CPP & PNC In Elections 2012

By Otchere Darko

One finds oneself facing a “dilemma” when one is writing on the internet. Writing an article for readers on the internet is not the same as presenting a paper at a symposium or a lecture, where extensive work is called for. *Make yourself long, and you are driving away the readers you are writing for. Make yourself short, and you fail to satisfy the readers who seek detail and precision. This is the dilemma I am referring to.

In my last article captioned: “CPP And PNC Should Concentrate On Winning Parliamentary Seats In 2012”, I may have created an impression that there was no strategic need for CPP and PNC to put candidates forward for the presidential election in 2012. If this is what the heading or the context or both seemed to create, then I want to quickly say that I did not mean this. By “concentrate”, I was advising the two most authentic Nkrumahist parties to FOCUS ON THE PARLIAMENTARY SIDE OF THE COMING ELECTIONS.

The two parties can CONCENTRATE on the parliamentary elections ONLY and still put up flag-bearers as part of the “packages” they will present to the constituencies in their “strong bases”. Such flag-bearers should, however, not believe that they can win the presidency, because they cannot win, as things stand now. They should aim at assisting the parliamentary candidates in their strongholds to have a “package” which they can present and sell together symbiotically, within those strongholds of theirs. This would mean that they should get as many of their good people as possible to contest the parliamentary elections in the parts of the country where the two parties are strong. For example, we know that the CPP is relatively strong in the western and central regions. Similarly, the PNC is relatively strong in the three northern regions. My suggestion then comes to this: CPP should concentrate in capturing as many seats as possible in the Central Region, as well as in the Western Region. For the CPP to do this, it should encourage their “big” and “strong” members, who otherwise would only be interested in the flag-bearer’s position, to put themselves forward for as many constituencies in the two regions as their respective individual popularities allow. Similarly, the PNC should also do the same in the Northern Region; in the Upper-East Region; as well as in the Upper-West Region.

Can anybody tell me that Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom would not have won the seat in his former constituency, or elsewhere in the Central Region, if he had contested it in 2008? What about Professor Akosah? Would this renowned former Health Chief Executive not have won a parliamentary seat if he had stood for one in his home constituency, or elsewhere? Let us move to Aggudey, [sorry if the name is wrongly spelt]. Would this financially prominent man who has vied for the presidency twice or more not win an election as an MP in his home constituency or wherever he lives and works, if he had sought to do that? What about the veteran politician, Dr Mahama, of PNC? Would this man not have won a parliamentary seat in the last parliamentary elections in a selected constituency in one of the three northern regions, if he had gone for that? All these people whose names I have mentioned here could win elections as MPs for their parties. On the other hand, none of them stood the chance of winning the presidency...... because both the CPP and the PNC are not CURRENTLY strong enough, NATIONALLY.

To illustrate my point further, in the 2008 elections, several NPP “big shots” vied for their party’s flag-bearership; but only one had the chance, as expected. After that, some of those who lost the presidential bid, “retired”...... instead of pruning down their ambitions and contesting the parliamentary elections. Why did they do that? Was it because they felt they were too big to sit as MPs, after some of them had been Ministers before? Do readers not agree with me that those, such as Dan Botwe, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Papa Owusu Ankamah, Professor Oquaye, etc, who lost the presidential bid and moved one step down to contest and win parliamentary seats for their party did more good for themselves and their party than those who “retired”, after losing the party’s flag-bearership? I can vouch that Dr Addo Kufuor would have won, if he stood for the parliamentary elections in some of the constituencies in Accra where NPP lost as a result of filing relatively weaker candidates.

Until the CPP and PNC strengthen their presence in Parliament, by winning a significantly high number of parliamentary seats that will enable them to exercise political influence over NDC and NPP, as an important “third force”, the two Nkrumahist parties will remain forever weak; and will only help the two dominant parties to continue to “abuse their offices”, as well as to flex their political muscles about......, knowing that there are no “strong men” who can stop them from being either “the governing party” or “the main opposition party”. What can one “Samia Nkrumah in Parliament” do to influence the direction of governance in Ghana for Ghanaians to feel the presence of the CPP? And what also can three or four PNC MPs in parliament do to leave a visible mark on the Ghanaian political scene? Even putting the two groups of “true Nkrumahists in Parliament” together, what can that small “combined force” do against either the strong pro-Government NDC in Parliament, or against the relatively strong NPP opposition? The “true Nkrumahist parties” need a combined parliamentary number that is big enough to tilt the balance of power between the NDC, on the one hand, and the NPP on the other hand. That is when the CPP and PNC will be a force to reckon with. And that is the time Ghanaians will feel a “presence of the CPP or PNC” that goes beyond mere party name and electoral symbol. *[I hope I have put my argument more concisely here than the first time.... even though I still concede that I cannot put forward a “bullet-proof” case to sell my argument.]

*Till the new year, I take this opportunity to wish fellow Ghanaweb readers: A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY 2011. In the year ahead, Ghanaweb users should vent their anger more on our thieving politicians; and less on their fellow web users...... fellow columnists and commenters who don’t get paid for the time they use and the efforts they spend to post articles or make comments on national issues.

Source: Otchere Darko; [This writer is a centrist, semi-liberalist, pragmatist, and an advocate for “inter-ethnic cooperation and unity”. He is an anti-corruption campaigner and a community-based development protagonist. He opposes the negative, corrupt, and domineering politics of NDC and NPP and actively campaigns for the development and strengthening of “third parties”. He is against “a two-party only” system of democracy {in Ghana}....... which, in practice, is what we have today.]