NPP a state of confusion Where are they going?

Feature Article of Thursday, 24 January 2013

Columnist: Tamakloe, Kojo

Kojo Tamakloe

Why shout at Ex President Kuffour and Dr Brobbey?. Is that democracy?

I have always wondered what the NPP stands for : “New Patriotic party ?“
The party says it is new . New from what? To me, it is an admission of its sordid past and history . It means it now has a well thought out ideology and a plan . As some one wrote the other day “ Bawumia to lead NPP”, he admitted the foundation of the current party as an amalgamation of tribal parties. The UP or united party was a reaction to the bill banning parties to be regional or tribal based .This was further confirmed by Paa Kwesi attah Sekyi , in his recent tribute to the CIA agent and traitor , J B Danquah . The question is have they moved from those foundations ? But it would seem we have people who are too buried in their tribal sense they are not capable of anything better .Just read this . “Ewes are inward looking people with know respect for themselves. for years we hv been voting for them yet ewes remain the very poor in the southern ghana, we leave in the uncompleted house of the akans in accra nd work on their farms in eastern, western and AR etc. if we hd shown them (NDC) the red card MAY THEY will change their attitude towars us. most with my knowledge about who we are (Ewes) we shall continue to be second citizens to the akans. our cheifs themself are idiot chiefs. some of them are chief without followers. they only tin they know is politicians buying them with unfilled promise and 500 gh cedis”. They do not know that the Volta region has a mixed composition of tribes and if they know do not want to accept it. As they told Sam Okudjeto sometime back “ we have made up our minds, do not confuse us with facts”. Are these the people you want in the castle? And is this a “ new” way of thinking? Hey guys politics is like a market place and you do not insult your customers. Remember “ the customer is always right” . Do we need rocket scientists to tell you the obvious?

One other false claim of the party is that it is full of educated people and so labeled the CPP, a party of “ verandah boys” .It still has the same attitude to other parties. It has therefore laid claim to all knowledge and so it members and supporters regurgitate this fallacy ad nausea. Kutu Acheampong was labeled “ Swedru Busco” and Rawlings is labeled an ‘O “ level drop out.They thus do not hesitate to insult others as small minded or illiterates as some believe that by belonging to the Danquah Busia Dombo fraternity it confers on them, like flu, educational qualifications .If that could be true then some of us would have a thousand PHDs . Unfortunately knowledge is acquired through hard life long learning . Perhaps they hope to pull membership and support to themselves by posing to be knowledgeable.

The founding fathers also put out another fallacy of elitism, the cream of society as they are” wealthy”. So if they are not with a PHD , then they claim to be business people and wealthy. Without them nothing can move in Ghana . Unfortunately we do not see their wealth and they go round talking about people being jealous about them. Some of us have said it again and again had J B Danquah and his people won instead of Nkrumah , Ghana would have been for just a lucky few. We witnessed it under Busia and then Kutu Acheampong was also converted into that philosophy . Was it not that kind of selfishness that let to June 4th . All Danquah wanted was to be second to the British and be local over lord . All take a look at the African landscape where there have been the most brutal wars and ask what type of governments they had? The Danquah Busia type , Kenya, Liberia, CAR, Congo DR , Congo Brazaville, Nigeria, Sierra Leone , CIV , Rwanda-Burundi Take a look at at Congo
“DR Congo is estimated to have $24 trillion (equivalent to the combined Gross Domestic Product of Europe and the United States) worth of untapped deposits of raw mineral ores, including the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and significant quantities of the world’s diamonds, gold and copper. The major ores extracted throughout the DRC are:
• Cobalt
• Diamonds
• Gold
• Copper
• It also has oil and coal reserves . Its forest with timber has not been touched . It has about 10x the area of Ghana with a population of about 75m. It is blessed with fertile lands with plenty of rainfall But Congo D R remains a poor country with poor roads and a literacy rate far below that of Ghana . What does Congo lack ? Human capital and a good leader as we had in Nkrumah
TP Mazempe is a leading football team in the Congo and Africa. It has represented Africa twice at the world club level .It is financed by a wealthy Congolese. We have sold some of our best players to T P Mazempe . Where are the wealthy people who boast around? Where is their patriotism . Where are the Bonos , Warren Buffets, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates from among them to create jobs and improve the welfare of their people? Must it be only through politics?
Nigeria grosses about $50bn a year in oil revenue alone . But Nigeria lags behind Ghana in many things .Why ? Natural reserves have to be turned into wealth
Ethiopia National team is back. Research shows it is financed by a wealthy Ethiopian. When the Black Stars struggled it was Abedi Pele and later capito Appiah who used their own money to sponsor the Black Stars. The only other person outside of this to my knowledge is D K Poison . So where are the wealthy loud mouth persons.?

Also when it comes to delivery they are found wanting. Their performance in 1969 – 1972 1nd then 2001 to 2009 point clearly to the fact that they are useless. I once wrote about if J B Danquah had won the election instead of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah . J B Danquah lived abroad and wanted to copy the life of the elite for himself and a selected few . Nkrumah on the other hand even when abroad was already fighting for the under dog . For that he was labeled a “ communist” . That was the term reserved for non conformists. Let me remind readers that this included people like Nelson Mandela who was jailed under the communist suppression act and the late Julius Nyerere
If then the NPP is “ new” , one would then expect that it will eschew what it was noted for in the past , tribalism” and tribal supremacy. Elitism and arrogance. But has the NPP learned from the past when it decided to change its name? The NPP in the campaign season went on a listening tour. What did it hear? What were they told?
“ Patriotism” is a love for and devotion to ones country. Da nquah betrayed his country and recently we read NPP USA appealing to donor nations to starve Ghana of funds , as they lost the election. Nana Akuffo is also rumored to have worked for the CIA . Are those acts of patriotism? By the way Nana , Lance Armstrong has confessed, so when are you going to confess ?
I want to thank the real patriots of Ghana who put us on the map without making noice, Chris Brandt, Robert Gardiner, Addo Odamettey, Aggrey Fynn, Osei Kofi, Ankrah bros, James Dogbe, Agaudze, Awuley Quaye, Sulley Shittu, The Jacks sisters , Mike Ahey, Christiana Boateng, Quarteys, Willie Evans, Ofei Dodo, Baba Yara, Dogo Moro, Abedi Pele , the Quaye brothers, Floyd Robertson, Love Allottey, D K Poison, Nelson Azumah, V C 10 , Attuquayefio Jones, Yaw Preko, Allotey, M Salisu. Golden Boy Abdul Razak, Alice Anum , Rose Hart, Joe Sam and many more in other fields .

NPP please learn humility and honesty . Let the words new and patriotism resonate in your ears . Stop your lies and make Ghana a progressive country.

The write Kojo Tamakloe is an Nkrumaist , who believes it is through African Unity that Africa will overcome under development