NPP success story too late to tell

The new Minister of Information and National Orientation, Kwamena Bartels, has said at his weekly Meet The Press series for Ministers and public officers, that the NPP government will now tell the story of its phenomenal achievements to deflate NDC vile propaganda on such good fortune.

Hurray! Welcome, Mr Minister, but, why take so long? Certainly, such a story when told will touch the hearts and minds of all. The success story is, however, coming too late in the day, after the party has wallowed so long in reckless self destructive complacency that has painfully cost it some bye-elections, a rather unwitting price to pay!

One had hardly expected such vain glory to have come from a great party like the NPP, supposedly bursting with big brains any country can boast of. It’s really painful, coming as it does, after its opponent the NDC, had taken the advantage of such recklessness to boost its ego; at least, somehow. The question again is, why take so long?

Indeed, a lot of water has passed under the bridge that would have impacted profoundly on the image of the party and its government, yet, the opportunity has been thrown to the wind! Could such omission be attributed to the absence of the tag “National Orientation” from the portfolio of previous Ministers of Information like Elizabeth Ohene and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey as some people are suggesting? This is because that tag seems to have invigorated Kwamena Bartels to embark upon the task of telling the success story of the party and its government to inform, educate, enlighten and orient the public.

Whatever be the case, it does seem that the NPP, with Dan Botwe in the saddle as its indomitable General Secretary, spearheading its electoral success in 2004, must have decided against using propaganda as part of his campaign strategy.

That might not have gone down well with Nana Akomea, Information Minister, at that time who had introduced, at government level, various forms of public education, strategies, including the Meet the Press series, radio and TV discussions on national issues, with himself as a participant. Indeed, Nana seemed to have a fuller grasp of the political meaning of propaganda than, perhaps, anyone else in the party. I shall revisit the issue of propaganda. One would want to believe that this seeming discord between Nana Akomea, at one level, and Dan Botwe, at another, might have led to the appointment of the almighty Dan Botwe as Minister of Information to replace Nana. But, this proved a disaster! Botwe in the party at that time, as the mover and shaker of events, which led to the party’s sweet victory in the 2004 elections, was beyond comparison.

Now, with Dan Botwe having supplanted Nana Akomea, who was completely ignored in the party’s scheme of things, all the plans and structures introduced by Nana were thrown overboard, including the Meet the Press series. Nana, however, continued with his exceptional contribution to TV political discussion programmes. Here, one would want to admire Nana’s resilience under the circumstances. Bravo!

This development led to a downward trend in the government’s image promotion efforts, culminating in the appointment of Kwamena Bartels to take over the mantle. His appointment is therefore seen by many as damage control intervention.

It is pertinent to point out however, that Nana Akomea, Dan Botwe and Kwamena Bartels, entered the field from where Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, an accomplished product and institutional promotion practitioner, had left off. Even before Jake, Elizabeth Ohene had been the trailblazer. Both Lizzie and Jake were shown the exit under inexplicable circumstances. It does appear that the hands of the pioneers must have been tied by the hidden feeling against the use of propaganda as a public education tool in the party.

The NDC, desperate as it were, having just been thrown out of power, grabbed the advantage of the yawning public education gap left by the NPP government. Indeed, it was a field day for the NDC.

As a party with a revolutionary socialism background, it was not left wanting in the propaganda tactics which communist Russia (Soviet Union) employed to win almost the whole of Africa from the Western powers during the Cold War.

The brain behind that propaganda tactic was Paul Joseph Goebbels, Minister of propaganda in Adolf Hitler’s’ Germany. Under that philosophy, dubbed “War of Nerves,” a lie becomes truth just by repeating it endlessly. While the NPP had gone to sleep, the NDC was mastering the Goebbels philosophy with zeal, presumably, with some inputs from Cuba.

When the NPP government started delivering positive results, therefore, the NDC was ready, completely unchallenged, in its attempts to turn upside down, the truth about such achievements.

For example, although it was the NDC that started dealing with the World Bank on the Structural Adjustment Programme at the Economic Reform Programme level in 1983, the NDC propaganda machine portrayed the SAP as evil; indeed, a sell-out that would keep Ghana at the apron strings of the IMF forever. And, this went virtually unchallenged with equal force.

When the SAP negotiations reached the HIPC level, NDC propaganda made it look like fire and brimstone descending upon the country from the high heavens. Again, when the full benefits from HIPC were announced and with them, the cancellation of Ghana’s debts, the NDC machine went into full gear to cast doubts upon them. And, there was nothing to the contrary from the NPP to burst that bubble. Ironically, however, when the benefits landed finally, the NDC, obdurately, joined the rush for the largesse!

And so it came to pass that world crude prices started skyrocketing, compelling Government to increase fuel prices in the country. Abomination! They jumped into the streets shouting “Wahala!” Yet, an NPP counter demo could also cry “Walahi!” counting the blessings of fuel tax, including fee free education for basic school children, free feeding, free busing as well as the introduction of the Metro Mass Transit system and other poverty reduction interventions. That never was.

As usual, the NDC and its cohorts directed their fire on the Millennium Challenge Account, portraying it as a big joke, citing corruption in the system as a bar. Now, with the bounty just around the corner, they are, without shame, crying foul that some districts, in fact, their strongholds, had been denied the benefit. Yet, they know that the distribution of the MCA benefits is completely devoid of any political or ethnic considerations and that all the districts in the country cannot be served at the same time, since the project covers five years.

It is pathetic, indeed, to see the NPP being dragged in the quagmire of NDC’s vile propaganda, even on issues where the NDC happens to be the culprit. Take, for example, the case of the Gulfstream III aircraft (or is it bomber?): this is a case on which NDC heads should have rolled long ago, but for NPP do-nothing!

Buying an aircraft is a straight forward matter between buyer and seller. Yet, the whole transaction was artfully thrown into a maze, ending up with the buyer being the seller, with the cost reaching the sky. Ask Doe Adjaho what would have happened to anyone in the Limann regime, found out in the PNDC tyranny, to have been in charge of similar perfidy.

Besides, isn’t it true that the Gulfstream was custom built to meet one man, Rawlings’ expectations? Didn’t Rawlings go to inspect the aircraft to ensure that his will was done? Who wanted a gunnery mounted on the aircraft, but a terrorist president? How can such an aircraft serve any other president but Rawlings? Doe Adjaho and co are taking Ghanaians for morons!

Come again, to the repairs done on the President’s private home on which the NDC made so much hue and cry, again, unchallenged fittingly. Australia House alone slapped at the face of the fraudulent lot, would have silenced all the ugly noises. Why should the NPP government be sitting on the facts relating to who gave the authority for putting up the building? For whom was Australia House put up? What was the cost? Could it be that Australia House was built on the authority of Rawlings for Rawlings as a retirement bonus like the Gulfstream – all at the expense of the people? What moral right has the NDC to cry foul over a private home used as an official residence – free of charge! All these ugly noises from the NDC could have been forestalled or fittingly counteracted if the NPP had wanted to do so. Nevertheless, the NDC honeymoon is over, as the new Minister of Information Kwamena Bartels, has served due notice, having taken on the additional mantle of National Orientation.