Poor NPP.
Here we are being threatened and bullied from all sides; inside and outside the party. We are being told that unless we supinely handover the leadership of our party to Dr. Bawumia we face certain doom. That our party will collapse because we would be seen not to have kept faith with Northerners who will accuse us of discrimination and not vote for us. These threats have equally found a voice among our political opponents and some lightweight political pundits and self styled psephologists.
But how did we get to such a sorry pass? Can the NPP be accused of discrimination? This is a tradition and a party that has from its very beginnings, reserved and exclusively guaranteed the number two spot of its leadership to be occupied by a Northerner and to the total exclusion of any other tribe. This Professor K. A. Busia had Chief S. D. Dombo as his deputy. Victor Owusu had Tolon Na, Alhaji Yakubu Tali as his running mate. Professor Adu-Boahen had Roland I. Alhassan as running mate. J. A. Kuffuor had Alhaji Aliu Mahama for a running mate and Vice President for eight years. Nana Akufo-Addo had Dr. Bawumia for running mate for 8 years, will have him as Vice President for 8 more years. He is in the very early stages of his second term as Vice President fighting tooth and nail to be made President from 2025 for eight more years. So that one man, who is not an indigene, wants to hog the political space for 24 years of the political tradition that has spent most of its years in opposition to this one man. I wonder what he would have done to us if he had started out with us like a Boakye Agyarko or an Alan Kyerematen.
So how in the world does anyone summon courage to accuse this tradition and party of bigotry and discrimination? Aren’t there other tribes such as Ga-Dangmes and Ewes who are equally deserving and could be considered even if on a rotational basis? The only answer must be seen in the excessive greed and unbridled ambition of individuals hiding behind the cloak of tribe. Those who are pushing this unfortunate line of argument must remember that it is this same tribally open party that, even as a stranger, elevated Dr. Bawumia through its democratic processes, which they are now unfairly seeking to discard so they can exploit whatever tribal fault lines there may be.
Once these fault lines have been exposed, can the apologists championing this line of unreason live down a converse threat from say Ashanti or Akans collectively if they also threaten not to vote for NPP if the presidential candidate is not their kinsman? The candidate imposed from the North having secured the position of presidential candidate through threats, will only remain candidate and cannot scale up to the presidency. Should this be our ignominious path to a self induced implosion?