Kwabena Amikaketo was just back from the birthday party of his pal and soul-mate, Nana Piesie. It was a quarter past eleven and everybody seem to be asleep in bed. Kwabena went to the balcony and sat in his favourite chair, he needed to contemplate on issues of yesterday. The General Elections, was so decisive, with a resounding victory for the opposition NDC which cleared almost all NPP constituencies in the way.
Free SHS could not save the NPP and what about all those infrastructural developments?
Kwabena woke up Saturday morning of the General Elections, not feeling too good about what would happen that day. There was bad news lurking over the horizon.
Kwabena was not into politics, however he liked the NPP more than any other party. He was however not happy about things that started happening in this party since the Nana Akufo-Addo era. The pride and arrogance were just too much.
The party was known to be one which everyone could freely express their personal opinions and still made to belong. Those were the days when differences were patched up after friendly arguments. But unfortunately, in this era, that made way for pride, arrogance, impositions and all that were unfriendly. Those perceived not to be on the president’s side were the losers.
The arrogance was just too much. It was like fetching water in a calabash for a very thirsty man and instead of handing him the calabash, it is placed on the ground for him to pick it up. This was how the arrogance looked like.
Kwabena Amikaketo, sighed. The NPP leadership and government believed that by tightly holding party members down, they would tow their lines and work for victory at the polls. The results of the 2024 elections clearly revealed that while the winner, John Dramani Mahama added on a little over 100,000 votes to his 2020 results, the NPP flag bearer, Dr. Bawumia lost over 2 million votes, of what Nana Addo had in 2020 to win the election.
Clearly, over 2 million NPP sympathisers simply refused to vote. Meaning, they were so much disgusted about what their own party in government was doing to them. Apart from the naked show of pride and arrogance which stunk, the fact that their simple needs were not attended to, meant to them that their own government cared less about them, so they returned that gesture in full measure,when it mattered most.
To Kwabena, John Mahama’s victory must not be watered down by this fact. He deserved to win, in fact, God made it so. Today, he is the blessed man in Ghana after God’s heart. Nana Addo on the other hand is leaving the NPP completely divided, worse than when he came in, in 2007.
While those in the political circles within the party who had diverse views were treated like enemies and disregarded in almost everything, the larger NPP sympathisers also felt this and they voted against their own party by not going out to vote at all.
Unfortunately, no one can blame the politicians in the NPP who were sidelined and made to look unuseful within party and government circles. Those to blame are those who held power and might in party and government.
Kwabena remembered what his nephew, who was perceived to be pro-Alan, told him after Nana Addo came to power. He brought in at least seven investments but none was accepted because his status did not fit into the privilege few. Two were hospital projects. The first was the construction of three mega hospitals of at least 1,200 beds and the second was the construction of a specialist diabetic hospital.
In fact, the construction and equipping of the specialist hospital would not be cost to the state. Unfortunately, the minister turned down these offers. This infuriated his nephew so much so, that one day he announced his relocation and migrated out of the country.
Even though, Alan left the party and run independent, returning insignificant votes of less than 0.05%, he is one of the factors that led NPP down. One example is this, Kwabena sighed, while in opposition, an Accra regional executive member, worked hard for the NPP to win 21 out of the 34 seats in the region.
During the next regional internal election, someone else was elected into that office and brought the seats in the region down to 14 seats. In the next regional internal elections, the one who won seats for the region was again made to lose.
Apparently, it was speculated that he was pro-Alan and must not lead the region, when Alan was still a member of the NPP and was contesting the presidential primaries. The executive member who lost seats was preferred over the one who won seats and as things stand, he led the NPP to lose more seats in the Greater Accra region; NPP now has only 4 seats with the NDC having 30 seats. This was where dislike for Alan, led the NPP.
But in all this why did the over 2 million NPP sympathisers decide not to go out to vote? Ashanti region which always voted NPP since 1992, did same in 2024, however instead of returning at least 70% for the NPP flag bearer, it returned less than 66%.
The Asantes have spoken and this is a clear warning to all politicians. People cannot be taken for a ride, anymore. The time will come when nobody will collect cash or gifts from politicians and that will be when the electorates will be able to hold politicians accountable.
Those in NPP who think that even if Ashanti region received no developments it would move in droves and vote for the NPP, now realise how foolish they are. Asantes deserve better and must also be acknowledged as citizens of Ghana.
Hmmm, Kwabena sighed again. This was a coup but a coup without a leader. So, while a single person was in bed on Friday December 6, 2024, thinking about the grand event of the following day and concluding that he would not go out and vote, over two million people also came to that conclusion.
This was exactly what happened in Ghana on Saturday, December 7, 2024. No one knew that millions of people were going to stay away from the polls. No political party orchestrated or even suggested this. But it happened all over the country.
It has been established that whenever there is low voter turn-up, the ruling party loses elections. December 7, 2024 confirmed this, in a different style.
The winner and president-elect, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, had just over 100,000 votes over the 6.2 million votes he had in 2020. The NPP flag bearer acquired a little over 2 million votes less votes than the 6.7 million votes, President Nana Addo had in 2020. The number of registered voters in 2020 was 17,029,971with voter turnout at 79%. An additional 1,744,188 voters were added to the voters’ register ahead of the December 7, 2024 General Elections. Out of the 18,774,119 voters, less than 12 million went to vote with voter turnout at about 61%.
When the outstanding results of the nine constituencies are added on, there will be slight changes. However, the way the elections went was still amazing. What happened to the Free SHS graduates who were among the 1.7 million? So, none of them remembered what Nana Addo and his NPP government did for them. If they voted against the NPP, it would have shown in Mahama’s votes.
Kwabena sighed again. This election was planned and executed in Heaven. He however, did not believe in the prophecies of so-called prophets like Rev. Owusu-Bempah. To Kwabena, they only predicted, just as Ben Ephson did and the prediction came true. God is a God who detests pride and arrogance and these vices were filled to the brim in the hearts and souls of Rev. Owusu Bempah and his likes. They cannot be labourers in God’s vineyard.
Kwabena Amikaketo looked up into the dark night sky and thanked God for what happened to Ghana. He blessed H.E. Mahama and prayed that he will return the gesture of the Ashanti voters and develop that region. If he is able to, the NDC will grab Ashanti region and maybe turn it into its stronghold.
His sweet daughter, Echelle was fast asleep, so he lifted his body from the chair and made way through the balcony door, locked it up and found his way to his bedroom.
It was a good evening with his NDC friend, Nana Piesie. As he laid his head on his pillow, he made a promise to himself that if the NDC is able to develop Ashanti region, the party will have his full votes and support in coming elections, because the Elephant may not come out from the bush, anymore.
Hon Daniel Dugan
