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

The denial by the General-Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) that higher-ups in the party gave orders preventing the use of the Cape Coast Town Hall by Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, must be taken with a humongous pinch of salt (See “Angry Supporters of Konadu Disrupted Activities – Asiedu Nketia” (Ghanaweb.com 9/20/11).
The longtime former first lady had gone to Cape Coast as part of her little-watched “Thank You” campaign tour in a show of gratitude for the piddling 4-percent of the delegates who endorsed her quixotic presidential ambition in Sunyani a couple of months ago. Needless to say, the public acknowledgment by the Cape Coast chairman of the NDC, Mr. Elvis Amoase, that, indeed, key party operatives had summarily prevented President John Evans Atta-Mills’ arch-nemesis from using the town hall, for which purpose Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings’ FONKAR campaign machinery had paid for in advance, seriously undermines the credibility of Mr. Asiedu-Nketia.
Not only does such an untoward move confirm long-held view of the NDC as a party that is dead-set against the promotion and protection of unfettered expression and democratic governance, it also eerily sets the stage for a possible rigging of Election 2012 by the Mills-Mahama government.
The preceding observation is clearly supported by the fact that in self-righteously defending his decision not to allow Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings to address her supporters, Mr. Amoase, the NDC’s Cape Coast chairman, categorically noted that the move was deliberately designed to prevent the leader of the so-called 31st December Women’s Movement from using the publicly-owned and legitimately paid-for town hall as a platform from which to unleash further rhetorically abusive sorties against the battle-weary Atta-Mills administration. On the foregoing score, this is what Mr. Amoase had to say: “We don’t know what messages will be delivered in [the gallery of the Cape Coast Town Hall by Mrs. Rawlings], and if those messages [turn out to be] damaging statements, it means that it would cost the party [dearly in the upcoming elections], and it is my responsibility to make sure that that is not done.”
Indeed, it darn well may be the responsibility of the Cape Coast NDC chairman to keep the proverbial censorship gate for his party. Nonetheless, the stark fact remains that the Cape Coast Town Hall was neither built with funding earmarked for such purpose by the National Democratic Congress, nor does the admittedly blighted Fourth-Republican Constitution of Ghana expressly allow for either the summary abridgement or total abrogation of the right to free expression by NDC members vehemently opposed to either the policies and gubernatorial style of President Mills or his leadership itself.
Needless to say, Mr. Asiedu-Nketia’s allegation that some disgruntled members of the former first lady’s own 31st December Women’s Movement had prevented Mrs. Rawlings from addressing her supporters from inside the Cape Coast Town Hall, ought not to be taken at face value. In sum, a parliamentary enquire may very well be in order. For, as adumbrated at the beginning of this article, the decision is more about the well-orchestrated intention by the Atta-Mills government and campaign team to flagrantly deny Ghanaian voters their inalienable right to electing a party and a government of their own choice, come Election 2012.
The NDC may also do itself a lot of good by reconsidering the leadership caliber of the party’s General-Secretary, particularly in view of the fact that both Messrs. Asiedu-Nketia and Amoase clearly appear to be operating independently of one another. In sum, the truth vis-à-vis the summary scuttling of the Agyeman-Rawlings rally lies somewhere between the two key NDC operatives and the sooner the liar was ferreted out and exposed, the better stead would it stand all democracy-loving Ghanaians.
Indeed, in the recent past, I have firmly and unabashedly maintained that Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings deserves whatever raw political deal she is meted by her ardent opponents, both internal and external. The Cape Coast contretemps, however, is clearly the one notable exception, as the latter squarely deals more with constitutional protocol than the purely ideological and internal affairs of the National Democratic Congress. The shamefully unprofessional behavior of the Cape Coast NDC party hacks ought to also be roundly condemned. And here also, a parliamentary enquiry may very well be in order.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of “Ghanaian Politics Today” (Lulu.com, 2008). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net.
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