NANA AKUFO ADDO: WHY A
WIN ON THIRD ATTEMPT IS POSSIBLE
David Azuliya
June 30, 2014
It is no more a secret that many presidential candidates
have squandered their third opportunities to make it to
the highest office while many more have hit at it
rightly and earned a prestigious reputation of being
some of the most successful leaders in the history of
politics.
Nana Akufo Addo, two-time presidential candidate of the
New Patriotic Party has no doubt just about entered the
race to determine his fortune and destiny with a third
time smile at the presidency following his picking of
nomination forms to contest the flagbearership elections
of his party.
In Ghana’s history whereby seven distinguished
individuals have earned the mandate of the people to
occupy the office of presidency, one of them did so on a
third attempt. This precedent throws the door wide open
for any other presidential candidate to make the shot a
third time with the highest possible expectations of
winning the seat, including Nana Akufo Addo.
However, despite the issues of a possible win on third
attempt, there are many dimensions to determine its
efficacy including the capacity of the political party,
the candidate’s caliber and reputation, the
political-economic environment of the country, the
perception of change in the country, the reputation of
the opposition, the campaign strategy of the candidate
and many other dimensions.
In the precedent of John Mills winning on a third
attempt in 2008 and in many other cases around the
world, these dimensions could not have been the same.
The possibility of Nana Akufo Addo winning on a third
attempt will therefore, depend to a large extent on how
these dimensions spin in his favor come the heat time of
2016.
First of all, the party on the ticket of which Nana
Akufo Addo seeks to contest the presidency is currently
the largest opposition party in the country in terms of
following and structures. It is also the party that
produced the two term presidency of John Kufuor and won
the majority of seats in the country’s parliament in the
2001 and 2004 parliamentary elections.
Beyond all reasonable doubt, it is one of two parties
carrying the torch of the fourth republic of the country
in terms of winning elections and forming governments.
Significantly, it is the party that won the most
parliamentary votes in the last four elections and
obtained not less than 40% of presidential votes in each
of the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
On the dimension of party capacity therefore, third time
runner, Nana Akufo Addo, stands on a solid platform to
achieve his much determined feat of victory on a third
attempt on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party.
Secondly, the caliber and reputation of Nana Akufo Addo
is one of the most important dimensions to determine his
chances on third attempt. It is worth noting that this
is a person who served as the people’s representative in
parliament four twelve consecutive years.
He crowned this by serving as the country’s Attorney
General and Minister of Justice during which time he
infamously led proceedings to establish the National
Reconciliation Commission and repeal the much dreaded
Criminal Libel Law. Before stepping down to contest his
party’s flagbearership election, he also served as
Minister for Foreign Affairs about which time he led the
country to chair the United Nations Security Council and
form the Tripartite Committee that delved into the
killing of some 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia.
That apart, he significantly fell short of winning the
2008 and 2012 presidential elections by less than 1% and
3% respectively. The earlier life of his struggles to
restore multi-party democracy to the people of his
country during the military regimes of John Rawlings and
Fred Akuffo all but earned him the reputation of a
person who believes in the ideals of democracy, liberty
and good governance.
His decision to jump his party to accept the verdict of
the 2012 Election Petition set him on the sights of a
statesman willing to sacrifice his personal ego for the
common purpose of his country. His statement of “all die
be die” will be remembered as the point in his career
when he lost hope and confidence in the law enforcement
authorities and charged on the people of his party to do
all in their power to defend the democracy of the
country even if it costs them their very lives.
In all summations, Nana Akufo Addo can be described as
an American styled politician who has an unfading hope
in the possibilities of democracy and human liberty and
expressing same in an ambitious and outspoken manner.
However, in a country that is almost that of a place
where confidence of achieving higher results is absent,
his posture and activism is often mistaken for a person
of arrogance and deception for political purposes.
That notwithstanding, his determination to push forward
a policy of cost free senior high school education
despite the biggest cynicism and skepticism even from
within his party together with the last minute
endorsement of such a policy by his biggest opponents
speaks highly of his honest pursuit of ambition. With
this caliber of personality and such a rich reputation
at the highest level, a win at third attempt will be no
surprise.
The third dimension is that of the political-economic
environment of the country. Realizing that Nana Akufo
Addo’s third attempt will be against an incumbent
government, it is important to note that it is this
factor that will fuel support for the ruling party as
well as dissent against it.
The very recent demonstration led by the New Patriotic
Party in the Ashanti Region attracted record numbers for
issues that are clearly the same across the country; the
agitations on the labor front have been active since the
beginning of the current administration on all fronts
including health, education, local government and more
recently retail traders; the persistent increases in
utility tariffs further demonstrates how much the
ordinary Ghanaian has to bear the burden of
mismanagement and inefficiency in utility management in
the country; the debates over a purported bail-out
request from the IMF and retrenchment of public sector
workers continues unabated; the energy problems of the
country have more than worsened since the honeymoon
promise by the newly sworn-in president in January,
2013; the latest fuel crisis thickens the argument of
government’s inability to meet even statutory financial
obligations; and all culminating in various degrees of
dissent against the presidency by some sidelined former
officials of the Mills government and more recently,
tribal, youth and sectional groupings over the
reshuffling of some ministers of state.
To cap it all, there are more questions and answers as
to whether the government knows the real priorities of
the country at the moment. This follows from the
decision of the president to even flout the foreign
exchange regulations of the Bank of Ghana by flying a
cash amount of $3million to Brazil to settle a fee due
the Black Stars by FIFA.
All these show in clear terms that the
political-economic climate of the country is bad and
will not get close to good anytime in the near future.
These have culminated in public dissent against the
administration and will never cease to fuel the hopes of
the opposition parties and the third time attempt of
Nana Akufo Addo.
That apart, another so important dimension that was
exploited by this same New Patriotic Party’s John Kufuor
in his second time bid as well as the National
Democratic Congress’ John Mills is the perception of
change.
In 2008, just as in 2000, the electorate wished for a
change of political administration amidst wild campaign
allegations of corruption and embezzlement of public
funds by the opposition National Democratic Congress
against the incumbent New Patriotic Party. After another
eight years of the National Democratic Congress, it is
anticipated that the electorate will once again seek to
follow the rule thereby handing Nana Akufo Addo his
third time lucky chit to the Flagstaff House.
However, it should be noted that since the change of
administration in 2001, the tendency of change has been
unconvincing as seen in the narrow gap between the
incumbent party and the opposition party in the 2008
election. The voting public has come to a seeming
realization that the two major parties are all but the
same and no significant change will come about following
a change of administration with the other minority
parties having no potential of winning the presidency,
the rule may just come to an end and a third time
slip-up for Nana Akufo Addo. Nonetheless, if the pains
of economic hardships become unbearable, it may be too
fresh to forget when the people grab the ballot and the
intent of payback so difficult to overcome.
In this case, the campaign of the New Patriotic Party
has to be all forward in re-echoing the pains caused by
the incumbent and an unceasing call for a change. The
efficiency of the change message by the opposition will
determine the fate of the third time bid of Nana Akufo
Addo.
The fifth dimension is the reputation of Nana Akufo
Addo’s opposition. This is not in doubt: it is the
incumbent National Democratic Congress, a party that is
good at vilifying its opposition and tarnishing the
image of the opposition. The fact that this opponent has
widely succeeded in painting a dark picture of Nana
Akufo Addo and portraying him as a candidate so
desperate of winning political power to accomplish his
personal egos is significant to note.
Not only has this opponent attacked the character of
Nana Akufo Addo, but has also attacked and sought to
discredit his professional qualification and
accomplishments. That aside, it is this very opposition
that deceived the electorate into voting it into power
in 2008 by peddling wild allegations of corruption and
embezzlement of public funds as well as naming the then
incumbent NPP government as a lead accomplice in the
murder of a traditional ruler in northern region and a
regional chairman of one political party in the country
without proving any bit of same when it came into power.
The National Democratic Congress in opposition led by
then propaganda secretary made wild allegations against
the government in the run up to the 2008 election
regarding the gold reserves of the country and sought to
depict the nation as one ran down by the New Patriotic
Party government. We must not forget that these
allegations and reportage painted a gloomy picture of
the country at the time. If any event was threatening
enough to deter investors, it was this image painted of
the country by the opposition and not the Election
Petition.
Even in power, this opponent has attempted to blame its
woes and inefficiencies at managing the economy on the
NPP party by accusing it of political sabotage. Very
significantly, it is this party that almost criminalized
Nana Akufo Addo’s policy of cost free senior high school
education only to endorse same just a year later.
In fact, it is this very opponent that has copied but
failed to implement similar campaign policies of the NPP
such as the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority
and one-time premium for National Health Insurance. In
fact, the NDC is the opposition to watch as Nana Akufo
Addo embarks on his third time bid since it is a party
that is popular for very mischievous reasons and a track
record of derailing the reputation of its opponents and
the nation at large.
To deal with this threat, the party and its campaign has
got a task to curtail the negative propaganda of the NDC
by not focusing too much on its policies but focusing as
much on exposing the filth the NDC has accumulated over
the years. This will balance the NPP’s record over that
of the NDC and put the NPP in the position of the most
desirable party in the country in the run up to the
elections.
Finally, the strategy of Nana Akufo Addo’s campaign will
be the vehicle to carry his third time bid for the
presidency of the republic. Over the last two
presidential elections at which Nana Akufo Addo was
candidate, the campaign was largely organized around the
select favorites of Nana Akufo Addo rather than the
generality of the New Patriotic Party.
This left very conspicuous gaps during the campaigns and
questions asked concerning the whereabouts of some
leading members of the party. However, this must be done
with circumspection to avoid the foul attacks on some
sections of the public as especially the attacks by some
members of the party on some tribes. The party ought to
season its message concretely and imbibe it in the
generality of its followers without giving opportunity
to foul mouths to speak on the position of the party.
That notwithstanding, the party has provided the most
marketable and strategic development policies in the
political history of the country. Among these include
the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Metro Mass
Transit Movement, the National Youth and Employment
Program, the School Feeding Program, the Capitation
Grants amongst others. The Free SHS policy in the last
election was to be the latest.
To have a valid chance at making it on the third
attempt, the campaign of the Nana Akufo Addo team must
this time be owned by the party in general and not just
the presidential candidate; and as well, the message
must continue to be emphasized that the NPP is the party
with a track record of nation defining policies and the
party that the electorate must trust to implement its
campaign policies to the latter.
On this score, the party will be singing its way to
getting endorsed its presidential candidate, Nana Akufo
Addo as the president elect come the aftermath of
December 7th, 2016.
In conclusion, a win for Nana Akufo Addo on his third
attempt is feasible because he has a powerful platform
in the New Patriotic Party, he is a candidate with high
caliber personality and reputation, the
political-economic environment does not favor the
incumbent party, the perception of change can be
exploited to his advantage, the main opposition in the
incumbent National Democratic Congress has a poor
reputation that can be exploited; and the campaign of
the New Patriotic Party can be organized in an
all-inclusive manner with emphasis on its policy
implementation record devoid of foul attacks on specific
groups of people across the country.
At his advanced age, as people question his strength and
health to carry out a winning campaign and the
governance of the country, we must look beyond
mediocrity and focus on logic and objectivity.
The fact is that Nana Akufo Addo does not fall far
beyond replicating the feat attained by Nelson Mandela
of South Africa and Ronald Reagan of the United States
of America. Besides the fairness or otherwise of Robert
Mugabe’s election, it is significant to note that he is
about two decades older than Nana Akufo Addo, and
therefore, it will be unfair judgment and mischievous
exposition to pit his age against his chances of winning
on a third attempt.
Ghana is in a myriad challenges with hardships hitting
the ordinary Ghanaian so hard like never before. No
matter the past trends and the lack of confidence in the
politics of this country, if Nana Akufo Addo is able to
plant that believing spirit in the people to know that
this time must be different, it may just turn out to be
his time as well.
By
David Azuliya
Tel: 0505005012
Email: apaladola@mail.com
