Who Lifts The NDC Flag: J. E. A. Mills?

An analytical sketch of the NDC presidential candidates

Prof. Atta Mills is no stranger to NDC politics. He has been in the forefront of the party’s resurgence to reclaim political power from the NPP since losing the key to the Castle in 2000. He contested on the ticket of the NDC as its presidential candidate in the 2004 elections and lost in circumstances which recent developments have proved to be bizarre. The massive rigging in Pru and others attest to the after thought of questioning the legitimacy of the outcome of the 2004 elections.

Mills is known to have his political antecedents in the Nkrumahist tradition. A member of the National Socialist Students Organisation (NASSO) during his early secondary education days, he is also credited as one of the fortunate intellectuals to benefit and drink from the fountain of Ghana’s foremost political icon- Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He was a product of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute. This early political activism could be said to equip him for a future leadership.

A gifted brain with the capacity to dissect issue with the sharpness of a ‘butcher’s knife’, he dutifully accepted to partner Jerry John Rawlings as his running-mate in the 1996 elections. While his choice was to many a political pundit, a surprise, to those who have keenly followed the political history of Ghana and Nkrumah’s vision, it was of little surprise for such an unassuming, suave and intellectually engaging mind to emerge on the political landscape, more so to contribute his quota to the left-of-centre ideology which actually groomed him in his secondary and university days. He is enriched by his first-hand knowledge and understanding of the Rawlings tradition, which is an amalgamation of the various political tendencies with an underlying revolutionary cadre corps and intellectual blend which shares in the Social Democratic Agenda.
For a very long time, a lecturer in law at the University of Ghana, Prof. Atta Mills had the distinction of combining his teaching at the University with his managerial and administrative duties as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, from where he was plucked by Rawlings to become Ghana’s second most powerful Chief Executive Officer from January 7, 1997 to January 6, 2001.
Having endeared himself to his boss, then President Jerry Rawlings, who described him as a ‘Divine Gift’ Mills was given the rare opportunity by Rawlings, who pledged to back him for the presidency which came to be referred to as the ‘Swedru Declaration’. With the politics of consensus holding sway in the NDC at the time, the Law Professor and then Vice-President received formal endorsement of the party delegates at Ho and proceeded to contest the 2000 elections on the NDC ticket. The outcome was a cliff-hanger, leading to a run-off. And he and his NDC party were shoved out of power by the NPP. The general feeling and mood of the country did not help the cause of Atta Mills and his NDC as there was widespread consensus for a change in the political direction of the country.
The problems which confronted the NDC presidential candidate into the 2000 elections were too myriad to recount here. The breakaway of the Reformists led by Goosie Tanoh, who saw himself as the heir apparent to Rawlings was a contributory factor to a fragmented front incapable of holding its own against a marauding tribal gang called the NPP which had so poisoned the political atmosphere.
Although the Atta Mills lost the 2000 elections, the generality of the NDC following still believed in his infinite capacity to deliver. Events leading to his choice at the 2002 Legon Congress and the open opposition to his flagship translating into covert and overt machinations by Obed Asamoah and his fifth columnists to thwart his efforts to reclaim power for the NDC are now public knowledge.
The outcome of the 2004 elections against the incumbent President Kufuor is now before the courts after conceding defeat. This he explained as the only logical path to avoid a blood bath and to prevent the violent Matemeho political tradition to use the rejection of the results to annihilate the NDC leadership. Mills also claimed that he was constrained by the double-tongue speak of his then party chairman who was at the time of the NPP’s own declaration of the presidential result before the constitutionally mandated body- the Electoral Commission did so, had already started popping champagne to celebrate the defeat of the NDC candidate.
Buoyed by the revelations of the massive rigging which the NPP perpetrated against the people of Ghana, Atta Mills, believes that he still has an even brighter chance to restore NDC to its true position, that of taking over the leadership of the country from the cocaine-choked and corruption-addicted louts. His experience in politics and public life as a whole is impeccable.
Mills is seen as a pleasant personality with good human relations. However, he has been criticised as someone who does not come across naturally. The greatest criticism is his inability to break protocol and surprise his friends and ordinary party members by picking the telephone and reaching these people for short but useful chat. Comparatively, a lot of people in the NDC and outside it see him as a very approachable figure whose respect for all is major asset.
Prof. Mills is no doubt very articulate. His intellectual capacity to dissect very difficult questions any time hew comes into contact with the media is really heart-warming. What is most refreshing about the Professor is his ever calm composure while dealing with issues. A problem-solver, he combines the rare gift of oratorical prowess with substance. A major weapon in his arsenal is the depth of his grasp of socio-economic and political issues and how he applies his analytical mind to these. His consistency in eloquently articulating the NDC’s Social Democracy philosophy could stand him in good stead for re-election by his party.
What he lacks, in spite of his outstanding credentials, as some one with the right political savvy is that vital ingredient of militancy. The generality of the NDC support base, particularly, the expectant youth, who are in search of a leader to galvanise them into energy-filled action are somehow disappointed with his pacifist approach to most issues instead of displaying a bit of the gung-ho character to send the right message and warning signal to the party’s main political opponent of his endurance having being stretched to its fullest limit.
Placed on a scale, Prof. Atta Mills record, his knowledge of the political terrain as someone who knows the country and also known by his countrymen and women, his experience in government as former Vice-President and above all, as a politician who cuts across, the scale obviously tilts in his favour as an epitome of humility, honesty, likeable and decent but low on combativeness and with no fire in his belly. To have a glimpse of his chances at the forthcoming congress, read what the pollster says in the New Democrat before the Congress proper on December 20-22, 2006.