2010 - Year of Political Action indeed

3/1/11

By Musah Yahaya Jafaru
THE year 2010, which marked the second year of President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration, witnessed important developments in the political environment of Ghana. These were characterised by the election of national executive members of political parties, most importantly, the election of the flag bearer of the country’s major opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the political wrangling between the Majority and Minority in Parliament, and the walk-out of the Minority in Parliament. The constant attack on the performance of President John Evans Atta Mills’ administration by former President Fl Lt J.J. Rawlings, the infamous accusation of former President Fl Lt Rawlings of setting fire to his own Ridge residence, the aftermath of the perceived attack by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman on the judiciary, the inauguration of the Constitution Review Commission, the rumour of former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings’ intention to contest the flag bearer position of the NDC with President Mills and the district level elections were the other significant political events in 2010.
The first major political event was the 8th National Delegates Congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) which was hosted in Tamale for three days in January.
Delegates to the congress endorsed amendments to the party’s constitution and voted overwhelmingly to retain Dr Kwabena Adjei and Mr Asiedu Nketiah as the Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, of the party.
Also chalking victories to join the old executives were a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who took the positions of Vice Chairpersons, while Mr Richard Quashigah became the new Propaganda Secretary.
The election was held in an atmosphere of peace, but the NDC expressed concern about the inability of the NPP to send representatives to the congress.
The spotlight then turned to the NPP, which was also gearing up for its congress to elect national executive members for the party. The election, which conducted peacefully in Kumasi, saw the election of Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, as Chairman with Kwaku Owusu Afriyie alias Sir John as General Secretary and other executive members.
In similar fashion, the NDC did not delegate any representatives to the NPP congress.
The success of the NPP congress set the stage for the election of the flag bearer of the party for the 2012 election. The NPP had earlier amended its constitution to expand its electoral college to allow more delegates to elect a flag bearer from all the 230 constituencies, instead of the original arrangement where only a few delegates were allowed to assemble at a venue to elect a flag bearer.
Although, five people contested the election, the race was generally believed to be between the 2008 flag bearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo Addo, and a former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyeremanten.
While Nana Akufo Addo campaigned on the ticket of experience and the fact that he had already marketed himself during the 2008 elections, Mr Kyeremanten dwelled on his youthfulness and the fact that he appeals to both members of the NPP and those of other political parties.
Some analyst believed that the election would be too close to call, while others predicted that Nana Akufo Addo would emerge the victor with a margin between 10 to 30 percentage difference. But when the votes were cast, the analysts did not get it right as Nana Akufo Addo overwhelmingly defeated Mr Kyeremanten.
The year 2010 saw former President and founder of the ruling NDC , Fl Lt Rawlings, and some members of the party launch a barrage of attacks on the performance of the government to the effect that President Mills was too slow.
Former President Rawlings described people around President Mills as “greedy bastards” and at one stage asked the famous question “who born dog”, to signify that he would not have tolerated their behaviour when he was the President.
These attacks by former President Rawlings and some members of the NDC gave the opposition NPP the weapon to also launch attacks on the government.
But President Mills was diplomatic about former President Rawlings’ attacks when asked by journalists on January 7, 2010, during a question-and-answer session with some senior journalists.
President Mills said criticisms of his government by Former President Rawlings and some members of the party would not weaken but strengthen the party and the government.
“If members of the previous government had benefited from this example of internal democracy, they would have avoided some of the pitfalls that caused their downfall”, he was quoted as saying.
Just as when the dust was about to settle down, the rumour that the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, was interested in contesting the flag bearer position of NDC with President Mills, made the headlines in the media scene.
Another significant event was the constitution of a nine-member Constitution Review Commission as a major step towards reviewing the 1992 Constitution by President Mills.
The Commission, which is chaired by Professor Emeritus Albert K. Fiadjoe, a professor of Public Law, has as members prominent personalities, including a stalwart of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Akenten Appiah-Menka, who is also a lawyer and an industrialist.
The Commission has since collated proposals from government institutions and individuals throughout the country through letters, meetings and open forums.
The NDC National Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei’s, statement to the effect that the judiciary would be cleansed, received bashing from opposition NPP, other political parties, several other institutions and individuals.
President Mills, who was outside the country when the statement was made, intimated on his arrival that the government did not have any intention to cleanse the judiciary, which put the matter to rest to some extent.
The Minority in Parliament staged a walk-out when a Circuit Court placed a radio panellist, Nana Darkwa Baafi, into custody for alleging on an Accra-based private radio station that former President Rawlings had deliberately set fire to his house on February 14, 2010, in order to compel the government to find him an alternative accommodation.
The usual unity talks between the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) aimed at uniting the Nkrumaist parties did not succeed, as they could not agree on the issues of motto and emblem.
The CPP took a giant step by electing shadow ministers on economy, security, education and other sectors. They have almost on a weekly basis been giving their views, suggestions and proposals on national issues.
The major political event that wrapped up 2010 was the district level elections, which were bogged with postponements due to the inability of printers to print ballot papers ahead of schedule. The district level elections also experienced low turn out.
The district level elections were originally scheduled to be held in all the 170 districts and 6,150 units and electoral areas across the country the same day, but only the Central and Upper West regions held theirs on the first day.
A total of 17,315 candidates, comprising 15,939 males (92.05 per cent) and 1,376 females (7.95 per cent) contested to become district assembly members.
Also, 45,762 candidates, made up of 41,110 males (89.83 per cent) and 4,652 females (10.17 per cent), vied for unit committee membership.
The concluding political event was the celebration of the 29th anniversary of the 31st December revolution with a public lecture on the theme “Integrity for Sustainable Democracy”, in Accra.
Former President Rawlings used the occasion to challenge President Mills to set up a commission of enquiry to reinvestigate the alleged corruption and killings perpetrated under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
Despite the few difficulties on the political platform in 2010, the year will be remembered for the election of executive members of political parties, the nomination of shadow ministers by CPP, the collation of views on constitutional review by the CRC and the organisation of the district level elections.