The politics of insults, hypocrisy and deception (1)

The Young Patriots, a youth advocacy group of the largest opposition party, the NPP, held a press conference on Tuesday, 19th July, 2011 to sound a note of caution to president Atta-Mills, who appears to be oblivious of the fact that his appointees have been going about insulting political opponents, that he either rein them in, or, be prepared to receive in equal measure, the same ‘abodam’ talk.

Gabby Asare Ochere-Darko was on 8th March, 2011 edition of ‘today’s agenda’ on Net2-TV expressing his utter disappointment with NPP researchers, communicators, former MCE/DCE’s, ministers, MPs and other appointees of the erstwhile NPP administration residing in constituencies outside Accra, for their total ineptitude, vis-à-vis, exposing all the lies of Atta-Mills as he went about cutting sword while subtly campaigning to wade off a catastrophic onslaught by the Rawlingses in their recent past congress.
The party has over hundred MPs in parliament who are privy to the performance of our nation’s economy in all sectors. They are privy to the health of our nation’s economy after 19-years of P (NDC) rule and how the figure was quadrupled in a period of 8-years under the NPP.Yet; NDC’s lies about NPP’s record are not being challenged.
Personally, I completely disagree with Nana Addo’s threat to institute court action against followers of Atta-Mills who seek to drag his name in the mud. This is because, Atta-Mills has a baggage which is a million times damaging and this is exactly why NDC chickened out of the ‘war of T-shirts’. Some of these so-called NPP stalwarts continue saying matters of the president’s health must not be discussed in the open,yet,NDC juvenile-delinquents, rather ironically, continuously describe Nana Addo as a sick person who has to be flown abroad frequently for medical attention.
A party that performed so well in government but complains of losing power as a result of lies by political opponents, certainly, paints a picture of ineffective communication strategy. That was what befell NPP in 2008. But up till date; the party does not seem to have learnt any useful lesson.
I listened to Adom FM’s live broadcast from the residence of president Kufuor on the morning of 9th December, 2010 and I was touched by some of the sentiments he expressed as regards total failure of members of the party to disseminate the achievements of the party’s 8-year rule.
In the view of Kufuor, the party is still not aptly defending itself against NDC vile propaganda. Members of the party continue to look on sheepishly for the NDC to go about painting a picture to the effect that all our nation’s woes began in 2001 when the NPP had been in the political wilderness for 30-years prior to the 2000 elections.
I have in my possession, an 80-page document titled ‘who is who’ prepared by ‘The Friday Club’ which is made of policy analysts based on the campus of university of Cape-Coast. This document chronicles the performance of 19-years of P (NDC) as against 8-years of NPP in all sectors of our nation’s economy and nowhere was NPP ever out-performed by P (NDC).
However, due to chronic ineffectiveness of NPP when it comes to strategic communication, NDC has been in power for over 2-years now but still continue to blame their total incompetence on the 8-year administration of the NPP.What has been coming from the camp of the party is that ‘Atta adaadaa hen’ so we are “surely coming back to power in 2012”.
But the question is; how will the people give you their mandate if you fail to convince them through repeated cogent arguments, as to why the ruling government has failed and that you can do better? This is exactly what NDC succeeded in doing in 2008, through vile propaganda, irrespective of the brilliant record of the NPP.
And here, I’m not saying members of NPP should go about making the type of foolish promises NDC made to Ghanaians in 2008.NPP must simply be up and doing with its communication strategy by exposing NDC lies and be swift to reply them in equal measure, but with the truth.
The NDC, under the wobbly stewardship of Atta-Mills is today talking about schools-under-trees. But, these pseudo-social-democratic gluttons have failed to tell us the number of these schools-under-trees they created between 1981 and the year 2000 when they were fittingly booted out of power. These pseudo-socialists continue to hide under their perfect art of ‘anoma kone kone’ nonsense and behave as if the menace of schools under trees began in 2001.And as to why NPP allows these vision-bereft bandits to get away with such empty propaganda, is a great source of worry to the supporters of the party.
Within a period of just 8-years, the NPP, through pragmatic economic policies spearheaded by its talented and well-experienced crop of political giants, was able to turn a totally collapsed economy (HIPC) inherited in 2000, to one of a moderate interim middle income country (mimic) according to the rebased economic figures. Yet, the party’s communication outfit was so useless to the point where the NDC was able to wrestle power through devilish propaganda.
The NPP, in-spite of its right-wing ideology which places emphasis on creating enabling environment for the private sector to thrive so that, in turn, the private sector can create jobs for the citizenry as prevails in all civilized economies, was able to pioneer some of the most comprehensive socially friendly innovations in our nation’s history.
The brilliant concept of property ownership was treated as a contagious disease by NDC and their fictitious CPP apologists. But what people always tend to forget is the fact that even under the extremely leftist Nkrumah government; some of his close supporters were given a first-class capitalist treatment. Some of these capitalist enclaves created under Nkrumah’s government are the cantonments, Kandas and so on.
For example, the neighborhoods of Kanda and adjoining Nima used to be the same by way of quality of life as regards infrucstructure.Now,it got to a point where the lands of Kanda were acquired by Nkrumah to house CPP ‘foot-soldiers’ who were referred to, at the time, as the ‘socialists boys’. And because this area was being inhabited by party people, a conscious effort was made to develop the it.
Estate houses developed at Kanda for these ‘socialists-boys’ which were to be paid in installments by the occupants, were later paid for in-full for them by Nkrumah with the tax-payer’s money. In the end, lives of residents of Kanda who were supporters of Nkrumah were greatly enhanced while those living in the neighborhood of adjoining Nima remained the same.
Again, the current crop of NDC looting brigade, which for the purpose of political expediency touted the mantra of social-democracy and therefore claimed to be highly allergic to property ownership and other good things of life, are today putting up multi-million dollar mansions that will make even the oil-sheikhs of Saudi Arabia go green with envy. Yet, members of NPP continue to look on helplessly while such a looting brigade continues to denigrate the concept of property ownership.
‘Massa nkwan deewa’ Pratt actually said on Radio Gold that the concept of property ownership stands for a society where only wealthy people are allowed to take part in elections to select leaders. But this same Kufuor administration has supervised elections and handed over power to Kwesi’s current benefactors.
Today, most of these avid Nkrumaists who have abandoned Nkrumah’s resoluteness and highly proficient organizational skills and picking cramps falling from Atta-Mills’ dining table with their long and crooked lying tongues, have their children either studying or working in the western nations.
And inspite of all these, the communicators of NPP continue to sit aloof for a brilliant concept of property ownership to be given evil connotation by these people unashamedly walking-about shouting the ideals of Nkrumah, while behind the scenes, are seriously engaged in political-prostitution with NDC.

A completely shameful act the great Osagyefo himself would have seriously frowned upon. Some of these confused Nkrumaists claim they are supporting the NDC because the NDC shares the same ideology with the CPP.

But the great irony is; NDC ruled Ghana, pseudo-democratically, from 1993-2000 without telling Ghanaians what their ideology was. They lost elections in 2000 and in desperate desire to come and loot the nation’s coffers, once again; came up with a grand deception of being a social-democratic party.

In my candid estimation, the NDC adopted that strategy with an expressed purpose of trapping elements within the CPP who are not ashamed to crawl on their bellies for pittance.

Justice Abeeku Newton-Offei
E-mail: justnoff@yahoo.com