The PNDC Chairman And Sekou Nkrumah In The NPP?
The false prophet who predicted that the PNDC Chairman's wife would withdraw her candidature before the Sunyani Presidential Primary/Congress, editor of the Al- Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Bature, is at it again. This time, he claims his augury reading points to a defection of the PNDC Chairman to the NPP.
Sekou Nkrumah, former chairman of the National Youth Policy under President Mills has recently endorsed the NPP - after almost 20 years of P-ndc membership.
In the PNDC chairman's case, the story is as true as Bature's faith in the Prophet Mohammed. ( I mean, a true Moslem would not lie as often as Bature does in his paper, incidentally and blasphemously named after the Prophet's holy pilgrimage.....unless Bature is a Christian). But it is widely known that the Chairman is aware and has christened Mills' government as the worst ever in the 4th Republic - to the point of encouraging his wife to run against Mills in his first term.
It is this indictment of the Mills - Mahama government that the NPP shares with the Chairman and with Sekou Nkrumah, nothing more, nothing less. In Sekou's case, his endorsement is what it is. But I hope that he 'd use his might and time on his own, on the radio/TV and in print, to help unseat President Mills. In the alternate universe of Bature, I extend the same wishes to the Chairman.
However the NPP must not commit sacrilege and share a campaign platform with Sekou Nkrumah or with any would be turn-coat. Vast differences exist between campaign platforms, party conventions and their like on one hand and foundations, lectures, state and cultural functions etc on the other hand. Nor must the party try to blur the thin lines in between them for short term political gain and thus make a mockery of the core beliefs of the UP Tradition.
But there is a clause : If Sekou - or Bature's Chairman or any one else and prospective turn-coats have finally seen the light that, Mills-Mahama government is "enko yie" - would like (and be allowed) to join the party on campaign platforms, he must first sign the "RENUNCIATION CHARTER (RC)". As CPP, he must renounce dictatorship. As P-ndc, he must reject the tenets of June 4 and 31st December and render an unqualified apology for the three heads of State and judges. A simple rejection of a particular administration is not the same as the total repudiation of the foundations on which the party of the administration is built. Simple rejection is too cheap a price. It is simply not enough.
As at now, there are many turn-coats in the party, in key positions, who have still not signed the RC. And it doesn't bode well for the party. An official amnesty must be granted or they must be urged to sign the Charter.
Before paper money, governments and territories used to mix metal coins with inferior metals, gold with copper etc,in order to cheat the market in the short term. The inevitable results were loss in value, super inflation and untold hardship. In the modern era, the demise of the gold standard, as the result of greedy national governments, has also led to the same results. Ideas and philosophies and beliefs face the same challenges. And with philosophies and ideas and beliefs, the more non believers sing its praise, the faster the belief loses it power. Parties and political organizations rise and fall due to such dilution.
20 years since the rebirth of the UP Tradition, too many "Hindus" have been allowed to preach our "Buddhist" faith without full conversion. We have been mixing too much copper with gold. Let us return to the Gold Standard. He who is interested in "joining us" must be asked to sign the "Renunciation Charter."

AFTERWORD
The PNDC Chairman's presence at the Kufour Foundation must be read only as a positive sign and an advancement of our democracy: it is pure Statesmanship- Clinton Bush Fund i.e. Cynics however claim he had no choice giving his -and wife's -status as the most wanted couple by the Castle.

Akwasi. A.Afrifa Akoto