The Death and Burial of Rawlings' P/NDC Party

Nana Akwasi Twumasi

The general elections are about three months away and, already, Rawlings’ P/NDC party has begun to show signs of its impending post-election demise. All the reports that I’ve read from P/NDC insiders coupled with the desertion of the party by some of its loyalists point to one unequivocal conclusion: The P/NDC party is on the verge of crashing under its weight and disappearing from Ghana politics. The P/NDC presidential candidate, Professor Mills, is absent from most campaigns, and his running mate, John Dramani Mahama, has now emerged as the leader of the party. This change in strategy does not only point to the fact that the P/NDC party is in the prodromal phase of its demise but, also, signals to every discerning mind that the P/NDC is already seeing darkness at the end of the tunnel, not light.

Heretofore, I’d been intrigued by the fact that Prof. Mills, who is younger than his opponent, Nana Akufo Addo, can’t campaign as vigorously as him. Prof Mills, as always, would blame his subpar campaign efforts on his health. Of course, age, as we know, does not correlate perfectly with health; however, I would posit that Mills, having suffered a 0-2 defeat against the NPP, has already given up and lost all hope of becoming the next president of Ghana; hence, his disinterest in campaigning. Folks, a predictable 0-3 score in favor of the NPP is in the offing, and that can be foreseen by anyone who doesn’t practice the religion of Wishful Thinking. Just the thought of not seeing one of Rawlings’ henchmen in power makes most Ghanaians, including myself, jolt with excitement. To most of us who, to a large extent, are satisfied with the status quo –that is, relative to the P/NDC era-- the impending death and burial of the NDC is a cause for celebration. Former P/NDC loyalists, including Grace Omaboe, have deserted the party and joined the NPP and other parties. I don’t blame any of these political heavy-hitters for deserting the P/NDC after coming to their senses. While some may argue that those who’ve deserted the P/NDC to join the NPP may have ulterior motives, the crux of the issue is that no one—except, maybe wishful thinkers—would want to be part of a losing team. Grace Omaboe, the champion of children, joined the NPP on the merit of the School Feeding Program, which was conceived in the minds of the NPP leadership and funded by the Dutch government. This program does not only help to nourish the developing brains of our children, but also, it serves as an impetus to enroll more students. On a side note, the only interest the P/NDC had in our education was to UN-educate the populace, or at best, to reduce our quality of education. If not, why would Rawlings institute the JSS/SSS educational system and, thereafter, send his children abroad to be educated? Wasn’t he trying to tell us that the JSS/SSS system was bad for his children? Sorry for the digression, folks, but my intention here is to buttress the point that the policies of Rawlings and his P/NDC party grossly underscore their impending demise. They don’t have to question why many Ghanaians resent them, for much of the credit for our détente, ironically, lies with the Rawlingses themselves.

Some of the avid supporters of the dying P/NDC party are evoking their pseudo-intellectualism in an effort to make their case to the electorate to put their party back in power. These die-hard fans led by Nana Kwabena (or is it Amma?) Obenewaa would travel the four corners of the earth in search of a potion that could put Rawlings’ P/NDC back in power. Nana Amma-Kwabena Obenewaa, who is by far Rawlings’ biggest fan that I know of, had nothing good to say to me in her response to my prequel to this article (The Evil Trinity: Rawlings, Konadu and Mills, 2008-08-13). After reading from the afore-referenced article that Rawlings executed a relative of mine during his revolution, Nana Kwabena-Amma Obenewaa, instead of being cautious with her remarks, went on record to paint Rawlings as the best thing to ever happen to Ghana, and she succinctly concluded, “In my psychoanalysis of the author, I believe that he fantasizes, daily, about the Rawlingses.” For the record, I was old enough when I witnessed the painful execution of my relative; I do have emotional scars from that incident. In spite of this personal tragedy, which partly explains my dislike of Rawlings, among other things, the omniscient Nana Kwabena-Amma Obenewaa thinks I am a lunatic who is just obsessed with the former president. Well, that’s an awful thing to say to anybody who’s lost a relative courtesy of Rawlings. Further, Nana Kwabena-Amma Obenewaa went on record to comment on an article written by Dr. Ahoofe to the effect that when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah imprisoned his opponents, which caused some of them to lose their lives and eyesight, that Nkrumah was being lenient towards them—yes, you read it right, Nkrumah was being lenient to his opponents by imprisoning them under harsh conditions, which resulted in their death (Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame. A Rascally Liar Sings the Blues. August 27, 2008). Maybe Nana Amma Obenewaa was trying to find justification for Rawlings’ unparalleled atrocities. Or could it be that he/she has a “thing” for murderers? Perchance, when Rawlings killed several judges, military generals, innocent and defenseless citizens, and imprisoned us in our own country—to Nana Amma Obenewaa, that was Rawlings and his P/NDC party being NICE to us. By extrapolation, I would argue that Nana Amma (Kwabena) Obenewaa would even defend the NDC disciples if they staged another coup to seize power. She never ceases to amaze. It is almost comical and outright oxymoronic, to say the least, that this same lady/gentleman, who would allow herself to be sacrificed, if that was the only way to bring the P/NDC back in power would, sporadically, deny being a member/supporter of the P/NDC. Even though I was rubbed in a wrong way by her comment, yet, I don’t see any reason to be harsh towards him/her. Unquestionably, he/she is a bright individual but, sometimes, his/her line of reasoning appears to be far away from anything that’s rational. At first, I wasn’t capable of wrapping my brain around the fact that someone who is so gifted would formulate her comments behind irrational and speculative “facts.” Now, I think I have a good idea as to why he/she behaves that way. What is more, he/she is the only person that I know of who is both for AND against the P/NDC. As if that was not strange enough, he/she is even unsure of his/her gender. Against this backdrop, it would be pointless to trade insults with such a confused person, who, obviously, is wrestling with his/her inner conflicts; in fact, he/she is a walking conundrum.

The dying P/NDC party and its disciples want to secure the presidency by any means necessary, even if that means they have to use the “back door.” These fomenters of violence think they will not be stymied by anything in their quest to secure what they believe to be rightfully theirs. They came into power and stayed in power either by staging a coup or rigging elections; free and fare election, evidently, is never a part of their diction. Anticipating defeat in the upcoming elections, Rawlings/Mills and their henchmen are inculcating in their disciples to throw the country into chaos if they lose. They don’t have any modicum of love for our country. They are willing to tear the country apart to get what they want. When Rawlings was in the business of rigging elections while in office, the then opposition party (NPP) never threatened to use violence to gain power. Contrary to the NDC era, the NPP has never rigged any elections and it has no intention of doing so this year, but Rawlings/Mills and their P/NDC party have preemptively insinuated that the NPP will do just that. Obviously, anybody with good vision can see through Rawlings’ thin skull. I do remember a press conference he had about three months ago, in which he blamed President Kufour for orchestrating the murders of a number of people. The notion that one could blame his opponents for crimes for which one is known, is Rawlings’ concocted stratagem to topple the NPP party. By accusing the NPP of planning to rig the elections he is, in a way, trying to draw attention away from his past record of doing such and, also, furnishing his followers with a reason to destabilize the country if he loses. Humphrey Tettey Mensah, a faithful disciple of the P/NDC, has written to taunt the NPP of what he and his party will do if the elections are rigged. In his cowardly and demented mindset, such an act would incur a civil war in the country. In this age of improved tolerance between the various ethnic groups that constitute our country, Mr. Humphrey and his like appear to be the anomaly. Nobody that I know of take his threats seriously, especially coming from someone who is immune to reason. However, when Prof. Mills spoke to the same effect that the post-election violence that shook the very foundation of Kenya would be replicated in Ghana if there were voting improprieties, the issue took an ominous turn. The P/NDC party was founded on the blood of innocent Ghanaians and the tenets of Rawlings and, therefore, it makes logical sense that they see violence as the only means to achieve an end. I have belief in Ghanaians that we will not buy into Rawlings’ violent post-election vision, which will not only polarize the country, but will potentially destroy some of the infrastructures we’ve managed to put up under the NPP leadership. Considering the vicissitudes of Africa’s political landscape, Ghana’s democracy is the envy of the entire Africa and a paradigm for all fledgling democratic countries in the Dark Continent. On this note, I would hope that my fellow Ghanaians would not fan any flame that may be initiated by the hell-bent Rawlings and his band of thugs. I do believe that evil follows those who plot evil. Currently, Rawlings is living like a prisoner in his own country, always “looking over his shoulder,” as if someone may want to harm him. I may sound redundant and preachy at this point but, folks, bear with me for a second. I am surprised by the fact that this madman, Rawlings, still has followers, who believe everything that he says. It saddens me that there are some people in our country who can’t even afford to get treatment or pay for their children to go to the best schools in our country, and yet, they support someone who stole enough from the country to educate his children abroad. It saddens me to hear from people who couldn’t even voice their opinion during Rawlings’ term in office for fear of being annihilated-- that they support him, and further, they use the freedom made available to them by the NPP administration to hurl insults at President Kufour. It saddens me that there are some people who still follow Rawlings in spite of his murderous rampage-- which is unparalleled in our history-- and his willingness to turn the country into minced meat so he can regain power. God have mercy on Ghana, and the few who have elected to follow this maniac. (PS: I deliberately used the name of Rawlings here and elsewhere even though this name won’t be on the ballot box in December. Rawlings is the embodiment of the P/NDC party and “Mills” is his nom de plume for this year’s election).

I am not pro-violence, but if Rawlings starts a coup for any reason, let it be firmly established that, this time around, he may lose more than his finger nails. In fact, he may not even survive it to impose his will on us again. I am against the use of violence as most Ghanaians are, but Rawlings’ use of force to rule us for 20 years and his threat to resort to the same ruse to secure the presidency, is something that most Ghanaians, including myself, find unacceptable, especially in the 21st century when everything is expected to be done civilly. Rawlings and his band of thugs have grossly mistaken our “leave it to God” attitude and godly personality to mean we are stupid. They will suffer unparalleled repercussions if they think they can take Ghana for a ride again. Once again, I am not advocating for the use of violence to counter Rawlings; I am just evoking a principle of the Bible that, “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

Taken together, the P/NDC may disappear from the politics of Ghana after this year’s elections. The aftermath of this year’s election will be a joyous occasion for the people of Ghana, and a sad one for the P/NDC. I would propose a funeral procession for the deceased P/NDC party on the morning of December 8, 08. Nana Akufo Addo, the heir apparent to the throne of the presidency, will ride the elephant that will carry the proverbial cremated remains of the P/NDC to the Volta River. Until then, I will work on an obituary and a eulogy for the ceremony. I have compiled the following information thus far: Chief mourners: Jato Julor Rawlings (Mental Institution, Asylum Down, Ghana), Agyemang Konadu Rawlings (Mental Institution, Asylum Down, Ghana), Attah Mills (Ghana Food Distribution, Ghana), Tsatsu Tsikata (Nsawam Prisons, Ghana), Nana Kwabena Obeng (Formerly Nana Amma Obenewaa, Canada), Fela O Fela (Security Guard, USA), Humphrey Tettey Mensah (Home Health Attendant/Security guard, USA). Does anybody have other ideas?

The author, also known as TROUBLE-MAKER, can be reached via nanaakwasitwumasi@googlemail.com