Over the years Paa Kwesi Nduom has shown himself to be an efficient entrepreneur, an honest, sincere politician and, above all else, one of the best leaders Ghana may never have. I admire his dogged determination to be president. But determination can only take him so far – and that’s nowhere near the Osu Castle (or Flagstaff House), whichever he dreams of living in.
The last time he tried for the presidency, he only managed to poll a mere one percent of the total ballots. That was in spite of the fact that he impressed many and won several hearts with his performances in the presidential debates. He has admitted that his electoral showing in 2008 was the worst failure of his life. To make sure that failure is not repeated next time, Paa Kwesi has sent out an army of pseudo-researchers to test the waters, help determine why he lost and recommend a formula for victory.
All that is well and good. But there is one thing Paa Kwesi is overlooking. That one thing is what his researchers will not tell him. And that’s what I am about to say.
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Paa Kwesi Nduom performed as poorly as he did in 2008 because the vehicle on which he is driving his ambition is an old, rickety relic of the pre-independence era. That vehicle is the Convention People’s Party. I call this vehicle the limping cockerel. It’s all but dead and until Kwesi Nduom and his friends decide to put it down, I am afraid, there is no way this limping cockerel, suffering from terminal coccidiosis, can carry them to win power to govern this country.
The CPP has a rich history. It’s the party that led Ghana to independence under the strong-arm tactics of the despot called Kwame Nkrumah. Fifty years ago, the CPP was like the model political party for much of Africa. Today, the CPP offers us the worst example of what a political party shouldn’t be. It has very little following, its few members are bitterly divided and it is broke. All the CPP has is its history – a history which is no longer as attractive as it might have been if this country had been in any better shape than it is today.
Despite the gallant, often uncoordinated efforts, by the likes of Nduom to make the CPP appealing to the Ghanaian electorate, the party remains in the doldrums. It bears the butt of many jokes and the only people in this country who take the party serious are its members – some of whom have publicly declared that they don’t vote for it. The average Ghanaian voter would tell you that “yes, the NDC and the NPP are no good, but we’d rather put up with them than try the CPP – the Confused People’s Party.”
If the confusion surrounding the organisation of the party’s congress, which has been postponed twice, is anything to go by you wouldn’t be far from wrong to suggest that the CPP is in no position to govern even a small village – much less a country.
A fragmented, confused CPP is the reason why a fine man like Kwesi Nduom will never be president of this country. I like the guy. I believe he would make a very fine president. Unfortunately, he has chosen to sacrifice his noble ambitions on a colonial relic like the CPP.
If I met any of Nduom’s researchers, I would tell them to go and tell him to either help kill the CPP or quit – like Freddy Blay has done. The CPP is no longer relevant in Ghanaian politics. Freddy Blay realised this and he’s all the better for leaving to join the NPP. Kwesi Nduom must also leave and join one of the mainstream parties, probably the NPP and fight from there to make his fine brain available for this nation even if the party remains in opposition. Ghana will not forgive him (and neither will God) if he chooses to remain on the irrelevant fringes, spending all his energies and brains on a limping cockerel which must necessarily be put down – and soon!
