The public image of the NPP
The largest opposition party in this country, the New Patriotic Party, holds a party congress tomorrow to elect a new national executive into office. This new executive will partner the 2016 presidential candidate and his running mate to be elected later in the year, to power the party back into power, hopefully, after the December 2016 election.
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The purpose of today’s column is not to predict who will win which position and why. This will instantly land me in the middle of the fierce extremely personalised battles going on in the party about specific candidates. My take, today, is to offer some opinion on the popular perception of the NPP, which, I suggest, is a surer method of predicting its chances in general elections in this country.
Perhaps, I should begin this exercise by quoting a favourite saying of the first coup maker in Nigeria, Captain Patrick Chukwuma Nzeogwu, as recorded in his biography written by his bosom friend, General Olusegun Obasanjo. Nzeogwu was fond of saying ‘’a collection of professors is still a crowd’’, hence, leaderless and rudderless.
For generations since party politics began in this country in the late 1940s, the political tradition that is today represented by the NPP has been seen as the party of democracy. Democracy here is presented as an end in itself, not as a means to a desirable state of affairs. The concept is defined here principally as the adoption and practice of election to public office through universal adult suffrage.
And anchored in the respect and adherence to human rights, which are here also defined in respect of civic and civil claims. Economic, social and minority rights take a back seat in the politics of the NPP.
In terms of present-day politics, this is a very important public perception which has global dimensions. President Mahama was saying in London a few days back to a global audience that a lot of us associate development with democracy, and in fact, measure our democratic development as part of our overall development process. The President touched on a vital part of our political perceptions which mask reality and denigrate the achievements of the human past.
The truth is more unpalatable; the concept of development, that is, the improvement of physical facilities to enhance our standard of living, need not have anything to do with democracy at all, or for that matter, any specific form of human government. It is a misconception which has not necessarily served well the NPP which has won power and held office for only about 10 and half years in total, as against the 43 and half years, for their opponents in Ghanaian politics since 1951.
What has prevailed in public perception has been their historic opposition to the rapid decolonisation of Ghana, the failed attempt to preach secession muted in a quest for federalism which also failed, all presented in a passion for violent political acts and speeches which resonate in the NPP of today.
The most likely presidential candidate of the party for the 2016 elections, Nana Akufo-Addo, is busy trying to rebrand himself as a man of peace, to counter these enduring perceptions of the NPP. The congratulatory message on the election of President Mahama is one of those gestures to achieve this, even though it is a direct replica of the message of congratulations that got my own brother sacked from the party in 2000. Thinking and saying things that can benefit the next generation makes sense only if the thinker will live in the next generation. Taking care of today’s concerns should be the burden of this generation. The whole rebranding effort reeks of surreal believability.
The historical record is clear that NPP leaders who are popular in the home-base of the party have never won a national election. Victor Owusu and Professor Adu-Boahen come readily to mind here. Dr Busia and President Kufuor represent those who have won a national election. Many of us are blissfully unaware that Dr Busia won the leadership of the United Party with only two votes, the majority of Ashanti votes going to the popular Kumasi lawyer, Ernest Egyay Kwesi Kurankyi Taylor. Home base champions always represent the hard faction in the NPP, and always fail in a national election.
The ‘’kinder and gentler’’ aspirant campaign has as usual, been completely overshadowed by the ugly voices of sectarian concerns. The Daily Graphic report on the upcoming congress last Tuesday fed into these sectarian politics by claiming the election of Paul Afoko will diminish the Akan tag of the party. This is wholly false and completely misconceived. The accusation is not based on who occupies which position in the national executive of whichever party, but on the ethnic background of the Numero Uno, the Presidential Candidate. All serious party members in both the NDC and the NPP see their President when in power, and not the Vice President, when they need things done, even when the latter is from their ethnic group. This is the truth that some of us are dishonestly hiding to project their ethnic claims of political supremacy.
Two weeks ago, I referred to Dr Bawumia as the Achilles heel of the NPP, because his current prominence is not translating into the obvious position that he is clearly qualified for, as he is being handled as a perpetual Vice Presidential material.
But the preparations for the 2016 poll of which the congress tomorrow is a vital part, has another mighty hurdle to climb. After all the rebranding, will Ghanaians believe that the party personified by the gentle giant, the inoffensive efficient retail politician, President Kufuor, is the same product going to be offered to Ghanaian voters in December 2016? That is the question.