Why Every Ghanaian Entrepreneur is CPP

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Convention People’s Party (CPP) presidential candidate for the 2008 elections yesterday December 28, 2011 announced his decision to quit the party to a crowd of journalists in Accra. Dr Nduom managed a measly 113, 494 votes representing 1.34 percent of the valid votes cast at the last polls. In nominal terms, that represented a marked improvement in the 85,968 votes garnered by George Aggudey for the CPP at the 2004 polls.

Prior to his dance with the CPP, Dr Nduom had amongst others worked for the Public Services Commission under the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) I regimes as a consultant. He also worked for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government as minister responsible for public sector reforms.

The economist cum businessman’s entry into the CPP flagbearership race for the 2008 polls brought a lot of euphoria given the background that also in the CPP race at the time was the accomplished pathologist Agyemang Badu Akosa. The elections came through and positioned the party as the emerging third force that could decide the direction of future Ghanaian elections.

The miserable performance of the CPP at the polls however sent tongues wagging as to whether the person at the helm actually had credibility problems or simply put the party had dysfunctional local level organizational structures that could just not help garner the needed votes.

Ghana’s democracy is simply about elections and those elections are very acrimonious. The Ghanaian society is in a perpetual electioneering -- that is why almost all state functions are doused in party colours and every national discourse is about NDC or NPP. In fact, for every discussion in Ghana to make ‘meaning’ and be complete it must have a flavour of either party.

National life has become so politically partisan that any first visitor to the country is wont to ask whether elections are going to be held tomorrow. From the day of winning an election to the next polls, the political parties and the entire nation are in constant campaign mood.

As a consequence of the acrimonious perpetual political campaign mood of the country, every citizen of the country is bundled into the NDC-NPP deception. This is even worsened by the fact that every citizen is placed in the camp of either party simply based on one’s ethnicity. So an Asante is portrayed as an NPP while every Ewe or Fante is placed with the NDC. Even the so-called intellectual class is so guilty of this stereotyping.
This political myopia and NDC-NPP fad has become so engraved in the psyche of the typical Ghanaian political adherent so much that every successful private person must (at the time of the so-called success) belong to the political party in power. All good businesses belong to and are connected with persons in power and as soon as those powers lose their positions through ‘elections’ those jobs instantly crumble.

So the savvy business people pay their dues to both political parties. A typical businessman would donate a substantial amount of money towards the electoral fortunes of the NDC government while giving an equally good sum towards the NPP’s campaign because you may never know what would happen.

Others who are not directly aligned to either political force and want to be seen in the eyes of the electorate as neutral and not anti NDC-NPP establishment then claim that they are CPP. So the typical answer a successful non-openly aligned NDC-NPP businessman would tell any curious mind wanting to know his political affiliation would be that ‘I am CPP’. Of course if you say you are CPP, either party will suspiciously work with you because they either need you during an election re-run to marshal the constitutional 50 plus one percent or would pretentiously dole you a ministerial appointment to present themselves to the electorate as a tolerant if an inclusive government or both.

Enter Dr Nduom. In the introductory paragraphs, a brief profile of his was provided. As a businessman who owns brokerage firms, hospitality concerns, savings and loans firms, audit and advisory services, one would want to diversify his political ideology – he says he does not believe in ideology, he’s a pragmatist.

And now to my take on the topic! Any capitalist cannot be CPP and therefore Nkrumahist. Anybody who does not have an ideology or believe in an ideology cannot be Nkrumahist. Therefore by his own admission (or commission) at yesterday’s press conference, Dr Nduom has never been a CPP man. In paragraph nine of his press statement he claimed, “…we are not selling ideological mission to the Ghanaian people. We are pragmatists”. Although this claim of not believing and having an ideology is a fundamentally flawed political position, he also confirms that the CPP was a just a short stop of convenience for him. The CPP is not in his DNA and he cannot and has never been CPP as he is capitalist at heart and in deed.

I remember how he managed to use the KEAA as his political springboard and staging post. At least one thing I admire about him is that unlike almost all our leaders who just rise up through helicopter promotions without experience to the very top of the political ladder, Dr Nduom started from the District Assembly level.
To me, Dr Nduom doesn’t come across as somebody who stands for principles. Remember how he is apt to claim credit for securing Ghana’s MCA Account and his ‘sharp restructuring’ of the public sector, and other visible NPP projects but quickly dives into the empty mantra “as for me I discuss issues” should he be asked about any low points of the NPP regime. He claims credit for all the good things under the NPP regime and runs away from all the negatives.

If he is not able to tolerate decent in the CPP, and unite all fractured Nkrumahist fronts under one formidable election winning machine, I wonder how he is going to manage the new political movement he is putting on the table. As for stage-management of crowds and good impression management to put one on top of unworkable opinion polls, David Ampofo and others will create it for you – far better than what they did in 2008.

The reality and the good thing is that Dr Nduom has proven that he doesn’t have the heart to wait. He has to become president at all cost. Despite the fact that the political movement has not yet crystallized into a legal political party and elections held to elect flag bearer, he proclaimed himself standard bearer for the umpteenth time at yesterday’s press conference.

Well, whatever the case maybe, it’s hoped that it turns out well for you and that this latest political acrobatics do not end up breaking your political spine. That you don’t end up in the category of the Alhaji Innusahs of blessed infamy. Because it’s so easy forming a party but Ghanaian voters for now, for some funny reason seem set in the NDC-NPP game as politically free swingers like your good selves have not proffered anything substantially different.

Reader, hope you now get the score. Every Ghanaian businessman or entrepreneur is CPP!

Source: Kojo Owusu-Mbire
Email: owosumbire@gmail.com