To the opposition parties in Ghana, we are in the month of November and the year is 2016. They have put their campaign machinery into full gear even before they elect their Constituency Executives. They are not thinking of what will put butter and bread (food) on someone’s table. Seriously, from the way the opposition parties are behaving these days, all I can say from that is for the individuals to win elections in the party but forget about the national elections. It looks like attaching their positions in the party to their names is all they are looking for. That alone is good enough for them.
For example, when the President of Ghana, HE John Dramani Mahama spoke at the 120th anniversary of the Accra Archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Accra over the weekend, he said “it doesn’t pay to vent our frustration on the radio talk show programs; if we must build a better and prosperous nation, all of us need to come together and act in consent” The President added that the quest to build a desirable, prosperous and better Ghana is the responsibility of all of us.
Please as you read what the President has said above, what at all is wrong with the statement coming from a President of a sovereign country? But let’s see how the opposition parties are re-acting to this fine statement. Speaking on OMAN FM, the one who wants to take over from Sir John as the NPP General Secretary, Yaw Boabeng Asamoah could not understand why the President wants Ghanaians to help him govern the country when he (the President) promised a Better Ghana. He continued to say that Ghanaians voted for the NDC for better living standards and thus President Mahama cannot shrink his responsibilities by asking the citizenry for help.
Fellow Ghanaians, as you read what an aspiring NPP General Secretary has said above, are you comfortable voting for this man and his party to come to power any time soon? To him, Ghanaians voted for NDC to better the living standards of Ghanaians and so the President has no right to ask Ghanaians to help in the running of the country. If the NPP had come to power in 2012, were they going to ask Americans, Russians, Indians, Chinese etc to help them run the country because they promised Free Senior High School Education? Nonsense!!
The editor-in-Chief of the Daily Searchlight, Mr. Ken Kuranchi, who is a die-hard leading NPP member, also speaking on the same OMAN FM said that the President should not forget his roots as a Communicator. He continued by saying the President utilized his “talking” ability to attain his position and influence in the nation. He went on to ask a silly question. The question was “why on earth would President Mahama who built his reputation and built his entire political career on his ability to talk begin to blame others for talking too much”? That was another idiot talking and asking a question.
So the opposition parties think that President Mahama built his entire political career on his ability to talk and so they are also talking? They are not even thinking of the way and manner President Mahama talked. Let me tell them how President Mahama talked. He talked wisely with a lot of common sense. Just so they know.
Sir John, the General Secretary of the NPP also said on XYZ news that “ours is a very constructive criticism of his administration. Therefore President Mahama’s government should stop attacking us and listen to constructive criticism.” Listen to Sir John talking about “constructive criticism.” Which of their criticism is constructive? The opposition is now confused about what are constructive criticisms, criticisms, and just talking because the President built his entire political career on talking.
The reason why I am convinced that the opposition parties in Ghana will remain in opposition for a long time is that they don’t have any ideas to help build the country. The only opposition leader that Ghanaians thought could rule the country “some way” was President John A. Kuffour. That’s it. When you read the news on the internet and on radio, all what members of the opposition parties are saying about President Mahama’s address is the part that suggested to them to stop making empty noises on the radio. None, I mean none of them is talking about the suggestion he made that if we must build a better and prosperous nation, all of us need to come together and act in consent.
I think President Mahama has given the opposition parties a very nice opportunity for them to be heard wisely on what they can offer to help build a better and prosperous nation. Because the opposition parties lack what it takes to build a nation, once again they are pretending like President Mahama never talked about nation building in his address. Let me tell them the truth in their face, they can never win any national elections in Ghana if they cannot offer alternative and wise suggestions to Ghanaians. If they prefer to just talk, they can continue to talk. If I were the opposition party, I will accept the offer from the President and stop campaigning because we just finished with one election and President John Mahama was validly elected. The other one is over three years away.
Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol)
Public Relations Officer (PRO)
NDC Washington Metro Branch
[email protected]