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…YES, SAYS NDC’s ATTA MILLS!
Encore
Can An Elected President From A Different Party Work With A ‘Parliamentary Majority’ Belonging To Another Party?
“This Development Represents A Demand From The Electorate On The Political Practitioners To Tone Down Their Emphasis On Partisan Interests And Work Together Across The Political Divide To Help MOVE THE NATION FORWARD”
The NDC Propaganda machinery is in full swing towards the Presidential run-off scheduled for December 28, 2008. Following the outcome of the December 7, 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections which saw the NDC winning 114 seats (as at press time – Wednesday evening) in the parliamentary elections with their Flagbearer, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills coming second to NPP’s, Flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo in the first round of the Presidential ballot, with 47.92% as opposed to the latter’s 49.13%, NDC spokespersons and leading members including Prof. Atta Mills himself, have publicly appealed to the Ghanaian electorate to vote for Prof. Atta Mills in the run-off in order to ensure that an ‘NDC parliamentary majority’ will be complemented by an ‘NDC-controlled Executive or a Mills Presidency’.
A ‘Mills Presidency’ in an addition to the ‘NDC parliamentary majority’, according to the NDC Propagandists, would ensure cohesion, stability and consistency in governance and socio-economic development of the country. The alternative, that is an ‘Akufo-Addo Presidency’ or ‘NPP-controlled Executive’ minus a ‘parliamentary majority’, according to them, would complicate governance and lead to possible chaos and instability in governance.
A trip down memory lane by our Research Desk has revealed that a similar situation of considering the implications and complications of two different parties controlling the Executive and Legislature at the same time as a result of a closely-fought election, came up for public discourse and run-off campaigning in December 2000 following the declaration of the December 2000 Presidential and Parliamentary polls results by Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on December 10, 2000.
Dr. Afari Gyan on that day announced that the NPP had won 97 seats out of the 200 member Parliament with the then ruling party (NDC) winning 93 seats. The PNC had 3 seats with the CPP settling for a seat. 4 Independent candidates also secured seats in the Parliamentary elections. The EC was yet to declare results for the Bawku Central Constituency in the Upper East Region while the election for an MP in the Asutifi South Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region was deferred to January 3, 2001 following the death of the NPP candidate.
In the wake of Dr. Afari Gyan’s December 10, 2000 declaration and following appeals by then Candidate Kufuor and other leading members of the then triumphant NPP (its candidate was leading on the first ballot in the Presidential race with 3,104,393 votes representing 48.44% of the 6,408,231 of total valid votes cast as opposed to NDC’s Prof. Mills’ tally of 2,871,061 votes which represented 44.88%), to the electorate to make the NPP’s first round victory in both the presidential and parliamentary elections complete by voting for Candidate Kufuor in the December 28, 2000 run-off, THE DEFEATED NDC/MILLS SIDE COUNTERED THE NPP’S APPEALS TO THE ELECTORATE BY SAYING THAT ONE PARTY DID NOT HAVE TO CONTROL BOTH THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE IN ORDER TO ENSURE CONSISTENCY, COHESION AND STABILITY IN GOVERNANCE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN A MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY.
The NDC’s Flagbearer, Prof. Atta Mills in an interview with the State-owned Daily Graphic (December 11, 2000), argued that even if he were to win the presidential run-off and still end up with a minority of seats in Parliament that would not mean that Parliamentarians would throw away every bill he would send there just for the sake of it.
Hear him: “ONCE THE BILL IS JUSTIFIABLE AND IN THE INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY, THE HONOURABLE MEMBERS WILL LOOK AT IT IN THAT RESPECT”.
In another interview with a private FM radio station (VIBE FM) on December 14, 2000 portions of which were published in the December 15, 2000 edition of the Daily Graphic, Prof. Atta Mills, in reaction to a question as to whether the lack of an NDC majority in Parliament would not render the task of governance impossible for him, if he won the December 28 run-off, emphasised that, “SUCH CHALLENGES WERE WELCOME POINTERS TO THE NEED TO PRACTISE CONSENSUS POLITICS BY ACTIVELY DISCUSSING AND INVOLVING OTHERS IN THE FRAMING, INITIATION AND COMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES”.
Prof. Atta Mills cited the cases of President Bill Clinton of the United States who as Chief Executive, had to work with an opposition majority of the Republican Party in Congress to help achieve one of the most successful economic stories for the nation and the cohabitation of the French socialists with the forces of the right as examples of the co-operative politics he (Mills) envisaged and pledged to make a success of it.
Prof. Atta Mills pointed out that Ghana had come a long way and that “THIS NEW POLITICAL CULTURE WAS THE ONE SURE WAY FORWARD THE COUNTRY COULD BOOST HER DEMOCRACY, ACHIEVE ACCELERATED SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCE THE WELL-BEING AND PROGRESS OF GHANAIANS”.
He called for a new political culture that would de-emphasise the adherence to rigid and entrenched positions and encourage healthy dialogue and active co-operation across the political divide.
Prof. Atta Mills also observed that there was too much polarization and politicization of almost everything in the country, and that such a development constituted a drawback to the nation’s development and progress.
In Prof. Atta Mills’ candid opinion, “THE INCONCLUSIVE OUTCOME OF THE DECEMBER 7 (2000) PRESIDENTIAL POLLS AND THE INABILITY OF ANY SINGLE PARTY TO SECURE AN ABSOLUTE MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT EMBODIED IN THEM, IMPORTANT AND FAR-REACHING LESSONS FOR THE NATION”.
He further underscored that “THIS DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTS A DEMAND FROM THE ELECTORATE ON THE POLITICAL PRACTITIONERS TO TONE DOWN THEIR EMPHASIS ON PARTISAN INTERESTS AND WORK TOGETHER ACROSS THE POLITICAL DIVIDE TO HELP MOVE THE NATION FORWARD”.
He appealed to Ghanaians to give him the mandate to steer the affairs of the State not only by virtue of the fact that as Vice-President for four years, “HE HAD FULL KNOWLEDGE AND GRASP OF THE ISSUES AND PROBLEMS OF THE NATION, HAD BEEN TRIED, TESTED AND PROVEN BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE HAD THE COUNTENANCE AND WAS STRATEGICALLY BETTER PLACED TO UNITE AND PRESENT A STRONG AND CREDIBLE TEAM TO MOVE THE NATION FORWARD”.
(See Daily Graphic, December 15, 2000)
Stay tuned
Editor's Note: This story was first published in the 18th December, 2008 edition of the Crusading GUIDE. We are compelled for the purpose of clarification, to repeat the publication because of recent controversies trailing the subject under discussion.
Author: Our Research Desk
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