Would the true Messiah of NDC please stand up?

The presidential aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, is reported to have claimed more recently that he is the true “Messiah” who can return the party to power (See: ‘I’m NDC’s Messiah - Spio-Garbrah’; the publisheronline.com/ghanaweb.com, 24/09/2018).

Perhaps, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, more than anything else, is trying his level best to raise the spirits of the disheartened NDC supporters, many of whom have rightly lost trust in the NDC leadership as a result of their dreadful errors in decision-making.

Who is a Messiah?

“In Jewish eschatology, the term Messiah came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy anointing oil, to be king of God's kingdom, and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age. In Judaism, the Messiah is not considered to be God or a pre-existent divine Son of God (Wikipedia.org).”

On the other hand, the Gospels consistently maintain that Jesus is the Messiah—the One chosen by God, and, anointed by Him to save His people from their sins (Matthew 16:16; Luke 4:17-21; John 1:40-49; 4:25, 26).

It has however been written that after Jesus’ resurrection, the apostle Peter reminded the crowd about “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we,” Peter said, “are witnesses of all things which He did” (Acts 10:38, 39).

‘Jesus Himself claimed to be the promised Messiah. Take, for example, when He talked with a woman at a well in Samaria, she said, “‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He’ ” (John 4:25, 26).

Jesus is, in fact, still the Messiah—God’s chosen, anointed One, who came to deliver us from sin and Satan. As the Messiah, He offers you forgiveness for your sins. He promises you salvation and a place in His coming kingdom. “Come to Me,” He urges, “ ‘and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28, 29) (Source: Bibleinfo.com).

The all-important question then is: who is the NDC’s “true Messiah?” And, can the NDC’s “true Messiah” take us to the promise land?

Apparently, there is an ongoing tug of war over the choice of a popular flagbearer to lead the NDC to recapture the elusive victory in the 2020 general elections.

While the Mahama loyalists are moving heaven and earth to have him return as the party’s 2020 presidential candidate, the supporters of the other presidential aspirants are insisting that Mahama was not up to the task during his tenure in office and must be replaced with a more competent flagbearer.

It must be emphasised that following their 2016 humiliating election defeat, the NDC Party faithful are somehow undergoing a process of grief.

We have apparently been witnessing unbridled reactive emotional responses from the NDC diehard supporters ever since they lost the 2016 election.

We have also been observing somewhat bizarrely how the NDC supporters have been urging their leaders to do something about the painful election defeat.

Strangely, however, some grieving supporters have been lamenting inexorably: "We’ll not vote if you failed to bring “the former president” (Mahama) back ".

But in sharp contrast to the wishes of some NDC supporters, the founder of NDC, former President Rawlings does not agree with the teeming supporters who are blindly clamouring for the return of the ‘losing horses’.

If you may recall, during the 2016 electioneering campaign, we witnessed how the seemingly unhappy former President Rawlings kept grumbling and raising concerns about the rampant sleazes and corruption in the erstwhile NDC administration.

Ex-President Rawlings thus laments: “The principles of June 4 are not alien or has never been alien to mankind. They are no different from the most basic religious or human values. Probity, accountability and social justice would on any day liberate the overwhelming majority of our people from the bondage or difficulties they find themselves in.

“The fight against corruption, greed and avarice has however been at great cost. Noble soldiers have died; noble civilians have died for it and so many of the noble ones have suffered and continue to suffer all kinds of indignities for their principles and convictions.

“I want to remind people that we could not have possibly forgotten that Generals were executed. The greed, corruption and injustice of today is a thousand times more than what these Generals were executed for, and if we are unable to restore a firm measure of integrity into our dealings, then the blood of many would have been shed in vain.

“Not too long ago I thought we heard the jockeys claiming the horses were responsible for this disgraceful failure while one of the horses was bold enough to lay the failure at the doorstep of the jockeys.

“For me, we lost our masses because we betrayed the values of June 4. However if this horse – jockey business cannot be resolved comprehensively, allowing integrity to prevail, then let both of them step aside and allow for fresh leaders with solid integrity to provide the needed leadership” (Rawlings 2017; myjoyonline.com).

Who are the fresh leaders with solid integrity in NDC then?

Ironically, former President Rawlings is said to have founded the NDC based on the principles of probity, accountability and transparency, and yet sleazes and corruption were so prevalent in the outgone NDC government.

If we honestly juxtapose the alleged corrupt practices of the murdered army officers in the 1979 coup d’état with the sleazes and corruption which took place in the erstwhile NDC administration, we cannot help but to pronounce that the Generals were “shot for less”.

The sleazes and corruption, as a matter of fact and observation, pervaded every facet of the erstwhile NDC administration, and hence earning the famous descriptive nickname, ‘create loot and share’ government.

It goes without saying that despite their much touted mantra of transparency, probity and accountability, we witnessed so much scheming guiles, sleazes and corruption in the erstwhile NDC administration. Who are they trying to deceive?

The outgone NDC government’s officials, regrettably though, have been committing the same crimes (sleazes and corruption) their party founders pathetically accused and exterminated many innocent people for.

Of course, there is nothing wrong for any individual to tag himself/herself as a proponent of transparency, probity and accountability. However, it is somewhat hypocritical and dishonest when a group of people who claim to be the exponents of such ethos would then turn around and dip their hands into the national purse as if there is no tomorrow.

After all, aren’t the NDC apparatchiks claiming to be preachers of transparency, probity and accountability?

So why are they blatantly refusing to practice what they have been relentlessly preaching to us all these years?

Are they wolves in sheep’s clothing? May be they are.

Perhaps, they are false prophets, who have been relentlessly preaching to their unsuspecting followers that ‘it is written in the Holy Book that thou shall not steal’. Meanwhile they would cunningly turn around and dip their hands into the offering bowl as if the judgment day will never come.

Let us face it, though, we have in our midst manipulating politicians, whose primary objective is to clasp political power by the hook or by the crook so as to advance their vested interests.

Dearest reader, take a critical look at Ghana’s political landscape and you would agree with me that most of our politicians harbour vested interests, and, have no empathetic qualities whatsoever.

Indeed, if there is “a true Messiah” in the Umbrella fraternity who has the wherewithal to take us to the promise land, then let him/her please stand up.