Posted on: www.dailguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Monday, March 24, 2014
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been hit
by what political connoisseurs describe as Nanaphobia following the declaration
by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2012 presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa
to contest for the 2016 presidential race.
Barely an hour after Nana Akufo-Addo declared that
he was ready to contest again in 2016, if the NPP opens nominations later in
the year, the ruling NDC was running helter skelter, trying to pour cold water
on the effect of his announcement calling for a press conference to react.
The thunderous reception that greeted Nana Addo’s
intent appeared to have put the NDC in a panic mood.
Panic
The NDC hurriedly organized a news conference at its
Kokolemle headquarters addressed by its General Secretary, Johnson
Asiedu-Nketiah, claiming to welcome Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to contests,
before saying that it was another opportunity to
defeat and politically retire him in 2016.
The NDC, since Akufo-Addo’s
announcement has been coming out with theories including their latest
propaganda that he’s too old to become President, knowing that the race for
president has no age limit.
They are hopping from one medium to
another especially radio stations trying to poison the political atmosphere as
if Nana Akufo-Addo has already been selected as the NPP’s candidate for 2016.
The NDC is even devoting more time
and resources to stop Nana Akufo-Addo instead of finding solutions to the
ailing economy coupled with the current energy crisis, the problems that can
bring the government down.
Bragging
In spite of the government’s waning popularity over
unresolved social and economic challenges, Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah bragged that the
NPP had made the 2016 campaign very easy for them because Akufo-Addo is no
threat to the NDC.
“We know how to beat him; we will
sharpen our campaign skills and give him a third time defeat,” he said.
“In terms of age and energy to
prosecute an effective campaign, we have a huge advantage over him. The NPP
would have been better-off electing a younger person to lead the party in 2016,”
he said, even though Nana Addo only made a declaration to contest the NPP
primary when nominations are opened.
Ade
Coker
Greater Accra NDC
Chairman Kobina Ade Coker also entered the fray with his ‘theory’ that Nana
Akufo-Addo is too tired to vie for the presidency for the third time.
He described the
possibility of Nana Akufo-Addo taking on the NDC’s John Mahama in the 2016 as a
mismatch.
Mr Ade Coker said “if Nana Addo wins the NPP
flagbearer contest, it would be a cool chop for President Mahama.”
Kwabena
Adjei Factor
NDC National Chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei also joined
the debate saying his party was not scared of Nana Akufo-Addo’s declaration to
run again.
He claimed “I know that we have a group of NDC
people who are unwavering in the way they vote. There’s no way Nana Akufo-Addo
will get some of our people to add to his vote. We are going to capture more
NPP people.”
Ofosu
Ampofo’s Take
For Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, a former minister who was
recently appointed Board Chairman of the Ghana Port and Harbours Authority (GPHA)
said the return of Nana Akufo-Addo “is nothing new under the sun.”
He said the comeback will not be any novelty in
Ghana's politics and therefore asked Ghanaians to stop making "noise"
about it because in his view, “it’s not news whether Nana Addo decides to
contest or not...I’m not sure it’s news.”
Tony
Aidoo’s Input
Perhaps, the only NDC stalwart who appeared to sound
a note of caution to the ruling party following Nana Akufo-Addo’s declaration
was Ambassador-designate to the Netherlands, Dr. Tony Aidoo.
The former Head of Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation
said the declaration should stir up the John Mahama administration to live up
to expectation or risk being kicked out of government.
He said he believed, Nana Akufo-Addo's return to
politics would intensify competition ahead of the 2016 general elections.
“Nana Addo's declaration to stand is good from the
national interest point of view; it means that it intensifies competition and
it should also be a wake-up call for the Mahama administration...”
“It's going
to be a match between the youth and the aged to the extent that the Mahama
administration must put its confidence in the youth, and it means that, that
administration must not fail because if it does...the electorate would then
think that this group are not delivering what we want...”
Absurd
Argument
However, Head of Political Science Department at the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST) Dr. Richard Amoako
Baah, described as ‘absurd’ and ‘flawed’ argument that old age was an
impediment to political leadership.
According to him, age had no role to play in running
for political leadership as long as the candidate was psychologically and
morally sound.
“If you are running a country you don’t need
strength. If you are doing okay in the normal sense that is even good enough.
It takes brains and its only in Ghana that we behave as if you have to be a
strong man. What? That you have to be a machoman because you are going to take
macho decisions? Is that what they mean?”
He said “it takes brains, determination, commitment,
integrity, truthfulness and all of these things.
Still questioning the argument, he asked whether “Nana
Addo had lost all these qualities and asked them to provide evidence to prove
so if they had any.”
“If he was good
enough a year ago, why are we saying this now? Do they mean one year has
changed him, he has become demented now in the spate of a year?” he questioned
with surprise.
He said that it was a personal decision Nana
Akufo-Addo took which only laid in the power of the majority of Ghanaians to
accept or reject him.
Age
Not Barrier
Executive Director of policy Think-Tank, Imani
Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe rubbished suggestions that Nana Akufo-Addo should take a
back stage in Ghanaian politics due to his age.
Contributing to Citi
FM’s current affairs and news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Franklin
Cudjoe disagreed with such political pundits and said that age did not matter
in politics.
“Age should not be a determining factor when one is
seeking the highest office of the Presidency…first they said this man was a
cocaine dealer, he doesn’t smile and that he is arrogant but he got five
million votes during the last elections.”
He said politicians should decouple age from who is
qualified to lead the country as President.
“We need to understand that if we do not delink the
issues of age from the way we do our national politics we will be running
ourselves down.”
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