If you want to know why the acronym NPP should now stand for the New Patapa Party, you only have to observe the party’s behaviour last week as President Mills delivered the State of the Nation Address to parliament. The attitude of NPP MPs and their irrational disdain for the President and his office is reminiscent to the racist Republican Congressman who yelled “you lie” as US President Barack Obama was delivering the State of Union Address to congress in 2010. Even in Parliamentary democracies, where the Prime Minister and his government are in close contact with the opposition, deference to the office of national leadership is often the norm. Let alone in our system where the President is a guest of the house. It is also insane and insensitive on the party of the NPP MPs to not only wear black funeral cloth during a parliamentary session, but also wave red cards at a sitting President who was in parliament to conduct his constitutional duty.

It is also important to point out the stupidity in waving red cards to political opponents in parliament. In the first place, the NPP MPs are not the ultimate of judges or juries on who occupies the office of the President, Ghanaians are. And thus far they have not pulled out their yellow cards, let alone red, at the President. The last polls conducted showed the President ahead of NPP’s women groping Presidential Candidate, whose vile and personal cranks is enough to make every discerning Ghanaian crunch at the thoughts of him becoming President.

Besides, the lack of self-respect, decorum and their apparent desperation explains a lot about NPP’s perception of governance. For them government is not a means to better the lots of Ghanaians. It is for crony-capitalism-a system of rewarding friends and family (Hotel Kufour and Kwanena Bartels). Political power for the NPP is for bribing and intimidating state officials and for exporting narcotic drugs (Amoateng and others). For them power is also a means of exporting international prostitutes disguised as economic advisors (Gizelle Yetzy) and selling important national assets to foreign entities at cheaper price and taking kick backs from them.

For fours the NPP did not have the benefit of these power largesse, hence their insane desperation for power and war drumming. They cast the Dec 2012 election as a do or die affair for their party. They must win at all cost, even if the national security interest of the country is put in jeopardy. In fact they have already declared themselves winners even before the first ballot is cast in the box. They will use intimidation tactics and they will accuse their opponents of fraud even if they are the ones committing election fraud. It is all-die-be-die for these people. They are power drunk.

President Mills should heed the advice in Machiavelli’s Prince during and after the December polls or he will go down in history as the weakest President to be ever elected. He should not be afraid to use his powers under the constitution against any national security threats to the country. He should endeavor to the “prince” and not the “priest.” Politics is not the management of church affairs. The President should not sit side and allow the NPP to micro manage and control the Electoral Commission. The red card shown the President is an eye opener and a wake up call to the NDC and its candidates. The NPP wants to be the opposition team and the referee in the same game and at the same time. In most every fair play game, this will be inconceivable. But we are not playing under the FIFA football rules of fair play. For the NPP they must win at all cost. It is about the NDC and the President realizes these obvious facts and take immediate steps to challenge the crony capitalist who are bent on erecting the for sell sign on Ghana. Finally, he should be prepared order the arrest of anyone be they NPP or NDC, who tries to use the tense period to destabilize the country. I rest my case.

Abdul Musah Sidibe

Abdul Sidibe is a Human Rights Activist and an African Political Observer.