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The recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana have, unexpectedly, exposed the urgent need for any NPP government, particularly that of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to protect and consolidate the NPP’s core base, that is, if it is really serious to rule beyond. 2024 to continue with its strategic development in all corners of the country.
Why this observation?
Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, the base of the PNP has made enormous sacrifices of their demands and local needs and has possibly guaranteed the security and peace of the country both in the opposition and in the government. They suffered a huge infrastructure deficit in their communities under Rawlings’ two-term presidency (not to mention his 19 years in office before that). Kufuor’s two-term successive government focused on pulling the country out of its huge hold on the debt it inherited from the P / NDC governments, then focused on its signature transformative achievements like the National Health Insurance Plan, the Capitation grant, school feeding programs, etc. .for the benefit of the whole country and therefore this deficit was never fully addressed. Even the inland port and international airport promised they have the potential to stimulate entrepreneurship and local private developments, which never materialized in practice. Things even got worse and deteriorated further under the wasteful 8 years of the Atta Mills / Mahama government, where there were no significant developments in the country as a whole and even for those few that emerged in the capital, the expenditures were allegedly exaggerated. Then came the government of Akufo-Addo, where it was once again the basis for sacrificing its local demands and needs so that the government focused on serving the entire country with its transformative and future-oriented policies.
Long-time average loyalists of the nuclear power plant core base have always been asked to make huge sacrifices for the good and benefit of the entire country. Many times, they have been asked to look at the big picture and have been urged to resign and sacrifice their respective demands and local needs of the PNP governments for fear that the party will be labeled partisan while watching with envy when contracts are entered into. lucrative commercials. granted to people on the opposite side, and infrastructure developments emerge in oppositional locations across the political spectrum.
The grassroots are well aware that they also benefit from the programs of the NPP governments as a whole, frustrations only arise when the NPP governments go the extra mile to address the local needs and demands of the communities they serve. they are not from the base. Despite all these frustrations and dissatisfaction with their demands and needs, the rank and file came in their numbers, once again, to rescue the party from a near disaster in these recent elections because they looked at the bigger picture, since the alternative is the government. NDC retrograde that is devoid of ideas, but full of propaganda and lies. The NDC would not develop its base or that of the opposition, much less the entire country.
There is no certainty or guarantee in eexpanding the base:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with expanding the party base with ideas, sound policies, infrastructure developments, incentives and goodwill, but doing so at the expense of the natural core of the party is, in particular, suicidal and futile from the point of view of one. If the meaning is that; concentrating developments in these off-base localities at the expense of the central base will make the party appear non-partisan, acceptable to those communities, and thus elicit any kind of appreciation or gratitude in terms of widespread votes, then the powers which should be forget it, because that is ‘not going to happen’ anytime soon!
The reason is that there are a remarkable number of districts, constituencies and regions in Ghana that will continue to be parochial in their needs, demands, and their degree of success and satisfaction. Regardless of what the NPP governments manage to do for them, be it infrastructure developments in education, agriculture, roads, buildings, dams, fisheries and maritime defense systems that directly benefit the same communities in those respective districts, districts and regions. They are not yet satisfied and objective in their assessment of the match.
Furthermore, it could be said that a vast majority of people in some of these communities in those districts, constituencies, and regions are susceptible to conspiracy theories, stereotypes, and propaganda about the PNP and will therefore continue to view the PNP as the other ”. enemy party regardless of any good faith gestures, rapprochement, goodwill measures and honest discussions. So why bother too much anyway? For these and other reasons, they will not see, at least, the big picture in the good policies of the NPP governments that benefit their people as part of other advances that move the whole country forward.
As indicated above, the party can continue to strive to make important roads and expand into non-base territories, which is good, but must be corrected here; Even if the PNP wins majorities in these non-basic areas, there is no certainty or guarantee that the PNP can win power with that alone without the majority of its main base showing up to vote.
Avoid complacency to address the following concerns:
For the sake of the viability of the nuclear power plant and democratic dispensation in the fourth republic, the following concerns need to be urgently addressed because there is only a limited sacrifice that the central base of the nuclear power plant can make for the good of the whole country, together with the frustrations that NPP and its supporters are always expected to be the ‘only adults in the room (country)’ while the other parties and their supporters, especially NDC, go nuts and continue to throw tantrums whenever they don’t get away with yours.
First, the NPP party must go back to the basics of electing its primary candidates by allowing the selection of candidates through local party members and avoiding any imposition as, supposedly, happened last time. The NPP (ours) is not a ‘one man show’ or a coronation hall, it is a contest of ideas, politics and the power of persuasion by allowing the electorate to choose their own choice through contests. Imposition is anathema to the core democratic principles and founding of the party and anyone who boasts of leading or representing the party has to submit to competition for that mantle, regardless of how popular the person is. It is this brand that attracts men and women of goodwill and motive to the party and losing this brand makes the party like any other party in Ghana and thus risks upsetting its core base, which is even more insightful, cunning, and very relentless and critical of the shortcomings of his own people.
Second, the PNP has to correct this attitude of taking things for granted, either with its grassroots electorate, with the opposition party, or with the electorate in general: that is, the belief that; the rank and file are guaranteed to vote for the party, no matter what, and therefore can afford to dismiss rank-and-file concerns. That he can remain immune to this “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” perception with the NDC opposition in regards to non-prosecution of alleged corruption charges. And last but not least, the thought that its good deeds, deeds, transformative policies, and good management of the economy alone will make the party love the electorate / general public and thus , get you to the finish line in every election. The loss of the PNP parliamentary seat in the Medina (and other) electoral district is a clear example of this complacency.
Third, it would be very wrong and disappointing, therefore, for NPP to assume that ‘everything remains the same’ now that the elections are over and the presidential elections won. It is this attitude that tends to cause them to overlook or dismiss the heart of the matter that is often perceived or presented as arrogance and intellectualism to well-intentioned individuals, as well as those with ulterior motives. It is this attitude that gives the perception that they are only speaking lip service about the fight against corruption and, as such, they are not in it to fight it with all the vigor and seriousness that it requires, for example, the lack of full prosecution of all alleged NDC offenses. It is this attitude that inclines the party to feel that it can continue to ignore its core base and allow others, maliciously, to frame the narrative to define all Akans as a monolithic group for those who are gullible enough to believe it, and thus hence the desire to correct. this perception by embarking on this so-called base expansion at enormous cost to your central base.
None of the above is sustainable. There is a genuine fear that complacency will set in, incurring the displeasure of the main base, hence the need for an immediate course correction by the party.
For the above reasons alone, there is an immediate need to avoid complacency to ensure that the foundation is urgently satisfied. There is absolutely no point in neglecting and incurring the wrath of the ‘Golden goose laying the golden eggs’ for a phantom expansion. NPP governments must quickly learn to make both possible and must succeed in doing both at the same time, with immediate effect.
In conclusion, it could be said that the long-suffering central base of the PNP, as now, has no choice / alternative but to continue their sacrifices of seeing the big picture in the PNP until the opposition parties act together to provide further improvements. alternative to the majority of Ghanaians with honest leadership and informed progressive policies and ideas that benefit the majority of Ghanaians and move the whole country forward.
That said, this year’s elections clearly demonstrated that there is a limit to the resistance of the NPP rank-and-file sacrifices and compromises, and the party ignores the central rank-and-file at its own risk. As is often said in ‘Ogyakrom’, one word for the wise is enough.
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