Ghana's current political armed robbers and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

Mills a visionary or nation wrecker?

Even though every 6th March we march and dance, few Ghanaians are aware the difficulties Dr. Nkrumah went through before Ghana finally gained independence in 1957. When Nkrumah was brought in from Britain to act as the United Gold Coast Convention's (UGCC) Secretary, he came to find Ghanaians who were working with the British colonialists who were raping the nation while its people lived in complete illiteracy, ignorance, and disease.

Nkrumah was completely appalled by what he saw: lack of electricity, education, health and transport infrastructures. After watching how the British were duping the country he decided to stop it but the elite UGCC guys who had worked with the British imperialists wanted the system to continue for a while. Nkrumah said no. Ghana and its people must have their freedom and their resources used to develop the country for all the people to benefit. His message was “independence now”.

Nkrumah was not a crook like Ghana's current leaders who are just like the British stealing oil, gas, gold, timber, and diamond without putting any of the money into the places that produced the resources. Nkrumah understood the needs of Ghana and Ghanaians and was prepared to make sure Ghana and its people had the best just like how a father would want his children to have the best in life. After becoming the Prime Minister in 1957, Nkrumah realised that Ghana could not develop as a nation without energy infrastructure. He instituted measures to have Akosombo dam constructed and despite frustration and sabotage from the British and the Americans, Dr. Nkrumah managed to have the dam completed in January 1966.

Nkrumah's aim was that Ghana would be the industrial hub of Africa just as Korea and Taiwan are the industrial hubs of Asia today. He wanted to show to the world that the Blackman and indeed Africa is capable of building cities, and building and managing large scale factories and infrastructures. He constructed Tema City from scratch. He built Tema Harbour and linked it to Accra with the Tema Motorway to ensure smooth transportation of goods and people from the two cities. The Tema Harbour was also constructed to make sure that whatever Ghana produced could be exported and the money used to further develop the country. He established Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Cape Coast University to serve as the training centre for Ghana's future engineers and scientists. Major industries were built across the country not only to offer employment for Ghanaians but also to add value to raw materials produced in the country before export.

In short Nkrumah's main aim for Ghana was to rapidly transform the country into industrial powerhouse and to bridge the poverty gap between Ghanaians and the British. Unlike Mills and his sycophants who can only promise but cannot deliver any tangible material thing, Nkrumah set about building factories, schools, universities, health centres and major roads. I mean all these were done within few years of taking office.

We are told that Nkrumah managed to carry out his goal to industrialise Ghana because he was handed a lot of money by the British. That argument may be true but just having money is not equal to development. To have money and also bring development to the people you will need to be visionary, to have a plan and ideas about what you can use the money for. That is the difference between Prof Mills and Dr. Nkrumah. President Mills now has access to millions of dollars from oil and gold but do we see any major project going on? That is the difference between someone who has money and can use it for development and someone who has money and cannot do anything.

Nkrumah decided not to steal the money he inherited from the British but rather to use it for total development of Ghana. But Mills despite claiming that the country has no money has been able to pay 58 million cedis to Alfred Woyome. Building one secondary school in Ghana will not cost more than 1 million cedis. That is if Mills had decided to use the money paid to Alfred Woyome to build secondary schools (just like the ones Nkrumah built in Koforidua, and in Accra) he could have built 58 secondary schools. Yes 58 secondary schools. But Mills and his NDC nation robbers and nation wreckers decided to rob the people of Ghana by sharing the money among themselves, building 20 million dollars national headquarters and rewarding party financiers with money that should go into providing water, electricity, schools, clinics and computers to schools in rural areas.

The districts in Ghana currently without secondary schools could have been given secondary schools but Mills said no, Alfred Woyome alone should have it so he can continue to finance the NDC at the expense of Ghanaians who continue to live in poverty and total deprivation. Mills and his NDC prefer Ghanaians to live in ignorance so that they can continue to manipulate them to achieve their own diabolical political intentions. Between 1990 and 2000 the P(NDC) sold 194 factories built by Nkrumah and squandered the money on Pajaros and Land Cruisers. They never thought about productivity and the future of Ghana.

But Mills and the NDC are not alone in the robbery of the country and denial of its people the basic necessities of life. Under Kuffour's administration Raymond Archer of the Enquirer caught Haruna Esseku, then NPP Chairman, talking about how the NPP cheated Ghanaians by charging 10% of every major project carried out in the country and then pocketed the money at the expense of the nation. Between 2001 and 2003 the Kuffour's administration also sold the 31 viable national assets to nobody knows who. Ghana Telecom now Vodafone was also sold before he left office. And the money? It is better to ask them.

Ghana today is a miserable poor country with massive unemployment, infrastructure decay, and the cities filled with filth thanks to the leadership of the leading political parties. The leadership failures coupled with the massive corruption in government has reduced the country and its people to beggars and its youth, children have been stripped of their future as is evidenced in our streets where Kayayos and children selling ice water has become the order of the day.

Ghanaians must free themselves from the tyranny of the corrupt NDC and the NPP. It is only when a people begin to see how bad and wicked their leaders have been to them that they will be able to overthrow them democratically. Be careful who you vote for.

By Lord Aikins Adusei
politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

Azorka Boys and Bamba Boys: the coming Boko Haram in Ghana?

Residents pass by a burning police headquarters in Kano

The Azorka Boys and the Bamba Boys have not yet become Boko Haram (i.e. terrorist group). At the moment they are still obediently taking orders from their political masters and being fed with the crumbs that fall from the tables of their NDC and NPP financial and logistical backers. But anyone with critical eyes will agree with me that Azorka Boys and the Bamba Boys have all the hallmarks and characteristics of Boko Haram.

The transformation of Boko Haram from obscure religious sect into a force that now threatens to disintegrate Nigeria is a topic that has engaged the attention of many terrorism and counterterrorism experts in West Africa, Europe and the United States. In less than ten years Boko Haram has transitioned from an unknown force structure to a prominent and vital part of the global network of terrorism with capabilities to strike anywhere in Nigeria with no difficulties. Boko Haram now threatens to annihilate not only the social, economic and political foundation of Nigeria but also the country’s ten year constitutional order.

On Friday the 20th of January Boko Haram members placed several bombs in key locations in the city of Kano and detonated the bombs, which were accompanied by shootings with security forces. More than 211 people lost their lives making it one of the bloody days in the history of 'democratic' Nigeria. In addition to the Kano bombings, the Boko Haram terrorists have been behind a series of bombings in Nigeria including the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja on Friday 26th August 2011; the Damaturu and Maiduguri attacks which occurred on 4th November 2011; the Christmas day bombing on 25th December 2011 that killed 41 and injured more than 57 people; the 5th and 6th January 2012 assaults on churches and businesses in the cities of Maiduguri, Gombi, Mubi, and Yola that killed more than 37 people; and the Easter bombing of 8th April 2012 which killed more than 38 people.

Many of the group’s terror activities have been directed against state institutions and Christians and their houses of worship. By deliberately targeting churches and Christians the terror group hopes to aggravate the religious polarisation in the country and to ignite a sectarian warfare that will ultimately cause Nigeria to implode.

But the violence that has engulfed Nigeria is not limited only to the north. In the South of the country especially in the oil producing region of Niger Delta, a petro-dollar armed insurgency has been going on for years. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and other ethnic militia groups and criminal networks operate freely with the style of American gangsterism: robbing civilians, kidnapping oil workers for ransom, bunkering oil, attacking oil and gas installations, pirating cargo ships in the Gulf of Guinea and murdering rivals of their political masters.

In 1982 Chinua Achebe noted in his book “The Trouble with Nigeria” that General Olusegun Obasanjo before handing over as Head of State of the coup that brought Murtala Mohammed into power, predicted that Nigeria would be counted among the “ten leading nations in the world by the end of the [20th] century” but that prediction was never to be. Instead the country descended into chaos, then into crisis, and has ultimately become a failed state. In other words things have fallen apart and there are fears that Nigeria may disintegrate altogether.

Professor Wole Soyinka, in a BBC interview, described members of the Boko Haram group as not lawyers, bankers, engineers, or doctors; but rather people schooled in the Islamic madrassas in Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri in the north of the country; then employed by the northern elite who supplied them with arms and other weapons to cause mischief and mayhem. Along the line the Boko Haram boys grew powerful until their handlers could not control them anymore.

But members of Boko Haram also realised that they had been misused by their political and economic masters and decided to demand a share of the cake that the elites have stolen from the people of Nigeria. When the masters refused, the Boys joined forces and with the support of Al Qaeda metamorphosed into a radical movement i.e. Boko Haram. They however, continued to receive the backing and support of the northern elite who are still bent on using violence to maintain and control the country. In November some senior figures of the Nigerian political class including Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume were arrested after it was discovered that they had met and supported Boko Haram.

In January 2012 President Goodluck Jonathan announced that members of his own government were supporters and sympathisers of the Boko Haram terror group. It was a child-cry that did not surprise anyone who is familiar with corruption and political patronage in Nigeria. In fact some experts believe that Boko Haram is both a project and a product of the corrupt political and economic system that has been allowed to fester since the 1960s. It is a project developed and used by the corrupt political and economic elites to advance their political and economic interests and ambitions to the neglect of the country called Nigeria. At the same time the violence that has come to be associated with Boko Haram is both a product and a response to the corrupt political and economic system that allows the rulers to deny the poor masses their share of the national cake.

In the south of the country unscrupulous politicians, using stolen oil money, pay thugs to cause mayhem, steal ballot boxes, disrupt voting exercises and cause destruction to life and property. Nigerian politicians of all colours hire unemployed youth as political hit squads and assassins to kill and disorganise the political machinery of their opponents. The Area Boys, as they are popularly known in Nigeria, are provided with guns and money (stolen from the state coffers) to attack their political opponents. Afterwards these same guns are used to rob oil tankers, kidnap oil workers for ransom and to terrorise the population.

In Ghana I can see similar pattern being fashioned out by the ruling NDC with their Azorka Boys and the opposition NPP with their Bamba Boys. In Ghana it is common knowledge that the Azorka Boys and the Bamba Boys are not men of any magnanimity or good behaviour.

Like the Boko Haram group in northern Nigeria, the Tamale based Azorka Boys and Bamba Boys are no lawyers, doctors, or engineers. They are known to be violent and lawless thugs who are paid by their power hungry political masters to criminally cause mayhem and disturb the peace of Ghanaians before and during elections.

Like their counterparts in Nigeria, the Azorka Boys and the Bamba Boys follow orders given by their NDC and NPP pay masters. The ruthless tactics used by these Boys and the political support they enjoy in the NDC and NPP are no different from those used in southern Nigeria. During elections they are supplied with all kinds of weapons by their masters to undermine the integrity of political processes in the country. The behaviour of these Boys during the Akwatia by-election and the 2008 elections are clear examples of the threat they pose to the security architecture of Ghana.

The Boys have not yet become Boko Haram (i.e. terrorist group). At the moment they are still obediently taking orders from their political masters and being fed with the crumbs that fall from the tables of their NDC and NPP financial and logistical backers. But anyone with critical eyes will agree that the Azorka Boys and the Bamba Boys have all the hallmarks and characteristics of Boko Haram.

Is it by accident that the Azorka Boys as a group is based in the north? Is it also coincidental that majority of the Bamba Boys, if not all of them, belong to a certain religious order? The question that security analysts are grappling with is: will the Azorka Boys and Baba Boys evolve into Boko Haram in Ghana? The answer is a strong yes.

At the moment the politico-socio-economic problems in Ghana particularly in the north have created a fertile condition and all that these violent, lawless and ruthless thugs need is a radical person who will indoctrinate and radicalise them with dangerous jihadists’ ideologies and philosophies and turned them into bombs and killing machines as Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria.

Some of the conditions that is likely to turn the Boys into bombs and killings machines include the extreme poverty and inequality in northern part of Ghana; the massive illiteracy in the three northern regions, the neglect of the northern youth by corrupt and insensitive government; massive unemployment faced by the frustrated and restless northern youth that has sparked migration to cities in the south and the poor and failing educational system that offer little or no skills to graduates. Others are the massive corruption on the part of the elite class i.e. politicians, top civil servants, judges; the politics based on ethnocentric, tribalistic, jihadists, and highly inflammable language; the use of these boys by the politicians to fuel the northern conflicts and most importantly the NPP and NDC penchant use of the violent Azorka and Baba Boys to achieve political power.

Given these conditions the Boys can easily be exploited by Al Qaeda linked terror groups to destabilise Ghana just as they have used Boko Haram to do in Nigeria.

By engaging the Boys to commit acts of violence on their behalf, the NDC and NPP are slowly sowing seeds that will one day germinate into terrorism and militancy in Ghana. The already violence nature of the Azorka and Bamba Boys makes their transition to become horsemen of apocalypse very easy. In other words the country risks being infested with the Nigerian disease i.e. terrorism, militancy, instability, anarchy and disorder if the use of violent thugs by the NDC and NPP is not discontinued.

However, there is opportunity to prevent Ghana from going the path of Nigeria. One key solution is for the NDC and NPP to dismantle these lawless groups and also disarm all of them, give them productive and employable skills, find jobs for them and turn them into useful human beings rather than violent machines. It is in the long term interest of Ghana and indeed both the NDC and NPP that the threat posed by the Boys is eliminated before it becomes an albatross around our neck. And who said there cannot be politics without violence?

By Lord Aikins Adusei, politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

NDC can avoid catastrophic defeat in 2012 Part II

President Mills and the NDC have serious work to do

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In part one of our analyses we identified internal crisis in the NDC as a major strategic factor that could cost the party its reelection effort. We argued that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be able to avoid catastrophic defeat in the 2012 elections if it dealt seriously with the internal division, factionalism, disunity, accusations and counter accusations within the party. We added that the NDC could win power if it brought calm, discipline, unity, and worked to bring the Rawlingses, Dr. Spio Garbrah, Dr. Kwesi Botchway and the other disgruntled party leaders into the campaign machinery.

In this part two of our analyses we focus on those national issues that may cost the NDC its effort to retain the presidency as well as those issues that the opposition is likely to use weaken the government's chances of getting reelected.

The first is government performance regarding the promises it made to the people during the 2008 elections. There are many of the electorates who are going to look at those promises and see if they have been fulfilled or not. These promises include fuel price reduction, solving the Ya Na murder issue, unemployment, building two universities in Volta and Brong Ahafo, stadium in Cape Coast, fighting the drug menace in the Ghana and ending corruption.

The NDC may lose votes among certain key voting blocs for its failure to deliver certain specific promises. For example the STX housing issue which has not gone down well with the security forces may force them to vote against the government.

Similarly voters in Tamale and Yendi and the greater Northern Region may vote against the NDC for the promised but unsolved murder of Ya Na. In addition the NDC government is likely to encounter the wrath of voters in the three northern regions for the handling of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) issue. SADA became a serious issue in 2011 and voters who feel that the president and his government have not kept their promise may decide to vote against it.

The politicisation of the school feeding programme where people already contracted under the previous regime to provide meals for pupils had their contracts abrogated may cost the NDC some votes not only those who lost their contracts but also parents and guardians who suffered unnecessary from the confusions that came to be associated with the programme in some schools. On the other hand those who got the contracts after they were abrogated may also reward the government.

In addition the constituencies that were promised their separate districts but have so far not obtained them may also decide to punish the NDC for its failure to deliver on those promises.

Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions may also deny the NDC the votes it needs to retain power due to the government's failure to build them the Universities as promised. The voters in Volta Region may not necessary vote for the opposition NPP but may abstain from voting which may as well scatter the government's chances to retain power.

Voters in Cape Coast may as well punish the government for failing to build the stadium promised them. Unless the government can convincingly explain why these promises have not been kept the elections may not go well for the NDC.

The people of Western region may vote on whether or not the NDC has enabled them to benefit directly from the oil and gas find. The failure of the government to grant the people of Western Region the 10% oil revenue they demanded may cost the NDC some votes if the people interpret the government's decision as being insensitive to their plight. Additionally the recent brouhaha surrounding the citing of the gas project in two communities may as well cost the government some votes if they are unable to pacify the people of Bonyere in the Jomoro District who are angry about the government's decision to relocate the gas plant to Atuabo in the Ellembele District.

The youth and particularly holders of university degrees, Higher National Diploma (HND) and Senior High School certificates who are willing to work but cannot find jobs may vent their anger and frustration on the government and may decide not to vote for the government.

On a national level electorates are going to vote on whether fuel prices which the NDC promised to reduce has in fact been reduced or not. In other words voters are going to vote on whether or not they consider fuel prices higher and biting compared to what existed before the NDC replaced the NPP.

Cost of living including food, accommodation, clothing, electricity and health may play a strategic role in determining whether or not voters will vote to retain the government or not.

Of critical importance is the government management of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The government has so far failed to deliver on its promise of the one-time payment policy. The poor handling of the NHIS and the controversies in Hospitals where patients have been refused treatment or have been forced to pay for healthcare despite having their NHIS contributions may cost government dearly. The recent demonstrations in Ashanti region should give the government a clue that all is not well with the management of the NHIS. Under the fourth republic many households believe that the National Health Insurance Scheme is one of the best things that have ever happened to them and therefore their inability to access healthcare despite their NHIS contributions may cost the government a good number of votes.

Additionally parents and guardians' ability to meet education expenses: fess, books, transportation and accommodation may be a decider in the 2012 elections.

The second is how the government has dealt with issues that have come up in the 4 years that they have been in power including allegations of corruption, incompetence, mismanagement, cover ups, and embezzlements.

We believe that the government can campaign on its economic record particularly the low inflationary figures and high economic growth rate. For example the 12% growth rate in 2011 could be used by the government to highlight its achievement. But low inflation and high economic growth rate may mean very little to voters if they cannot feel its impacts in their life. In other words voters will vote on those records if they can concritise or feel it in their pockets.

Another critical issue that may help the government is its bold implementation of the single spine salary programme. Those whose income and salaries have gone up due to the policy may decide to reward the government with their votes. However, those workers whose incomes and salaries have been slashed as a result of the policy change, as recently complained by doctors, may decide to punish the government for that. Of even critical are those workers who have still not been transferred to the scheme despite promises by government officials.

The government will be in great danger if the opposition parties particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP) decide to make political capital out of these promises that have not been fulfilled. We believe that the opposition parties particularly the NPP will make political capital out of certain key issues that have taken place over the last three years under the current NDC regime.

On top of the issues are the Alfred Agbesi Woyome fiasco and what appear to have been a presidential cover up as well as the silence, confusion and contradictory statements from the communication team of the presidency and the party. The claim by president Mills that he had no knowledge of the debt payments together with allegations that his own ministers refused to obey his orders to stop the payments are likely to be used by his opponents to portray him as a weak president who is not on top of his administration.

Another issue that is likely to make campaign issue was Agyemang Konadu's decision to contest the party's flag bearership which was interpreted as an indictment of the performance of the government. Mrs. Konadu's decision is likely to give the NPP argumentative ammunition to punch the government.

The STX housing debacle will definitely be used by opponents of the president to portray him as someone who is full of promises but is always found wanting when it comes to delivering.

The gargantuan crime statement by the sacked minister of Justice, Martin Amidu and the Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Sipa Yankey and Muhammad Muntaka resignation on corruption allegations will likely put the government on defensive position. The opposition parties are likely to portray the government as ridden with corruption and hence does not deserve to be given a second chance.

We also believe that the alleged $20 million Adabraka NDC party mansion which the NDC failed to explain to the people of Ghana, and the contradictory statements by party officials will surface again during the campaign.

Additionally the sacking of Professor Frimpong Boateng; the handling of strike by doctors and other workers; President Mills' Ivory Coast “dzi wo fie asem” statement; the Kwabena Adjei's cleansing the judiciary comments; Teye Nyawunu's statement about Yutong buss statements; the power struggle between Mahama Ayariga and Koku Anyidoho; Asiedu Nketiah's Bui Dam cement corruption saga; Mahama Ayariga's tractor deal and other issues will force the government on the defensive.

Our analyses of these issues show that if the government and its strategists fail to appropriately respond to these issues and convince the electorates, it may send the government into opposition after the 2012 elections.

By Lord Aikins Adusei
politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

NDC can avoid catastrophic defeat in 2012. Part I

By Lord Aikins Adusei

 

The ball is in the corner of President Mills

The government badly needs the Rawlingses who command huge popularity among the foot soldiers particularly the electorates in Volta, Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions. These regions have in recent elections supported NDC largely because of the personality and popularity of ex-president Rawlings. Therefore to antagonize Rawlings is to antagonize his diehard supporters in these regions. This is why the communication team at the presidency and the party headquarters must begin to use every channel and strategy possible to bridge gap with the Rawlingses.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

The NDC was a formidable party in 2008, but currently looks like a losing party, bruised by events that are largely its own creation and which may as well cost it the presidency in the 2012 elections. The question being asked behind closed doors, and in which NDC strategies and policymakers are grappling with, is whether the party can retain power in the 2012 elections. It is our view that the NDC can retain power if it is able to address two critical issues. The first has to do with internal party crisis and the second is about broader national problems. For the purposes of space we have limited our analysis to the first problem i.e. the internal party crisis hoping to address the second issue in part two of our article.

Experience has shown that political parties that are internally fragmented and beset with infighting and squabbles also find it difficult to present a credible and winnable message to electorates. Internal squabbles and infighting is the most serious challenge that might prevent the NDC from winning the 2012 elections. Whether viewed from outside or inside the party there are plenty indication the party and government, as they are now, are more fragmented, and inundated with problems that are slowly spoiling the party's chances.

The first internal problem that must be settled at all cost has to do with the Rawlingses, their foot soldiers and aggrieved supporters. The Rawlingses remain a force within the party and command respectable popularity with the masses and foot soldiers. So far as the party foot soldiers are concerned the problems that ex-president Rawlings have with the government have not been adequately resolved.

There is no doubt that the outcome of the Sunyani congress that reelected President Mills as party flagbearer would have been different had party foot soldiers been given the opportunity to vote. Notwithstanding their disenfranchisement, the foot soldiers would get the opportunity to vote in 2012 and Mr. Rawlings can play a strategic role in determining how the foot soldiers will vote.

The government badly needs the Rawlingses who command huge popularity among the foot soldiers particularly the electorates in Volta, Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions. These regions have in recent elections supported NDC largely because of the personality and popularity of ex-president Rawlings. Therefore to antagonize Rawlings is to antagonize his diehard supporters in these regions. This is why the communication team at the presidency and the party headquarters must begin to use every channel and strategy possible to bridge gap with the Rawlingses.

Equally disturbing internal issue has to do with the perceived factionalism and sidelining of some party power holders by those close to the president which appear to be slowly disintegrating the party. On the 10th of January 2012 NDC Party chairman Dr. Kwabena Adjei, wrote a letter to the president asking him to convene a meeting of the party's bigwigs to “discuss and resolve very urgent disintegrative factional dynamics and processes within the NDC before it is too late for the 2012 General Elections”.

Although the party chairman did not mention names in his letter he clearly pointed out the sources of some of the squabbles that are undermining the party's 2012 election chances. One of them is that there is a huge perception within rank and file of the party that people who did not contribute to the party's electoral victory in 2008 are now reaping the benefits while those who fought for the party appeared to have been sidelined. In the party chairman's view “most Party members do not think and feel that they have so far had that political space for which they dedicated their times, energies and resources during the 2008 electioneering campaign. Indeed, my impression is that most of our Party members do not even feel that they belong to a Party they aggressively defend. As a person who, without resources, contributed greatly to our electoral victory all I have deserved are abuse, character assassination, blocking of my efforts and physical threats to my person”.

If Dr. Kwabena Adjei's letter is superimposed on the press conference held by Kwamena Ahwoi, P. V. Obeng, Kofi Totobi-Quakyi and Ato Ahwoi, it gives a clear and a bigger picture of the huge internal problems facing the party and the government which might bring down the government. In a joint statement on Tuesday 16th February 2012 the four party stalwarts said they are aware of “scurrilous anonymous tract circulating within NDC circles and in some selected media houses obviously in reaction to our perceived roles in the administration of His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills.”

Viewed closely it can be said that P.V. Obeng and the Awhoi's press conference are in reaction to the Kwabena Adjei's letter. These four power holders and their cohorts are believed to be those in control of government machinery and pulling the strings from behind the scene. They are also believed to be those whose actions have infuriated the Rawlingses and their supporters which also necessitated Dr. Kwabena Adjei's letter. Any attempt to ensure the party's efforts to retain power in 2012 elections must address adequately the concerns raised by Kwabena Adjei and the P. V. Obeng group.

Another serious internal issue is how to convince Spio Garbrah and his friends to work for the reelection of a government that appear to have treated them with contempt. This is a huge problem for the government giving the fact that any gesture by the government might be seen by others as attempt to use them to win power only to be dumped again. Also important is how to convince the sitting MPs who have lost the opportunity to represent their constituencies to forget about all that has happened and support the campaign of the president.

Even within the cabinet itself there are clear signals that there are divisions and acrimonies going on. A careful reading of Martin Amidu's press conference on 14th January 2012 gives an indication that there was behind the scene conflict between cabinet ministers regarding the Woyome scandal. The acrimonies were between cabinet members who wanted the case to be reopened in court and the money collected and those who wanted the issue to be swept under the carpet. From what has transpired over the last couple of weeks it appears Martin Amidu belonged to the camp that supported reopening of the case while Betty Mould and perhaps Kwabena Duffuor did not.

Martin Amidu's claim that a colleague minister planted a false story in the Daily Post on 3rd January 2012 is a testimony of the division and infighting within the cabinet that has also affected its performance to a greater degree.

“Consequently, I wish to assure the people of Ghana that I still stand by my promise in spite of the fact that hard core criminals in our society today have made it a habit to hold paid membership cards of major political parties in the republic as an unconstitutional insurance against crime and criminal prosecutions. …I wish core members and supporters of the NDC who cherish the principles and ideas upon which the party was founded to know that the attacks against me which started in the Daily Post publications of the 3rd January 2012 were planned by a colleague Minister of State, who perceived that my integrity and professionalism as a lawyer was a threat to the concealment of gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana in which they might be implicated.”

It appears the fear among some cabinet members that any prosecution of the case might implicate them was the reason why the infighting deepened which eventually saw Amidu being sacked. The fact that Martin Amidu and Betty Mould Iddrisu are out of government speaks volume of the tension in cabinet meetings. Nevertheless their supporters might still be there and may still be continuing the fight. Any effort to win power must not forget the wrangling within the cabinet.

Nevertheless, the way things look in the party it appears that serious work have to be done by party executives and members of the government to resolve all party conflicts, bring calm, discipline, unify all the factions, build mutual respect and understanding, so as to build a coalition that can work to bring victory. That is if the government is willing to get the cooperation of key members and the foot soldiers then it must soften its position, bury old scores and build alliances with all those that matter in the party including the Rawlingses, Spio Garbrah, Kwesi Botchway etc. However, which ever way one looks at the party internal wrangling, factionalism, disunity, accusations and counter accusations, one thing is certain: not all can be convinced to join the reelection campaign of the Mills-Mahama government and may as well cost the president and the party the supports and votes they need to win power.

This leads us to national problem that the government must deal with: i.e. how to convince the broader electorate and the general public that the government has done creditably well and therefore deserve reelection. Here too there are major issues that the government must address.

We will reserve the analysis of this national problem in part two of our article and how the opposition NPP might capitalize on these problems and use them as ammunitions to win votes including the STX housing debacle; the Alfred Agbesi Woyome fiasco and the silence, confusion and contradictory statements from the communication team of the presidency and the party; the gargantuan crime statement by the sacked minister of Justice, Martin Amidu and the resignation of Betty Mould-Iddrisu as minister of education; the $20 million Adabraka party mansion saga; the sacking of Professor Frimpong Boateng; the handling of strike by doctors; Mills' Ivory Coast “dzi wo fie asem” statement; the Kwabena Adjei's cleansing the judiciary comments; Teye Nyawunu's statement about Yutong buss statements; the power struggle between Mahama Ayariga and Koku Anyidoho; Asiedu Nketiah's Bui Dam cement corruption saga; Sipa Yankey's Mabey and Johnson corruption issue; Mahama Ayariga's tractor deal; Muntaka pampas and 'kyinkyinka' scandal; the cocaine turned soda powder saga; the Woyome saga and the claim by president Mills that he had no knowledge about the debt payments;Rawlingses ridge housing issue, Agyemang Konadu's context of the party's flag bearership; etc.

By Lord Aikins Adusei
politicalthinker1@yahoo.com