Pragmatic Statemanship is the name of the game

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A November 14, 2006, editorial which appeared in the Ghanaian Statesman, titled “More Policy, Less Politics, Please!” wisely cautions the 2008 presidential aspirants of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to privilege the commonwealth or collective destiny of Ghanaians over the primarily private and personal ambitions of the presidential aspirants.

Needless to say, the aforementioned Statesman editorial could not have come at a more opportune time. And on this score must also be unreservedly emphasized the fact that the institutional success of the NPP is inextricably bound to be predicated upon the pragmatic statesmanship exhibited by the NPP presidential aspirants, particularly those longstanding “servicemen” and women in President J. A. Kufuor’s cabinet.

And here also, it goes without saying that since these cabinet presidential aspirants have been the most well exposed players on the Ghanaian political landscape, they will also become the most easily assessable and, for that very matter, also the most vulnerable, particularly those whose performance might not be deemed by the electorate to have risen to the occasion, or met optimal standards, as it were.

What the preceding simply implies is that before officially putting forth their candidacy – publicly, that is – each and every one of these candidates ought to undertake a sobering exercise of self-examination in order to ensure that inordinate personal ambitions are not privileged over classical statesmanship, or the bounden necessity of presenting oneself, or person, for service for the collective good of Ghana’s national destiny.

For, needless to say, the presidency is more about sterling professional acumen and managerial competence than the patently ineffectual façade of a mere contest of personalities. And the foregoing ought to be what studiously guides the delegates to the national convention of the New Patriotic Party.

Indeed, the sophomoric era of political careerism that characterized the first half-century of the Ghanaian political landscape has virtually receded into history. The next half-century must, therefore, offer us a new Organic Ghanaian Leadership (OGL) that sees well beyond periodic electoral outcomes and, rather, makes the rapid and inexorable socioeconomic, political and cultural advancement of Ghana its indelible priority.

Short of the preceding, the country may yet be woefully bound to repeat the prosaic and morally and spiritually unedifying mistakes of the past. And should that happen, we would not only have ourselves and our generation to blame but, perhaps, even more humiliatingly, posterity would never forgive us. And what an unbearable curse that would be!

On an even more sober note regards the imperative need for the New Patriotic Party’s presidential aspirants to reduce the regressive language of political rivalry and its concomitant corollary of accusations and counter-accusations to the barest minimum, and thus constructively prevent their political opponents and inveterate enemies from garnering a bumper harvest of ammunition to use against the eventual clinchers of the NPP presidential nomination and tickets.

And, of course, the latter allusion adumbrates on the imperative need for the eventual presidential nominee to forge a spirit of simpatico – or political compatibility – that is, what Americans routinely call “CHEMISTRY,” be it on the personal or professional level. Needless to say, absent the salutary presence of simpatico, the eventual presidential candidate, or nominee, of the New Patriotic Party may well find the task of selecting a running mate at the worst a Herculean ordeal and, at best, an unpleasant duty. In sum, the good and interest of country and party must be unreservedly deemed to take precedence over all else.

On the other hand, the timely need for the ruling party to convene and prepare itself for Election 2008 cannot be overemphasized. For there is ample historical evidence from all viable and longstanding global democracies echoing the perennial and proverbial truism, or maxim, that: “The early [rising] bird catches the worm.”

In sum, it takes enormous capital resources in the form of publicity campaigning for any presidential nominee or candidate to effectively address him-/herself and the Party’s platform to the electorate and country at large.

On the party level, it goes without saying that the NPP has the heady advantage of incumbency; however, the fact that the Party’s current Chief Constable, Mr. J. A. Kufuor, is not running for a third office term means that the NPP is almost reduced to the uphill level of its most formidable opponent.

Even so, the NPP has the certain advantage of having set an enviable record by being the first democratically authentic and ideologically studied, or informed, political party in postcolonial Ghanaian history, with the remarkable exception of the Busia-led albeit short-lived Progress Party (PP), of course. This unique record, assuming that President Kufuor continues to pursue the conciliatory and diplomatic political course that he has been forging for the past six years, readily ensures that upon his retirement from active politics at the national level, the first non-dictatorial president of twenty-first century Ghana would also become the first Authentic Ghanaian Statesman (AGS).

And on the latter score, we are, of course, thinking of a constructive scenario whereby, shortly upon his glorious exit from active politics, Mr. Kufuor sets up a Leadership Training Institute along the lines of the Kofi Annan Peace Institute. Mr. Kufuor may even choose to locate, or site, his Institute in Kumasi or even Tamale, in order to evenly diffuse the spirit of peace throughout the country.

Or better yet, Mr. Kufuor may well opt to work with Mr. Annan at the latter’s globally recognized Peace Institute. When this happens, and we fervidly hope that it comes to pass, this would be a salutary and nonesuch eye-opener for all the other democratically elected continental African leaders. It would also be another, more glorious first for modern Ghana.

Of course, there is also nothing that prevents Mr. Kufuor from considering a project entailing the establishment of a J. A. Kufuor Presidential Library, and the creative and innovative establishment of archival and academic facilities for the promotion of research and the dissemination of knowledge on African Leadership – both traditional and postcolonial or modern.