Ode To The NDC (2)

NDC Flag

“OMAMA – Oh Massa Atta, Make Active, SUAME- Supporting Unilaterally Atta Mills Everyday, DJAM -DJs against Mills – Motto: Enkoyie, AMA – Ahba Massa Atta!!, KAO- Kick Atta Out!, TAFAM- Tamale Footsoldiers Against Mills, MTN 2012 – Mills Tena Nkyen 2012, FAMAKAR – Friends of Atta Mills Against Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, AMOGS- Atta Mills Opposition Go Shame, BANK 2012: Back Atta Not Konadu 2012, DWFAFC- Dzi Wo Fie Asem Fun Club, LOAFS – Lovers Of Atta’s Fashion Statements. Motto: Political Suit all the Way!, COHIGRA – Coalition of Hitting the Ground Runners Association, FOAMACH: – Friends Of Atta Mills Against Cat Hunting, VUBA – Volta United Behind Atta, GHANA- God Has Already Nominated (or Neglected) Atta, ELA – Ecomini Lovers Association,” Anon.

The headlines speak volumes. “Prof. Mills is the right man in the wrong party,” quotes Joshua Alabi. “Forgive us our trespasses,” pleads Prof. Mills. “Faustina Nelson breaks silence…Accuses NDC NEC of double standards”.  The confessions flowing from the mouths and inner throats of NDC activists are enough to show the rotten past of the NDC. Is there any record in the history of mankind of any good person voluntarily joining a rotten society and voluntarily continuing to be part and parcel of it? This is the riddle Mr. Alabi will have to unravel.

My own father of blessed memory was called Mallam Mama Kwaku Gyasi, an Ahmadi Muslim.  I had an elder brother who also died some years back. He was called Kwadwo Mama (house name) and Mohammed Gyasi (school name). So, one can understand my interest in the late Alhaji Kwadwo Mama Adam.

Alhaji Adam was a PNDC cadre to the core. In fact, he was a thoroughbred PNDC cadre who was reputed to have had direct access to the NDC royal family.

Mr. E.K. Owusu is a certified accountant who had just returned from Britain at the time when the 1992 elections were about to take place. Somehow, he got himself involved with the NDC and got nominated to stand on the NDC ticket for one of the Techiman parliamentary seats. With the boycott of the parliamentary elections by the NPP, Mr. Owusu had an easy passage to parliament. By the time the 1996 elections were due, the undemocratic nature of the NDC saw Mr. Owusu giving up his parliamentary seat to Alhaji Adam. Mr. Owusu quickly and quietly disappeared from the political arena, never to be heard again. On the other hand, Alhaji Adam reigned supreme and was also made the deputy regional minister for Brong Ahafo. When the NDC lost the 2000 elections, he found himself as the Brong Ahafo regional chairman of the party.

Mr. Owusu may not be the only person of the NDC stock who suddenly found himself tasting sour grapes of the NDC political machinisations. There are many people I know who have tales of woes to tell. Such persons should include Dr. Kwesi Botchwey himself who today is competing for the NDC presidential slot. The only possible reason somebody like myself who watches events from the touchline can offer is that most of the PNDC/NDC operatives appear to have thick skins or have well-developed jaws which absorb all the heavy upper cuts dished out to them by the godfather, as was done to the late Vice-President, Mr. Arkaah.

It is very intuitive to note that the first meeting between the two NDC presidential candidates took place at the funeral of Alhaji Adam. It would have been very interesting if Mr. Joshua Alabi, Greater Accra regional NDC chairman, were around at the funeral. During the 1996 elections, Mr. Alabi won a seat as an NDC parliamentary candidate in Greater Accra. He was made the Greater Accra Regional Minister. Then like a bolt from the blue, he was sent packing as the Regional Minister in one of the savannah regions. How he lost his parliamentary seat during the 2000 elections should form a wonderful part of any future memoirs he would write. It should provide an educative insight into the NDC political machinisations during the regime of the royal family. I will pay everything and anything to get a copy of that memoirs should it ever be written. Today Mr. Alabi is in the camp of Prof Atta Mills.

THE EVENING NEWS of Wednesday, October 12, 2002 had a double-decker headline at its front page. It screamed as follows: “Rawlings can’t control Mills, says Joshua Alabi”. The story that followed read in part: “Professor John Atta Mills, former vice-president will no longer stay under the shadow of his mentor, ex-president Jerry John Rawlings, should he become the next President of Ghana”.

The Professor will be his own man and listen to the Council of State for advice as mandated by the constitution. He (Mr. Alabi) described Prof. Mills as: “the right man in the wrong party” during the last presidential election

One NDC juggernaut and a political man of timber and caliber who was present at Alhaji Adam’s funeral was the NDC national chairman, Dr. Obed Asamoah. Dr. Asamoah’s love-hate relationship with the Rawlings family is a tale any political scientist will give up the head of Medusa to get exclusive rights to. The rumour doing rounds is that while in public, Dr. Asamoah has always shown complete respect both personal and professional towards Mr. Rawlings, in private however, it has always been a different ball game.

Already, those with access to the crystal ball have sworn on one of the holy books, testifying as to which of the two NDC presidential candidates Dr. Asamoah’s broad shoulders are shielding.

It should be considered as an accident according to plan that all the bigwigs of the NDC assembled at Alhaji Adam’s funeral.

The NDC reminds me of both Ghana and Nigeria. At independence, Ghana adopted the motto: “Freedom and Justice”. Ironically, Ghanaians have never known true freedom and justice. Nigeria on the other hand adopted as her motto at independence: “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress”. Again ironically, Nigerians have never known any of those worthy phenomena in their lives. The NDC is anything but democratic. In fact, democracy is a complete antithesis to the NDC.

The PNDC gave birth to the NDC in order to perpetuate the royal despotic and draconian rule of the PNDC. After the massive atrocities committed by the PNDC, it was a grave matter of concern to certain families when some of their members joined the NDC either at its birth or while growing up. The NDC virtually assumed everything satanic of the PNDC.

Today, both the camps of the two NDC presidential aspirants are doing everything to break the drug infested 100 metres record of Ben Johnson in distancing themselves from the sordid past of the PNDC.

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: 027 – 7588256

By Kwame Gyasi