Kumasi Demonstrators Should Hit Regional Office

, City Council And Manhyia

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

I perfectly agree with the decision by the Asante Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to allow anybody sporting the T-shirts of any of the contenders for the party's presidential nomination for Election 2016 from participating in its "Ya Ye Den? Demonstration" against the widely perceived anti-Asante development-policy bias of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government (See "Alan, Akufo-Addo Banned in Kumasi" Daily Guide / Ghanaweb.com 6/5/14).

I also agree with the decision of the Asante regional NPP administrators not to allow the platform of the "Black Tuesday" demonstration to be used for the promotion of the political ambitions of any individual leader of the party. Instead, the party could print its own T-shirts and other paraphernalia and supply them at a nominal cost to prospective demonstrators. Since the NPP leaders want the demonstration to be non-partisan in scope, it could decide to print T-shirts emblazoned with the theme of the demonstration in several catchy phrasal variations.

This will provide a sharper focus and cohesion to the affair. Simply asking prospective demonstrators to deck themselves in either black or red clothes will not give the demonstration the urgency or sharp political edge that it requires. Then also, the 7 am schedule for the demonstration may be rather too early, unless the organizers anticipate that the actual movement of the crowd through the designated routes will not begin until sometime between 10 am and noon, which offers the best public impact, with traffic being deliberately brought to a halt for at least an hour or two.

I am also assuming that none of the key political players, other than non-factional, or neutral, local leaders of the party, as well as interested well-meaning leaders of the other opposition political parties, would be allowed to address the demonstrators. Also, a sizeable section of the train of demonstrators could be detailed to the regional minister's office and/or residence to present a written resolution/petition to the regional minister copied to President John Mahama. Another phalanx of demonstrators could also head towards Manhyia, the Asantehene's palace, otherwise known as "Lancaster House," and the office of the President of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Mayor Kwadwo Bonsu.

The organizers of Tuesday's demonstration have to also demand an immediate national dialogue on development equity through the staggered holding of townhall meetings across the country and in parliament, if they want the impact of this civil expression of administrative disapproval to ripple beyond the Asante Region and be made a national issue. Indeed, the grievances for which the demonstration is being called will also have to be clearly articulated in bullet-point resolutions, with extensive, albeit concise, explanations offered the demonstrators by the invited or scheduled speakers. It is a fine-tuned version of these grievances that ought to be presented to the local and resident representatives of the Mahama government for onward transmission to the Flagstaff House.

Nationwide publicity is also very important. This means that designated spokespersons for the party ought to be made readily available in all ten regions of the country at all the major electronic media organizations to provide simultaneous commentary, analysis and perspectives on the event. Believe it or not, the "Ya Ye Den Demonstration" or "Black Tuesday" has an inescapable political edge and an electioneering leg-up capital for the New Patriotic Party as a whole. It is an epic propaganda footwork and ought to be squarely envisaged as such.

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
Board Member, The Nassau Review
June 5, 2014
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net
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