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Opinions of Monday, 2 July 2007

Columnist: Aka-eri, Francis Aka-ebila

The Fall Of The New Patriotic Party

For many Ghanaians today, democracy is all about a dozen rich politicians scrambling to become president. And this is clearly spelt out in the manner the ruling party of Ghana is currently handling its own internal affairs. With scores of wildly optimistic ministers, frantically bracing-up to stand-down in order to contest to become the flag bearer of their overly confident political party, what does that tell the ordinary Ghanaian? Besides, is it only when one becomes president that he or she would stand a better chance to serve his and her beloved country?

Why then would so many ministers who highly pride themselves as humble servants of the flag of Ghana, suddenly want to collectively relinquish their positions in order to bear the flag of a political party? The answer is purely simple - they think it is all about them. As such, they do not work as a team for the good of Mother Ghana. Neither do they care about what happens next, since they strongly believe that they have done well enough to be re-elected to power by the good people of Ghana. The truth however is that they have been given the mandate to serve as ministers, and as ministers what they should concern themselves with right now is the development of the nation and not about how to become the next president of the republic of Ghana.

We have come a long way as a nation and this government has indeed done marvelously well, but this should not give room for complacency. For what Ghana needs, right now is an open-minded leadership, with an all-inclusive mentally - which would embrace bright and innovative ideas to empower the Ghanaian to lift himself and herself out of the brutal dungeons of poverty. We must learn as a leadership to humbly sacrifice our own comfort zones for the good and greatness of our country. Instead of giving up our rightful jobs for political aspirations, we should rather endure in making sure that the right people are in the right place to do the right thing at the right time for Ghana.

What's more, being president means much more than the zeal to want to be president. We must understand as ministers that a minister is equally as important as a president and a member of parliament equally as important as a minister and the trend descends even to the grassroots of every society in Ghana. And since everyone is equally as important as the other, each one of us must learn to do our jobs, as though we were presidents in our own daily activities – beginning with the ministers. Therefore, if as ministers they cannot hold their grounds to ensure that the good work of NPP is sustained, then they are bound to encounter much bigger problems in the next elections. Especially, when the successors fail to deliver on their word to the masses, even as that could in due course get the NPP head dangling with disbelieve. In fact, though the New Patriotic Party clearly stands a much better chance of winning or retaining most of the parliamentary seats and even the most enviable seat of the president in the upcoming elections, if most of these ministers fail to reconsider their exit strategy. Such a blind move, could seriously squash our dream as a party. Mainly because, the loyalty of the people of goodwill is no longer reserved to any single political party but to Ghana as a nation. Remember the say," He who laughs last, laughs best." And united we could stand as a party or crumble because of our own mistakes.

By: Francis Aka-ebila Aka-eri
Word Count:620
Someri21@yahoo.com

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