About three years ago, I attended a lecture at Ashesi University at Brekusu, the first Akwapim town just north of the capital city, Accra, and wrote the following headline ‘Ebo Quansah attends lecture and encounters the next President.’ For me, last Saturday, November 4, victory of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries is the first phase of the Vice President’s long route to the presidency.
I am not a prophet, but I can see Alhaji Bawumia becoming the first practicing Muslim in this country to occupy the highest seat of governance. Already, Bawumia’s entrance into the presidential contest has sent some leading members of the main opposition party wobbling.
On Monday, large-mouth Samuel Nartey George, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament, sat on Metro Television’s Good Morning Ghana programme, and pronounced that the Vice President was a religious prostitute. How one becomes a prostitute by attending Muslim and Christian worships tells the story of trembling members of the opposition party.
What I do know about prostitution is when a human being sells himself or herself for monetary and other rewards. Not too long ago, the airwaves were awash with women, some so horribly young, fighting over a political figure. You should be ashamed of yourself if you happen to be the Papa No.
For all you know, the street fight on television and social media was about the ability of the Papa No to improve the quality of the lives of those engaged in the shouting match. In return, these young women offer their bodies. Serious money and expensive apartments in some of Accra’s most fashionable suburbs are involved, they claimed.
That, to me, is what amounts to prostitution. I have never heard of someone serving God in both Islamic and Christian institutions could be called a prostitute. Sam George has done well for himself. It is not long ago that Parliament passed his Private Members Bill to outlaw gayism and lesbianism into law.
Under the anti-LGBQ law, it is an offence to be associated with members of this group without reporting their conduct to the authorities. In case Sam Nartey George is unaware, Mr. John Dramani Mahama’s book –My First Cup d’etat- was launched in New York by Mr. Andrew Solomon, the world’s most renowned gay personality. For the attention of Mr. George, Andrew Solomon paid US$20,000 for a copy of the book.
That is not all. The juicy bit is that after the book launch, Mr. Andrew Solomon and his husband took then Vice President to their gay residence at Manhattan and served the now NDC presidential candidate what the former President described as ‘a sumptuous meal.’
The Akans will tell you, Wowe Efour Nsa A Hwe Wo Nsa. If you are chewing the hand of a monkey, please check your own. By this article, I am serving notice that if the NDC intends on running a dirty campaign, some of us are ready for them. I call the presidential candidate of the NDC, ‘scandal-soaked’ former President.
For a teaser, readers are reminded of the following: As Head of State, Mr. Mahama took a Mercedes Benz car as bribe from a Burkinabe contractor. Having received the car, the Head of State, at the time, granted a juicy job on the Eastern Corridor road to the contractor. Whether the contract was executed or not is another matter to explore later.
There are other matters waiting in the wings – the case of the Embraer planes from Brazil and their interior design and cost; the one laptop per child, Rlg’s computer hub in Accra, and the Dubai Connection.
Sorry, I almost forgot the South London Crown Court and the identification by Mr. Martin Amidu, one-time Special Prosecutor, that Mr. John Dramani Mahama is, indeed, the Government Official One so scandalised in a London court room. Dear reader, there is more.
Let the NDC continue their dirty politics. As you read this piece more water has passed under the bridge, quite a volume of it very dirty. I think Mr. Sam George and those who think like him are inviting some of us to spill the entire water. We assure him that some of us would not fail to honour his invitation.
It is unfortunate that leading members of the NPP are more interested in catching the presidential candidate’s attention for consideration as his running mate than work for party unity. For me, party unity comes first in this equation. I can state on authority that the NPP is the largest political party with the most following in this country.
I believe that if the party could forge unity and get sympathisers to vote in their numbers, Bawumia would be home and dry. At the moment, there is so much despondent among the rank and file. The very difficult economic situation has not helped. There are those who believe that officialdom has not been fair to them.
The fight to Jubilee House begins with making these aggrieved members have faith in the leadership. The economy needs serious attention. It is not right that under the NPP leadership, Ghanaians are exchanging 12 cedis for one dollar.
One incident is still etched in my mind when the monetary exercise of 2007 brought the cedi slightly ahead of the dollar. A Nigerian businessman had arrived in Accra on a business tour. He chose to lodge at the SSNIT Guest House at the opposite end of the Police Headquarters in Accra.
Some of us had just finished a meeting at the guest house when the Nigerian asked to change some dollars into the local currency. The man looked at the cedi notes in his hands and exclaimed: “You Ghanaians are doing well.
I have heard of your economic revival. And now your currency is stronger than the almighty dollar. I wish you well. I hope and pray that I would not arrive here in the future only to learn that your currency has fallen way behind in the dollar race.”
At 12 to one, we have not done well for ourselves. It is my hope that something drastic would be done to arrest the fall of the cedi in addition to forging party unity.
As for Dr. Bawumia, he has done well for himself and the party. His projection into a national icon began with the “You and I were not there” declaration in the battle of pink sheets before Justice Atuguba.
When the Supreme Court judge gave his five-minute verdict, it was obvious that Alhaji Bawumia, son of the Founding Member of the Northern People’s Party, who was once accused of betraying the United Party, had purged his father’s sins.
Since then, Dr. Bawumia has become the star of the NPP. He has no equal in the party and in national politics at the moment.
When the Electoral Commission pronounced him winner of the NPP presidential primaries, he set himself on the road to greater things to come. I am not surprised that the party members are queuing to get his attention for the right to be considered his running mate.
My advice to the Vice President is that he should not be in any hurry to satisfy anybody. His concentration for the next few months must be on building bridges in the party that is polarised.
Party members who feel aggrieved are sitting on the fence. Others are pissed off by their exclusion in affairs of the party and state. Such people have developed hatred for the President and his deputy and are praying for the failure of Bawumia at the polls next year.
Whatever one says, Vice President Bawumia is the star of the NPP. I believe though, that someone like Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has exceeded the expectations of everybody. If everything were equal, the Assin Central Member of Parliament would have been the ideal running mate. Unfortunately, he is not cut for that job.
It looks like he is cut for business. I will like to believe that he could be aided to become Ghana’s Dangote when he helps with the campaign to make Dr. Bawumia President of the Republic of Ghana. Those waiting in the wings to be named running mate should wait further.
There is a lot to do before hitting the ground running on campaign tours. Bawumia is the star, no doubt. He will deliver when the whole party rallies around him. Let everybody do his part for the elephant to rumble once more.
This is not the time to sit on the fence. I do not believe it is out of place to talk to the Butterfly Man. He has a better chance of riding on the elephant to political relevance than the Butterfly which, in any case, has a very short lifespan in real life. In politics, Alan and his Butterfly have no chance of survival.
“Come Back, Come Back To ME… Menye Wo Aye Bi Ara… Come Back Home…;” my apology to one of Ghana’s hi-life exponents, Lucky Mensah.
I shall return!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
