NDC can never be CPP

The government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) must be given some credit for instituting the Kwame Nkrumah centenary celebration. It is an acknowledgement of the great works and the personality cult figure of Ghana’s first President.

Many African leaders and heads of governments attending a colloquium as part of the celebration could not agree more with the Ghanaian government on the celebration of the thought, ideas and the personality of the African of the millennium.

It is indeed refreshing to hear an Nkrumah contemporary Kenneth Kaunda, the former President of Zambia, together with Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, all eulogising the outstanding contributions of Nkrumah in the attainment of African unity.

Today is however worried. This is because the celebration of Nkrumah, the paper is reliably informed, forms part of a special design by the NDC to take over the CPP, Nkrumah’s political organization, that helped him to carve that African personality niche.

Nkrumah would not have succeeded in the many laudable projects that he instituted for Ghana and Africa without the support of appropriate political machinery that understood his standpoint on many issues that confronted Ghana and by stretch of imagination, the African continent.

After all his opponents did not support his agenda for independent now and also one of the harshest criticisms of Nkrumah was what his adversaries considered as the wanton destruction of Ghanaian resources in the name of Pan Africanism and African unity.

One of the criticisms was the funding support he offered President Sekou Toure of Guinea to fight the French colonial masters.

Perhaps the docility and the intense bickering amongst the so-called CPP elements have contrived to strengthen the resolve of the NDC to take over the CPP. The point is a united CPPists is always a winner of Ghanaian elections.

That was the more reason why Busia and his cohorts in the National Liberation junta that overthrew Nkrumah in 1966 did everything to ban the CPP or its proxy group from participating in the 1969 election.

Although the CPP metamorphosed into the PNP to win the 1979 election that successes became possible due to the measure of unity that was chalked amongst other CPP and Nkrumaists groups.

The same cannot be said of the current CPP. There were some CPP elements who were indeed working underground for the NDC during the 2008 election. Most of them today find themselves in the NDC administration and that we believe is offering the NDC the false hope that they can take over the CPP. How wrong!

The NDC has proven that it can never be like CPP in its outlook and operation. President Mills eulogized Nkrumah for the efforts he put into building a cohesive Ghana that we did not have the north, south, east and west dichotomy.

In the NDC, the direct opposite is the case. The party’s founder, former President Rawlings, has had cause to complain about the situation where only some particular ethnic groups are found within the government machinery and other public sectors.

In Atta Mills NDC, there seems to be two set of Ghanaians: one belonging to the ruling party called the foot soldiers, NDC party functionaries and the others.

The foot soldiers are those party members who believe they are the ones who ensured electoral victory for the party and believe any decision by the government should have their input. Rather pathetically, the governing party is also acquiescing to their demands.

They believe in politics of exclusivity and so would go at every length to cause the dismissal of a minister if they found out that contracts are awarded to opposition party members, notwithstanding the fact that the opposition member won the contract on merit through tender.

The president would have to appease the foot soldiers by dismissing the said minister. With Nkrumah and the CPP, the state took absolute control of the welfare of the citizenry through many novelties like the seven-year development programme, the farmers’ brigade and the cooperatives where jobs were provided by the state to people irrespective of their political or ethnic background.

The NDC cannot pride itself as having the same or similar module that catered for the well being of Ghanaians. The governing party through partisan politics is even destroying some of the state organised jobs and other welfare packages.

A case in point is the National Youth Employment programme put in place by its predecessor. Most of the workers have been dismissed and replaced by NDC youth just like the School Feeding programme which is also being manned by NDC sympathisers.

The security apparatus is also filled with NDC sympathisers while those who were retrenched for holding different political persuasions are still crying for their entitlements.

This is not the kind of Ghana Nkrumah and the CPP left for Ghanaians. Nkrumah’s vision of an inclusive Ghana is being replaced with a partisanship Ghana. The NDC should therefore carve its own image.

The attempts to use the Nkrumah’s celebration to steal his legacy would not work. For now the signs are clear, the NDC is by poles different in ideology and outlook from the CPP.

We hope the CPP members who are also trying to sell their birth right would not only be thinking about their selfish interest but consider the worth in value in the CPP tradition and keep its sanctity above any material consideration.