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Opinions of Sunday, 1 April 2018

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

Is NPP ready to hand power back to NDC in 2020?

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

It would only take a manful optimist to suggest that the NPP government has an absolute right to remain in power. In fact, such a view point could only be deemed as an isolated thinker’s thought process.

For if anything at all, President Akufo-Addo and his appointees have to work towards their re-election. That is by honouring the promises they made to discerning Ghanaians.

Indeed, the good people of Ghana found in NPP, a redeemer, in whom they put their absolute trust to set them free from the NDC government’s economic bondage.

Disappointingly, however, it would appear that some people who have been given the opportunity to serve in the current NPP administration are regrettably taking things for granted, judging from the unfortunate, albeit avoidable happenings at their work settings.

In so far as some of the allegations are mere flimsy work of the lousy opposition, the appointees cannot and must not keep opening themselves to obdurate tattletales, who are ever ready to pounce on insubstantial issues regardless.

Perhaps, more than anything else, the appointing authority may have to put its foot down and do the unthinkable in the Ghanaian political landscape by dismissing the stubbornly impenitent appointees.

In any case, I am of the firm conviction that the right curative for a possible attitudinal and behavioural change is to resort to stringent disciplinary measures.

Why must an unrepentant appointee hold on to his/her position despite an admissible evidence of gross misconduct?

By way of a brief digression, albeit pertinent to the topic under discussion, in a desperate attempt to quell the unrelenting impishness of their wayward children in most advanced countries, more specifically, the United Kingdom, where I have long-standing passing acquaintance, most parents often resort to the ineffective admonishing tool such as ‘stop it’. Certainly, it won’t work on an impenitently naughty child.

It is absolutely true that the apparent Labyrinth of rules and laws have invariably tied the hands of the usual disciplinarian African parent.

And, in contrast to the teachings of the holy book, parents have rather been instructed to spare the rod and spoil their children.

Personally, I do not accept the notion that a naughty child can only be reformed through corporal punishment. Suffice it to stress that, other disciplinary measures such as ‘carrots and sticks’ (rewards and sanctions) may be used to straighten unrepentant brats.

Whatever the case, the appointing authority must not and cannot continue to spare the rod and thereby jeopardising the bigger political project.

Let us be honest, though, some appointees are unfortunately refusing to accept the fact that the NPP government does not have absolute right to remain in power. Indeed, President Akufo-Addo and his appointees have to work towards their re-election.

Discerning Ghanaians, so to speak, voted the NDC government out of power in the 2016 general election largely due to the presence of arrogance of power, wanton corruption and sheer negligence.

Thus, we could conclude that discerning Ghanaians will not forgive the NPP government if they failed to perform exceedingly better than the erstwhile NDC government.

And what is more, the few lucky NPP appointees must not turn away from their brassbound party loyalists, many of whom worked their socks off to ensure the electoral victory in the 2016 election.

Make no mistake, dearest reader, one cannot be far from right for asserting that during the 2016 electioneering campaign, the vast majority of the supporters at the lower end of the ladder worked extremely hard than most of the people who have landed appointments in government.

So, let the NPP government appointees knowingly trample upon the ordinary hardworking and selfless men and women at their own peril.

Even though the vast majority of the supporters knew very well that they’ll never in a million years get appointment in government, they persevered and worked studiously to ensure victory in the 2016 election.

Whichever way you may analyse the issue under discussion, the hardworking men and women at the grassroots are indeed the real patriots, who want nothing but the prosperity of Ghana. I, for one, will ever admire their unparalleled patriotism and altruism.

For the life of me, though, I cannot and would not fathom how and why it should only take a prophet to prophesy that NPP could lose the 2020 election if failed to fulfil its Manifesto promises.

Of course, the NPP government does not have the God’s given right to remain in power, and could therefore be shown the exit by discerning Ghanaians if failed to deliver on its promises. That, indeed, does not require a superior mind on rocket science or transcendental powers to predict.

It is absolutely true that discerning Ghanaians massively voted the NPP government into power at the backdrop of unbridled corruption and dereliction of duty by the outgone NDC government.

Corollary, and rightly so, the NPP government has no option than to deliver the goods and thereby transforming the lives of the teeming Ghanaians. Suffice it to state that the NPP government will have itself to blame if failed to meet the expectations of discerning Ghanaians.

Verily, in as much as some of us do not have any supernatural powers to determine the outcome of the 2020 election, we can nonetheless rightly asseverate that the ball is on the court of the NPP government from now till the next election to put things right so as to avert any calamity.

Believe it or not, we do not need a prophecy before realising that discerning Ghanaians will ventilate their arousing disgust in the event of the NPP government woefully failing to nab the political thieves who have been dipping their hands into the national purse.

Certainly, it goes without saying that discerning Ghanaians will show their appreciation if the poverty alleviation Free SHS is efficiently managed over the next few years.

In truth, no true patriotic Ghanaian will ever feel disappointed if Akufo-Addo’s government manages to help private companies to set up factories in most districts.

I bet patriotic Ghanaians will be most grateful if the NPP government keeps its promise and reduces the utility prices accordingly.

In fact, I won’t be least surprised if the hard working farmers across the country wake up one day and decide to express their heartfelt gratitude to Akufo-Addo’s government for graciously providing them with irrigation, dam and borehole facilities.

And, who says that the aggrieved drivers will not jump for joy if the NPP government manages to reduce the fuel prices reasonably?

No prophecy will come to pass, if the NPP government manages to meet the expectations of discerning Ghanaians.

To me, the best the NPP appointees could do for those party loyalists and the millions of discerning Ghanaians who rightly brought the party into power is to stay focus and hit the ground running so as to ameliorate their lives.

Indeed, President Nana Akufo-Addo and his appointees must not and cannot disappoint discerning Ghanaians, whose invaluable efforts brought about the needed change.