Progressive Alliance collapses

The Progressive Alliance made up of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Eagle Party and the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) which strategised for the NDC to come into office in the 1992 and 1996 is now on the verge of collapsing.

In fact, the solid front, which the senior partner of the alliance, the NDC exploited to come to power, is now hanging in the balance and there is fear that the three entities will go their separate ways. According to sources close to the junior partners Eagle and DPP, they were cheated and were not given their due during the administration of the NDC. They even mentioned the way the NCP was treated.

They claim that, with the exception of Owuraku Amofa and Farouk Braimah who were given ministerial appointments, the rest were treated like prostitutes and they have therefore decided to go their separate ways. What appeared to have angered the junior partners most was the speech made on the floor of the NDC congress held recently to the effect that the NDC would absorb the Eagle Party.

The first sign of this to come was the statement issued by Mr Letso to the effect that the Eagle party would be presenting 200 candidates for the coming 2004 elections. In the case of the DPP, the Ghanaian Voice has gathered that the party thinks enough is enough and come September this year a new party, to be called Democratic Party (DP), would be launched.

If this breaking-away comes into fruition, then the dream of NDC recapturing power from NPP in 2004 would be a pipe dream. There has never been any effective coordination between the NDC and its partners in the alliance. Effective harmony at the national level can be effective only when there is understanding among the parties at the consistency.

Constant interaction among the parties in alliance at the constituency level will go a long way to develop the necessary understanding. There is no doubt that if the NDC is to behave in the way it did to the NCP and later on the Eagle Party and the DPP, then it must forget any alliance with any of the junior parties.

The party must not behave as if nothing has happened. In any case, monolithic parties appear to be things of the past. Most governments are now formed as a result of the coming together of a number of parties. The NDC must therefore accept the realities of the day, trying to ride back on the backs of other parties to come back power will certainly be resisted. After all, “once bitten twice shy.”