Regrouping after an electoral bloodbath

There is no other way to put it, nor is there any point to pretend otherwise.

Not with the lots of sticky blood on NPP floors following the electoral bloodbath over the weekend. 

Of course, I had been quite optimistic for the NPP in the run-up to the elections, but cautiously so. After all, the historical trend of the eight-year cycle seemed to stack up against the party, together with the biting economic challenges and several other factors. 

I was confident we would pull through nonetheless. I set up my own election command centre in my Kumasi living room to monitor things. 
 

Trickle, then floodgates

As voting progressed on Saturday and reports emerged of a low turnout across the country, I began eyeing my vintage champagne sitting on ice with a sense of growing nervousness, wondering whether I would get to pop it in celebration. 

After all, with the notable exception of the 1992 elections, anytime voter turnout has dropped below 70 per cent, it has resulted in the incumbent political party being thrown out of office.

As the day wore on and the late afternoon failed to see a surge in voter queues, particularly in NPP strongholds like the Ashanti and Eastern regions, the faint writing began to appear on the wall. However, hope still prevailed.

When results began filtering in and certain key, safe NPP constituencies were reported lost to the NDC, the writing appeared even more boldly on the wall.

Soon, my mobile phone went into a frenzied tailspin and I had to hook it up on life support to my charger, with phone calls and messages tumbling in from worried friends and party activists, seeking confirmation or otherwise of the circulating news.

By 3 a.m., when I finally managed to get off the phone and crawl into bed, it did not look good. Mercifully, sleep came swiftly. 

Post-mortem

Understandably, ahead of a sober, reflective post-mortem on this electoral calamity, the in-house lashing out has begun in private and on some social media platforms.

Already, some are calling for the heads of certain named individuals. Others are calling for significant reforms to the party’s internal structures, including an expansion of the electoral college for selecting would-be parliamentary candidates.

I think that primarily, the NPP lost touch with popular sentiment over a range of issues over the past eight years, and public anger and resentment simply simmered and then found expression on election day.

Nothing else can explain the unexpected scale of defeat. How could the party have missed the extent of discontent not just within the party but nationwide, to the extent of shockingly losing several traditionally safe seats across the country, thereby reducing the party to rubble in Parliament with only 85 or so seats out of 276 and a vote gap of close to 1.5 million in the presidential election?

I think it is important that party activists can vent their frustration ahead of proper stock-taking. What is inevitable, in my view, is that the baying for blood and the calls for certain reforms will be louder and the leadership of the party cannot ignore them. 

Forging ahead

In the times ahead, a deep, honest assessment of what went wrong is key. The autopsy must be comprehensive and the scalpels must be ultra-sharp. If it results in root and branch reforms with some bloodletting, then so be it. It won’t be pretty, but it will be deeply cathartic if there are no sacred cows.

This is for the simple reason that in what has effectively become a duopoly on the political scene, we cannot afford to have the main opposition party in disarray and floundering all over the place like fish out of water, especially against the government’s strong parliamentary majority.

With its huge mandate, the NDC will no doubt be tempted on several occasions to steamroll its way through various policies and legislation. 

Of course, the NPP does not have the parliamentary numbers to make a dent in voting processes, but it must be strong enough to have its voice heard loud and clear in a comprehensive manner.

My mind harkens back to the minority NPP parliamentary caucus following the 1996 elections- razor-sharp, incisive and running rings around the government side.

It is, therefore, imperative that the NPP gets its act together, quit wailing over spilt ‘zomi’ palm oil and feeling sorry for itself, regroup and engage in sweeping reforms to regain the trust of the people and fight the inevitable battles ahead.

I believe sincerely that the party will learn its lessons, do the needful and come back even stronger. It has no other choice if it wants to survive – and survive it must.

Electoral defeat is part and parcel of the rough and tumble of partisan politics. As is the case with football, if you have a weak heart and little stamina, you have no business investing emotionally in it.

On a personal level, my blood pressure is stable after a little spike over the weekend. My bottle of champagne remains untouched, but I cannot let it go to waste. After all, the Christmas holidays are just around the corner, and New Year’s Eve will be an excellent opportunity to pop it open and usher in the new year.

Finally, whilst we are at it, let me congratulate the NDC on its decisive win in this year’s general election. Ghana is ultimately the winner as we seek to entrench the pillars of peaceful, democratic transfer of power on the back of free, robust and fair elections.

I simply loved Dr Bawumia’s gracious, mature concession speech. To paraphrase the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 1984 movie ‘The Terminator, ‘we’ll be back!”

Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng,
Head, Communications & Public Affairs Unit,
Ministry of Energy.
E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com