Maybe it is too late to point fingers, pin blames or even say 'I told you so'. So do we leave it as it is? I think not. People need to realise that for the party to move forward as we said in our campaign, a number of issues need to be addressed. This short article is meant to highlight the reasons why the NPP lost the 2008 election. It is worth noting that the reasons are not limited to the ones mentioned. Thus, I welcome any other reasons. The supporters in Kumasi have made it clear that Nana Addo should be the presidential candidate representing the NPP in the 2012 election. I agree with them and I am sure supporters around the country feel the same about Nana Addo. The supporters in Kumasi say that because presidential candidates are known to run twice. And presidents tend to enjoy two terms. So will Atta Mills and the NDC remain in power till 2016? Possibly. Hence we need to address the issues underlying our defeat in the 2008 election. So then was the loss an internal loss or an external loss? I think it was a mixture of both; with the internal factor dominating. There are different ways of telling the story but I think a chronological outline will be the best. So enjoy and remember to drop your two cents.
Nominating the presidential candidate
You may wonder why I have taken it that far back. I think that's when we started losing the election. In selecting our presidential candidate, there were eighteen (18) presidential aspirants. All presidential aspirants were equally eligible to lead the party. Or were they? Was it a mockery of politics or a mockery of the party itself? Eighteen aspirants meant the party was divided into eighteen unequal sections. This could have been avoided. There were many unfamiliar names. Unfamiliar here means the names were not names one would have expected to see as a presidential aspirant. Eighteen presidential aspirants? This was a joke. That's what it was. The only people duly fit to be presidential aspirants were Nana Addo (of course), Dr. Apraku, Aliu Mahama and Osafo-Maafo. These are the familiar names in the party. The other contestants had no place putting their names forward as presidential aspirants. You may think I am being biased in thinking Nana Addo was the best person to lead the party. I have my reasons. Certain people have served the party since its inception. Nana Addo is one of them. But to be fair a few new names could have been added to the names mentioned. I am just saying eighteen is a large number for a contest.
So how did this affect the party in the 2008 elections? Well, the numerous aspirants had followers. I single out Kwabena Adjei Adjepong and Alan Kyeremanten. Kwabena Adjei left with some of his supporters, formed his own political party and contested in the 2008 elections. On Alan Kyeremanten, he was the first runner up in the nomination for presidential candidates. In other words, he did way better than the names I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Why did he do so well? Remember the name: 'Alan Cash'. His campaign for presidential candidate was all about money. And you know how Ghanaians 'love' the word money. In fact everyone loves money. Besides he had the backing of the ex president Kufuor. Was Kufuor's support for Alan Cash warranted? Many top or old members of the NPP thought and still think otherwise. Firstly, Kufuor was aware of the significant contribution that Nana Addo and the other names mentioned in the previous paragraph had made to the party. Even at times when it was dangerous (personally, politically and asset wise) to have political affiliations other than with the NDC. Secondly, Kufuor's campaign for presidency in 1996 and 2000 was not a money based campaign. He had financial support from all arms of the party. People made personal and financial sacrifices because it was not about money. So then why was Kufuor supporting Alan Cash? I guess that question will never be answered. But in my opinion, the party's division started from then.
Two camps emerged from that convention. The Nana Addo camp and the Alan Cash camp. Nana Addo failed to attain the required votes to lead the party in the 2008 elections under the NPP's constitution. If my memory serves me right, I think Justice Kpegah took issue with this after the 2008 election run-off. Well, there was meant to be a run-off between Nana Addo and Alan Cash. However, Alan Cash conceded and Nana Addo was nominated to lead the party in the 2008 presidential election. It was an honourable thing Alan Cash did but did that affect the party? Should there have been a run-off? I personally think a run-off was unnecessary but I am sure members in the Alan Cash camp had a different view. I will explore how the view manifested later on. This was just the beginning of the loss in the 2008 election.
Posts
In your first paragraph, you may want to mention the erosion of trust among party members. If they could not come to a consensus to select or accept candidates to ran for presidency instead of having to compete against each other, then the party members have to reevaluate their relationships within the party. Of course members of the party must recognize that there are several roles to be played by party members for the party to function as a body. But if everyone wants to be the eye, then no one can hear or if everyone wants to be the arm, no one can walk if you get my analogy.
ReplyDeleteI also think the party members lost sight of the vision of the party....According to Stillman (2000); “policy conflict will exist when more than one organization sees a policy as directly relevant to its interests and when the organizations have incongruous views” (p. 14). Ambiguity in the definition of an organization's vision and mission creates the problems NPP faced this past year.
well, the long and short of it is that NPP party members were competing for their own self interests forgetting about their party's vision, what they stood for and even forgot about the people they represented.
Although i do agree with you that Nana Akuffo Addo may be the right leader for NPP...i think we need a young and vibrant leader that can really shake things up to not only move the party forward but also the country. Look at Obama!
Well, I strongly agree with your analysis. Now the party itself is divided. Nana Addo after his defeat is now on his thanks giving tour with some of the party leaders. Alan who was always with him during the campaign is not part of them.
ReplyDeleteI also heard Alan has started his own sort of campaign for 2012. So with all these, I will conclude that our leaders are not united and it's about time they sit down, play back, really evaluate and correct all their mistakes, so that we can bounce back to action.