It cannot be untrue to say that the state of affairs here today, read from the prisms of political parties, sounds like a laughable exaggeration inside the majors, NPP and NDC and between them and a wearied country. That would expose the stark history that the last time the country might have breathed a collective sigh of relief was 6 March 1957 after Dr Kwame Nkrumah, declared at Polo Grounds [central Accra] that ‘’at long last, Ghana your beloved country is free for ever’’ to ecstatic cheers and bemused global high expectational-approval. Hindsight shows disappointment.
A book could title it ‘’The failed experiment’’. But it is both euphoric –too sweeping and perhaps a thought whose narrative details of the Odyssey, makes you cautiously reluctant to concur conclusively. Put simply, it is just because its several stumbles are diverse-caused. But many tend to be reticent to patiently probe to minimise the instant or near so judgmental attitude. At the worst, the country exists, hunch-backed economic crisis notwithstanding. And now the political internal hostilities within and without aggravating. The economic issues are kenkey and fish to excuse shelving momentarily, for the politics which provide the overshadowing muscling.
Our two political ‘Big Boys’ are tearing themselves apart, not un-strangely admissible. I should preamble it to hint it is not new; yet, likely injurious implicitly between them and country. I am using them as the barometer, bearing in mind there are other politically-plus institutions of indices available. Top up irrespective of their respective forms from the start of this eighth parliament have not been impressive. The rather more tangible explanations for the narrowing the focus are that they hog the news headlines and it is possible to mathematically extrapolate the situate of as the leaders as fair gauge. A salient master card significantly derives from the opposite meaning of sage saying that ‘we wail a corpse for an empty funeral parlour.’
Throughout all world-wide political parties from history from the Soviet now Russian dictatorships through the Chinese and North Korean and reportedly wearing thin in Cuba to the mostly sorts of liberal democracies to even-date, power play starts from a tilt assumes innocuous tantrums, runs inclined towards absurd then dawns at precincts of farcical into drops of drifters and rupture to tinker the centre not to hold. Then that forces ruthless exertion of authority and the party turns quarrelsome loses appeal and bops in a dinghy on stormy sea without a dependable radar to navigate a new compass as has had to be . This is the apparent and comparative profile of the new impromptu scenario of the politics of this country today. For the ruling NPP it’s the choice of their ‘’Ticket-2024’’ and salesmanship of that to the electorate against a background of things having not gone well; and opposition NDC locating to present a robust alternate case to gain grounds electorally as massively.
The summary is both are engaged in internecine from cause celebre—diametrically disproportionate to how to win because they are discernibly being driven by seemingly hoax forces. On one hand, the NPP are institutionally betraying ethnicity-moss. On another, NDC looks like floating something which is reminiscent of the old CPP jargon, ‘‘the party is supreme ’’. It is not as premature to conclude both could be ruinous, given the historical backgrounds respectively. The two giants emerged like sphinxes from ashes of bitter and or brutal war [NLM-secessionist-fiasco], some unsuccessful narrow-minded parochialism up North plus a phalanx of religious [MAP] fervour and successive overall electoral defeats—dominance of CPP triumphs at the polls –1951 to 1966. I should drop an ‘’NB’’ that the North then had no alternative because it was second world-war spoil and how the British colonial administration transited the Northern Territory to the South—Northern Territory to annexed Ashanti ((Bello Britanico-Ashantico).
Thus, finally the NPP. NDC was forged together with the break-up splinters of the CPP into re-assembling of socialist revolutionists [coups-morphed] and necessity to occupy a balancing politically, in a democratic governance, neither intrinsically collapsed but tainted; nor totally un-co-operative though in practice evidence is neither side would give each other a fair hearing, processing the imperatives therefrom generally. This mis-norm is regarded as norm though a hideous impediment; and the verdict of history, discovers it as at the root of successive messes, narrating the failure of this country, post-independence to date. Despite the flaws, the country goes on in hoping and that its core resilience, an only precious asset, but often either overlooked or palmed-off.
The ‘hope’ is crucial key in containing the gruelling and spiced with entertainment of caustic dimensions such as incongruous comparisons of qualities of contestants or persons in shifted positions within the major blocs . I think the public pays attention to these too early gimmicks and realities, is they don’t seem to have an alternative to their disillusionment and perhaps clues defining a new resource to stand between promises as their experience turn pre-ballots of the NPP and how the NDC’s pan out, seized with the post-parliamentary leadership reshuffle.
Outside of these for both parties, whispers are that the MPs who want to get back to the House could be menacing success at the primaries, resisting the Whip, whichever the line-up from one line to multi. It isn’t uncommon in global politics not exclusive of ours relative to the crises of budget ship-wrecked and the controversial Supreme Court’s validating presiding officer’s vote. Not much of public knowledge about how for example current first deputy Speaker went solo at ‘’2020’’, relatively except that there is in that limited phenomenon what is known as the ‘return of the wonder Kid’.
Rarity notwithstanding, the party’s pressure usually wins submissions, characterised as loyalty to the ‘’mother party.’’ That interpretively means ‘having saved your seat’ endorsed by the central office. That is the executive. You may be elected at the primaries but you could be denied. Interestingly, the same has a potential to lose members and or in ours ‘’the skirt and blouse’’ –‘a plague on your house, kind of.’ The other more woeful excess exercise of the Whip is the erosion and in majority here, the world bank moves into a permanent swich. Where the party works itself into the cul de sac is the swelling of numbers for its rivals. The beginner’s memorable example to cite is Cape Coast which was a CPP’s safest.
During the years of trekking this country into independence, the Brits replaced its selective Legislative council with an enlarged Assembly MLA which mixed the old system with open ballot competed by political parties—DOMO and CPP. One notch up, and Cape Coast elected the first youngest man Kwesi Plange. After his death, the CPP’s Central Office in Accra by-passed his heir-apparent Kweku Ackon to impose N.A. Welbeck. That drove off a chunk of its dominant support and able-bodied foundation young men and sparkling of young ladies to DOMO, unchanged to date. The real prominent ones who stayed behind included Prof. Ekow Daniels [Bronyi], Eddie Ampah and the Ps ycho-Brothers.
Our experiences through the years have repetitions; and there are households and neighbourhoods in places identified attached to a political party’s name better than their own area distinctions. Worry is not about the changes once ‘change’ per se means work in progress. However, what these shifts have caused our development, locally and nationally, requires no irrefutable substantiations, directly derived from our religio-politics- divide like arguments [no ‘gaba’] about the cathedral ad infinitum—now blurring to blind a national sense of direction between what is necessary and what is required, living in such dire straits today. The interpretive wisdom’s advisory suggests they are likely making themselves unelectable. At the country’s deepened frustration, could be hung parliament of collections of political horse-traded government and opposition.
They –NPP, the NDC and the country know current experience is almost a lack-lustre and its by-product, snail-despatch and indecisiveness to blame whereupon the social media run a story attributed to former minority leader’s ‘parliament failed’ stuff admission recently. Inwardly, my sense from the text of the report complains implicitly regrets the content, quality of depth and discloses none or slip-shod homework which cheated scrutiny. I may have to be excused coming from reminiscences of the precisions and guided civil tongue of country members and for on the floor of the House with such flair and sure-footedness, remarked with honest respects and a feeling of the reference not being either probably or incongruous; also, it is because there are huge gaps of time, secretariat support and honest cash-strap of a peculiar type and long-standing.
The parties can or ought to abridge the futile raucousness to train would-bees. What happened to program of scheme for career parliamentarians? These shortfalls today make the standards-dive understandable, not satisfactory meeting those of yesteryears. It is worth it said additionally with hope the Treasury would take note nearest futurely.
That emphasised, does no take away the weird anomaly against that [i] political parties have been here before independence; [ii] goings-on have given any campaign at all an odious dynamic, quite inconsistent to encourage to be a springboard for the worse, as if raise the levels of creativity and scrutiny, woefully absent previously. That infers the people are ‘’awoke’’, breaking the rules of grammar like Britain’s Sir Winston Churchill ever so did or Accra Hearts ‘’arose arose…’’
Prof. Nana Esselfie-Conduah
