Why I Think NDC's Defeat Was Prophetic!

Forget about Prophet Isaac Owusu Bempah for the next 3 minutes. Let me occupy your thoughts.

With most people guessing how I voted in the just ended elections which saw Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo elected as President, calls to share my musing on why I think the NDC lost the elections have been 'incessant'. I have been monitoring the [social] media landscape where commentators have pinned the 'Humptey Dumpty'-esque fall of the NDC on some issues, which I share below. 

Firstly, people claim the Mahama-led administration lost the fight against corruption when he, on countless occasions, failed to live up to his promise to the populace by looking on forlorn whilst his appointees engaged in nefarious acts which dried up the public purse. And when he finally attempted to nail 'culprits' of the GYEEDA scandal, he ended up prosecuting those Manesseh Azure called 'small fries', leaving the big sharks to keep swimming. SADA, Smartty's, Brazil 2014, Subah Infosolutions, resuscitated Woyome-gate scandal, inflated contract prices and many others came in quick succession leaving many to wonder whether or not the Mahama-led administration was serious about its intention to nip the menace in the bud, particularly when avenues for creating, looting and sharing had been institutionalized through the many unjustifiable sole-sourcing contracts like the ‘extra-ordinary’ wall around the Ghanaian Embassy in Burkina Faso and the Ameri power plant deal. Not forgetting the alleged Ford Expedition bribery saga, which left us with more questions after government’s ‘explanation’ than before. Dzifa Attivor’s claim to the people of Volta region to vote massively for the NDC to prevent her from going to jail in the event the NPP was elected into power, also fed into the narrative that corruption had riddled this particular government so much that the President had ‘given up’. Her nemesis is here now, and we await with bated breath.

Secondly, the sheer arrogance of some of the government appointees also contributed to the party’s defeat, some people claim. In response to Nana Awere Damoah’s question on whether or not the young appointees made a solid case for the youth in this country with their efforts, host of Joy FM’s Newsfile, Samson Lardi Ayenini had this to say: “Some had wisdom to their knowledge, and have matured well and will serve Ghana well. Some were very arrogant insisting they were always right and citizens were always wrong about the things they complained about. Some were corrupt and very wasteful keeping their V8 engines on for as long as a program lasted (including on-air discussions and seminars) for a girlfriend's waiting comfort”. If someone asked: “Paa Kwesi, can you imagine?” after reading this, my response would be to sing MercyMe’s “I Can Only Imagine”, but not with its original Gospel lyrics, but possibly an insulting one. In as much as the decision to appoint young people into government was a laudable one, most of them grew in pomposity, honed their skills in quasi-insulting sharp riposte to questions bothering on accountability. Even the founder of the party was not spared and he infamously described them as ‘babies with sharp teeth’, and boy! did they live up to that name tag!    

Resulting from the two reasons posited above, is the third – Voter Apathy. It is not ‘proper’ to leave a lover who has been with you through thick and thin hanging, only to return after your sojourn needing a favour and expect her to welcome you with wide-opened arms, is it? Even though massive infrastructural developments were springing up in many different parts of the country, that was not a good enough reason, and is no substitute for the lack of visits and show of care and concern by government representatives. Isn’t it therefore telling that whereas the NDC lost about 1 million of its 2012 votes in 2016, the NPP gained about 250,000 more than it did in the last elections? You can do the math and verify. It can be inferred therefore, that many people just did not show up at the polling centres to vote for the NDC. Plain and simple!  

Throw in the high graduate unemployment rates, high interest rates, a depreciating currency, a crippling loan stock and now ‘omnipresent’ dum-sor, and they complete the equation which resulted in the defeat of the NDC which left many of its sympathizers crestfallen.   

       

But you know what? Forget about all the reasons people are adducing above and read NDC’s ‘self-declared electoral prophecy’ below.

Did you ever see the NDC advert in which a cartoonized John Mahama was driving what looked like one of his administration’s Ayalolo buses with many passengers? Yhup… that one! Some passengers complained and asked to be dropped off at a junction to join Nana Akufo-Addo who was signaling them to come join him on his walk across a foot bridge. Attempts by the driver and other passengers to dissuade them from doing so proved futile. “Okay…I’ll wait for you” were John Mahama’s words when he finally parked the bus. And he actually did wait for the two want-away passengers after they experienced a torrential storm which saw crocodiles coming out of the river, which the NPP presidential could do nothing to placate their fears. So they run back to the bus and the driver welcomes them with a grin, and continues the journey.

I reflected on this particular television advert the very first time I saw it show on one of Paul Adom-Otchere’s Good Evening Ghana shows leading up to the elections and asked myself these questions.

Could the two passengers possibly represent those 2012 NDC voters who would want to jump ships in the 2016 elections? Why did John Mahama not leave them behind and continue the journey? Could it be that the votes he’d lose would prevent him from steering the affairs of the nation for the next four years? Is it the case that Ghanaians would ‘cry’ for Mahama’s return after some period of time? Would he wait for us if it ever came to that? Is that what this advert is subtly trying to communicate to us?

Fast forward to Wednesday, 7^th December, 2016 and the first part of the advert was confirmed. And although we hope and pray for a better Ghana with a greatly reduced level of unemployment, a strong economy with positive economic indicators, stable power for our industries, offices and homes, and an upgrade of the country’s status from a lower middle income to a ‘proper’ middle income, we also await 2020 to see if there would be a manifestation of the concluding part of NDC prophetic television advert.   

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