There is therefore no wonder that even in opposition, the members and sympathizers of the NPP feel more respected and attract more respect and confidence publicly, than the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). Members of the NPP confidently wear their paraphernalia publicly than the ruling NDC. They speak about their membership of the party with their chests out, while members of the party in power shy away from identifying themselves with their own party.
It is not for nothing that our elders name their off-springs after very prominent and respectable members of their families. In this case, prominent not as in wealth, but in life well lived in a manner that society cherishes and upholds. The NPP has shown to the world that when it talks about democracy, it means it in all its facets. In 1992, when the PNDC metamorphosed into the NDC with all the state apparatus at its disposal, the NPP accepted the Constitution drawn by the ruling government, with all its weaknesses, as the document for the fourth republic.
The reason behind the acceptance of the document, the Indemnity Clause which was smuggled into it notwithstanding, was the fact that it was better for this nation to be governed by an imperfect constitution than to be ruled by a murderous dictator surrounded by spineless, unprincipled intellectuals whose crave for political power had been made possible by an equally unsuccessful military officer whose only way out to escape poverty was to abort a constitutional dispensation mid- way its tenure.
The pseudo-socialists who had used subterfuge, plain murder, intimidation and blackmail to govern this country needed to be shown the exit from dictatorial rule, courtesy Allotey Jacobs, alias educated fisherman, to a more civilized and respectable form of governance.
It was very clear that the processes before, during and after the December 1992 presidential elections were criminally tailored to meet the aspirations of the ruling PNDC, which had taken away the P to form the NDC.
After the elections, it became blatantly clear that the PNDC had rigged the elections in favour of the NDC. The leadership of the NPP, in spite of the tension in the country, put their intellectual prowess into play by recording all the kululuu which took place in that particular election. The leader of that exercise was no less a person than the current presidential candidate of the NPP. The outcome was a book titled the ‘Stolen Verdict’.
This happened on a continent where election results have generated endless internecine wars. Yes, it also happened in a country where guinea fowls have created wars leading to the death of over 3000 citizens of this country.
The world was amazed at the level of tolerance of the NPP and its belief that even if the elections had been stolen, it was better to stay in opposition and bid your time than to plunge the entire nation into chaos. So on and on, the NPP patiently waited on the good people of this country. While waiting, it also mended its ways.
It took a critical look at its structures, identified the weaknesses in them and strengthened them where necessary. Its constitution went through amendments as and when it became necessary, refined its message and strategies until it won power in the year 2000. What the NPP did with the power entrusted to it by the good people of Ghana is very well known to not only Ghanaians, but the world at large.
When the party lost power in 2008, it did not relent, and as typical of it, gathered its intellectuals– ladies and gentlemen- to critically analyse the cause or causes of the defeat and find solutions to them.
The outcome of that intellectual exercise was the theme ‘Reflect, Rebuild and Recapture’. The reflection certainly took into account what the party might have done wrong when in power as well as the shortfalls of the government. It also looked at its grassroots structures and how representative they were as far as internal democratic principles were concerned.
Having identified some weaknesses in them, some of the structures were strengthened through the rebuilding process. This led to the introduction of the electoral area coordinators, in addition to the polling station executives at the grassroots levels. The number of constituency office holders also went up with the introduction of certain positions, which hitherto did not exist.
The same went for the regional office positions as well as the national office positions. In all these, elections took place throughout the 230 constituencies and the 10 regions. Finally, the national elections were conducted at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi to elect our national officers.
The increased number of contestants in all these elections did not attract major bickering, which have the potential to break any political party apart.
When the major decision of the over 100,000 delegates to elect the flag-bearer of the party arrived, many were the cynics who believed that was going to be the end of the NPP, but once again, members of the party showed to the world that internal democracy had come to stay in the NPP and that it was paving the way for others the world over to learn from them.
By 6pm of that faithful day, the winner of that election had emerged and all the aspirants, except one resident in Kumasi, had congratulated the winner and gathered around him at a public place to hear him speak.
The world was once again astounded by that singular feat by a political party in opposition in Africa. They came from all walks of life to witness it in order to give testimony to the outside world.
To crown it all, last Saturday, the 30 th of April 2011, saw another feat of the NPP when almost another 100,000 delegates gracefully, decently, responsibly, with commitment and dedication to boot, travelled from their villages and hamlets, some of us from our cocoase villages to our district capitals, to show the broadened horizoned people that even in our cocoase nkurasi lives, and despite the Kumasi thing in us, we know how to choose our leaders in a very peaceful manner. Once again, a feat unsurpassed in the annals of democratic practices anywhere on the African continent.
Why will I not be proud that I am a member of the NPP? A party which does not trust its birth to any individual founder, but has collective ownership by its members, and has the propensity to behave according to its collective dictates rather than bending to the whims and caprices of a so-called deified founder. Continued…
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