma.
By 1992, it was easy for unsure Nkrumah followers to shift camp. They could not look right, so they looked to the centre. That centrist point was occupied by J.J. Rawlings.
Another factor was going for Rawlings at the time. As Head of State, it was easy to mobilise around him. He had the resources. Remember, also, in those days, the perception of Rawlings was that of an incorruptible leader who also knew how to deal decisively with corrupt ones around him. (Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I can bet that people now know better, with his wife buying Nsawam Cannery in the name of 31st December Movement, for instance).
By 1992, the electorate was faced with only two options - either NDC with Rawlings or the Nkrumaists, namely the NCP under Kweku Boateng or Heritage Party under General Erskine, freshly returned from UN Peacekeeping with a huge reputation.
The youth were confused. They looked around them and found that the great names listed by their parents and teachers as die-hard Nkrumaists were all in the NDC. They named Kwesi Botchwey, Tsatsu Tsikata, Captain Kojo Tsikata, Mumuni Bawumia (father of NPP’s Dr Bawumia).
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Today, that list is even longer. Add Professor Atta Mills himself, Ghana’s immediate past President, who had been tutored in Nkrumahism at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute. Then, atop the bitter cake in the mouth of Nkrumaists is the name John Dramani Mahama, current President! Indeed, one political analyst says that the NDC is the CPP without Rawlings.
Ironically, though he is no Nkrumah-follower; Rawlings, as a person and his role in the shaping of the events of post-1992 politics in Ghana, have more to worry the CPP than any other factor.
When around 1991 Rawlings finally came face to face with the reality that nothing could stop the push toward democracy, he looked around him.
His decision was simple. with his right hand, he would return the country to party political democracy, but on one condition: he would take it back with his left. To hand over to himself, and at a poll, he needed the numbers. And the Nkrumaists had the numbers.
By the time Elder Kwaku Boateng, one of Nkrumah’s ministers, returned from exile after Rawlings had formally announced a programme to return Ghana to constitutional democracy, he knew he was going to lead a party of Nkrumaists.
His ambition was given a boost and his smiles were broad when, in forming the National Convention Party, he found in his corner heavyweights like Kojo T and Tettegah.
He could not worry because somebody had assured him that Rawlings hated party politics so much that he (Rawlings) would never ever offer himself.
Come December 8, 1992, the only one left standing was Rawlings.
Try as they can, the CPP have, since then, not been able to get their act together; and they may never be able to. It is against this historical backdrop that I ask them what they think about Kweku Baako’s proposal?
In the run-up to the 2000 election, Kweku Baako came up with a proposal which, I thought, was the rescue plan for the CPP.
It is simply this: the CPP should, for the next two elections, forget about fielding a presidential candidate.
They should rather focus on winning more seats in Parliament. Alone, CPP can never win a single seat. In alliance with one of the two big parties, however, it was possible. Here’s how: wherever any of the two big parties know that their strength, alone, cannot win a parliamentary seat, they will support the CPP candidate to take the seat, just as CPP did with NPP in 1996.
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Baako’s reasoning is that if CPP MPs are able to make an impact in Parliament – as Freddy Blay and Kojo Armah did brilliantly, the next step is for the CPP to now boldly present a presidential candidate.
Unfortunately this proposal has two enemies. The first enemy is the ambition of presidential hopefuls in the CPP. They will put themselves up even though they know they will never win.
The second enemy is the two major parties, NDC and NPP. They will move heaven and earth to put sand in CPP’s gari.
If, as a writer, I have any word to give to CPP presidential hopefuls, it is this, that it is better to be a kingmaker in a party with seats in parliament than a party with nothing against their names.
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