While H.E John Dramani Mahama is busy putting Ghana together to reach its
glory days and set a paradigm shift for political leaders in Ghana, Africa and the world all over, the National Democratic Congress must not loose guide of the fact that such systems cannot be sustained with the return of the NPP to governance in the shortest possible time.
Who knew that all the fight H.E Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was fighting was just to settle his personal and family scores against Ghanaians.
I can say without any form of equivocation that the former president who was more or less a Democratic Autocrat got to be president and ruined Ghana and its socioeconomic values majorly because the John Mahama administration then was not protected by the NDC.
This time, it is a golden time to toe a different path, to decide not to allow the NPP to ungovern Ghana one more time after just a short-lived four years.
Respectfully, the party has a lot to do alongside the government. Two parallel entities with the same agenda.
This can be achieved by ensuring the following;
1. All government appointees must be given key performance indicators (KPIs) on what role they should play for party members and their families. Thankfully, most of the appointees especially the regional Ministers are from the party executive structures and I pray the MMDCE selection shall follow similar trend. Allocation of a 10 % of their salaries to support party people in need of different forms will not be a bad proposal. Imagine a particular constituency gets five appointees in different forms, such money shall be managed by the party just to serve members’ interest.
2. The National Democratic Congress should begin to think of some local measures of creating party jobs without putting pressure on national coffers. For instance, the party can procure some transport vehicles in the form of buses and engage party boys and girls that do not have the qualifications of being formally employed into a government position.
A national, regional and Constituency farm for the NDC will not be a bad idea. Imagine engaging someone as a full-time employee on a party farm and pay them above the minimum wage, I think the survival many of our foot soldiers seek will be brought to them and sustained.
3. The party must be run and run effectively without just defending anything the government does. We can be part of the government as ministers, CEOs, board chairs but that must not make us defend when it is wrong. We must be able to call our own government together. and order without engaging in public fisticuffs.
4. A perfect succession plan must be divised in order that we don’t ruin our gains while seeking to lead the party. Once it is time for branch elections, I advise we should allow interested party members to take up their roles. For instance, branch elections could be conducted to get branch executives or we allow for consensus agreement amongst party members who should lead them without constituency executives sitting in their offices and marking who leads the party at the branch level.
At the constituency level, our MPs, MMDCEs and other government appointees must eschew taking sides. Once we get the right people with sound judgement into offices at the constituency level, same principle shall reflect a regional executive membership and a national composition shall be well done.
Right after these structures are kept in place, a flagbearer who bears the vision of the current government and who holds the future for the party shall be elected who shall not compete the national president by running away from government flows and weaknesses.
I believe with a well composed team to manage our succession plan, it shall be well executed and at least we shall all enjoy the fruits of proper planning and achievement.
May the good Lord bless Ghana, give the president sound judgement in his decisions as he keeps the national interest, the NDC philosophy and his personal posterity at prime.
source: Kunsaari A. Enbong
