Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko

One of the major decisions that were made at the 8th National Delegates Congress of the National Democratic Congress at the weekend was the constitutional amendment that ostensibly leaves no double entente doubt as to who is the leader of the governing party. Unlike previously when the roles of Founder and Leader were vague on who ran things, that incertitude has been checked (at least in theory) by the new provision that a sitting President of the Republic who is a member of the NDC is the leader of the party; unless there is no President then the flagbearer is the leader but in the absence of either a President or flagbearer then the national chairman leads.

The constitution of the second largest political party, the New Patriotic Party, is still even more polysemous on this issue. In fact it does not even mention the title 'Leader'. An attempt by Chairman Harona Esseku some years back to propose the President as the Leader was shot down by the blunderbuss of the conservative wing of the party leadership. The NPP maintains the apologue that the national chairman is its leader even in times of a flagbearer or a President of the Republic under the party's ticket. This fiction was sufferable before the party had a taste of power in 2001. But, the past 12 months have exposed the old folly. J A Kufuor's argument in the past that the party is mobilised, motivated, funded and its structures organised around a presidential candidate (or President) and not the national chairman is more valid today than ever. There is a leadership vacuum which not even the selection of a national chairman on February 27 can cure it adequately.

The NPP constitution provides for the flagbearer to be chosen before two years to the next general elections, when the party is in opposition. In 1998, the likes of Jake Obestebi-Lamptey, John Agyekum Kufuor and Odoi Sykes managed to persuade the party leadership on this issue. Thus, within two months of the new national executives being elected into office, the party held a nation congress in Sunyani, which had JA Kufuor winning a clear majority and taking that mandate to unite the party for victory in December 2000.

On page 16 of the Daily Graphic of Friday, January 22, I wrote an article arguing for an early election of the next flagbearer of the NPP (theose points would be repeated here). As if by design, on the very next page, P.17, of the same Graphic edition, aspiring national chairman of the NPP, Stephen Ntim, was pushing a contrarian view.

He argues that too much premium is being put on the issue of who becomes flagbearer rather than on building functional party structures. "Spending cash resources, energy and time on who became the flagbearer of the party without necessarily laying adequate and functional party structures would not help the party," he stated. Mr Ntim described the NPP as a vehicle involved in an accident and "we need to fix the vehicle before looking for a driver." Speaking on Kumasi's Hello FM the next day and on Metro TV the following Monday, I was compelled to disagree with Mr Ntim. The bottom line, you cannot build any functional party structures on a house that is divided. Ntim, like many of the other candidates, is preaching unity. This is in itself an admission that there are factions within the party.

By the end of next month, if all goes according to the decision of the NPP national council of Friday Jan 22, the NPP would have chosen its new team of national officers. The delegates should be demanding of all the candidates what programme they have in mind for both unity and victory. The contestants for the chairmanship slot should also tell delegates when would they wish to hold congress to choose the next flagbearer. At least, Ntim has come out to say that process must be delayed; must be set aside whilse he focuses attention on building a functional party.

In fact, the election of party officers and candidates are very much at the centre of the process of building functional party structures. We all know how the influence of potential presidential candidates are being felt at every level of the party, from polling stations to national office. How does Chairman Ntim intend to build structures for so long as he continues to delay the elections for the very office which is at the zenith of divisions, tensions and diversion in the party?

For so long as the next national chairman, whoever it may be, chooses to delay the flagbearership contest, his own actions at reorganising the party would be frustrated by suspicions and mistrust. Odoi Sykes and his team, including Dan Botwe and the late Courage Quashiga took the wise decision to elect the 2000 flagbearer barely two months after they were elected into office. What is the Ntim timetable? What is Jake's timetable? What about Charles Wereko-Brobbey and Felix Owusu-Agyepong?

The truth, which J A Kufuor would tell Ntim for free, is that, the party has no clear collective focus and programme of action when the flagbearer has not been chosen. Imagine a situation where a proposal is up for discussion on how to organise the party at Constituency B2. The chairman there supports presidential candidate A and the two vice chairpersons are for Candidate B, the constituency organiser likes Candidate C, and the Women's Organiser and Secretary are in the camp of Candidate A, with the Secretary and Nasara Club Corodinator in with Candidate C, the Assistant Secretary and all the other deputies are with Candidate C. Only the youth organiser claims to be neutral. That proposal is likely to go nowhere. On the table, it would be first considered through the lens of each officers' sectional interest: how would that benefit my candidate? Suggestions given and decisions taken would always be veiwed with suspicion and frustration.

The longer the NPP delays in choosing its flagbearer, the more creative ways of negative campaigning would be devised and unleashed; the more money candidates would spend and the deeper the divisions would get. The only winner would be its main opponents, the NDC.

The argument is that the NPP should make this choice as soon as it is constitutionally possible. This should mean 3 months after the National Delegates' Conference of Feb 27 to choose national executives of the party or 4 months after if more than five candidates file their nominations. This means nominations must be opened within the first month of the national executives being sworn in. Their first task must be to elect a leader (flagbearer), cut short the nonsense about ‘whose faction is this or that’ and get to the business of being taken seriously by the general public.

The NPP must seek to elect not only its flagbearer early but that by August, parliamentary primaries of orphan constituencies must begin. The longer the party delays in going to congress the more the divisions would be, at least, exagerated. It is that kind of exageration that has the knack of even getting some candidates to overrate their own popularity in the scheme of things. Get it out of the way as quickly as possible and give the party enough time to begin the necessary process of reconciliation.

Everyday that the NPP delays the election of its flagbearer, the divisions within the party over leadership deepens and the race gets costlier. It is dangerously diversionary, however necessary, so the trick is not to prolong it at all.

Everyday that the party’s resourceful members spend time, text messages, strategy, energy and financial resources on how to outwit each other within the party on the flagbearership race, the main opposition party's ability and capacity to oppose the ruling party suffers and Ghana's democracy and governance are the ultimate losers. Stephen Ntim and others may continue to argue that after the constitutional amendments, the NPP must focus first on 'building up its structures' and not rushing into choosing its next presidential candidate. My answer to them is: 'what do you need to build or strengthen structures with?' Money and more money. It is usually only when donors are convinced that the party has a clear presidential candidate and that he/she is winnable candidate that they will make their wallets generous.

To build functional structures you need to motivate party activists - that work is more effectively done by a presidential candidate than by any other party functionary. Are opposition parties able to raise any decent amount of funds when they don't have a flagbearer to showcase to donors? The answer is a big 'No!' Again, to build functional party structures the party needs to have a communications strategy, which would be fed by programmes, strategies and policies of the party. So long as the party's human capacity is divided among presidential aspirants, it is difficult to mobilise brains around the strategy table. That is why strategies for organisation and victory are often created or revised radically after the new 'boss' is nominated.

The closer the period of presidential nomination is to the next presidential election, the more Ghana's democracy is about elections and less about what happens in between elections.

The facts show that party grassroots mobilisation really heats up only after a presidential candidate is nominated. Our political parties tend to lack a clear sense of focus, unity of purpose and direction when they don’t have a presidential candidate but several aspirants to contend with. They also need more time to design and promote alternative programmes to government . In this way we can deepen the substance and enhance the quality of Ghanaian political exchanges. Wouldn’t it be great for Ghana’s democracy if by September 2010 the NPP presidential candidate is able to name his full shadow cabinet, with (as the 4th Republic Constitution demands) a touch more than half of the team coming from the legislature? The team can be reshuffled, of course, but such a refreshing approach to opposition politics would send a clear message to Ghanaians that in the NPP you have a government-in-waiting.

For more than a year and counting, President Mills has had no peer pressure, since his rivals in the 2008 elections seized to ‘lead’ their parties after December 2008 and he will continue to have asomdwe until the next ‘political campaigning season’ begins with the election of opposition flagbearers. This long vacuum of domestic peer pressure at the level of the presidency should be a matter of grave concern to all of us who are concerned by the quality of Ghana's political discourse and delivery. This creates not only a leadership vacuum at the top of the opposition political parties, but also reduces the fullness and effectiveness of the political parties to keep the President and his government in check.

In June last year, the Danquah Institute published its research findings urging political parties in opposition to consider choosing their flagbearers early (within the first 12 months after losing the last presidential election) and also to make their flagbearer the leader of the party. We pointed out, for instance, that no presidential candidate has won after less than four years exposure as presidential candidate and/or head of state in Ghana’s 4th Republic and, that, the earlier the presidential nomination process is brought to a close, the greater the opportunity of re-uniting the party and focusing on victory. As at now, the ruling National Democratic Congress can speak of a clear leader in the President of the Republic. But, the same cannot be said about any of the opposition parties.Ghana’s democracy will be strengthened significantly if presidential candidates, who serve, effectively, as leaders of their respective parties, are elected early.

For the NPP to delay choosing its flagbearer until December 2010 would mean that for at least two years of his four-year term, President Mills would face no singular critical voice of ‘equal’ presidential material stature.

This problem becomes more acute when, as has been the situation since 1993, the Executive controls a parliamentary majority. It would amount to at least two years of effective elective dictatorship in Ghana.

Democracy depends on strong institutions. But, it is also true that in order to grow and ensure strong institutions, there must constantly be strong peer pressure on the temporary custodians of power both at the legislative and executive levels. The deficit now is at the executive branch of government.

If the NPP is serious about party unity then it must be serious about not prolonging a contest that has the knack to exaggerate internal divisions and dyspathy to a level where they become a beast of a reality.