The NPP has just come out of a debilitating, embarrassing and absolute shellacking of a presidential election. They need to rebuild, reinvent and re-engineer their party into a broad-based national coalition, open and acceptable to all groups and stripes rather than narrow down, close-up or constrict their outlook. If numbers are the oxygen of elections, then we all know the NPP needs this lifesaver now than ever before.
You may not notice it, but we have just experienced an absolute upheaval and re-calibration of our political landscape in Ghana. Choice is no longer defined by some old, time worn, emotional and sentimental feelings or attachments to tribe but by who represents the best interests of people. For the NPP to remain relevant, it must open-up. People should feel a sense of belonging not alienation from party.
Dr Bawumia presents the party with a prime opportunity to embody a more open, more united, more multi-ethnic, more multi-cultural and a more collectivist minded NPP, open to people of all groups, stripes, ethnicity and lineage ready to forge ahead in unity towards a common goal of transforming the nation. Dr Bawumia represents a great opportunity to send the strongest signal that the party is open to all and ready to embrace anyone irrespective of their tribal or ethnic heritage. This is an invisible blockade the party needs to break. It is time to do away with the politics od tribalism and division and embrace the politics of unity, diversity and harmony which will take Africa to the next level.
By electing a truly competent and experienced candidate from a non-majority group, the NPP will be sending the strongest signal that it is truly open and ready to become a real, mass based, nationally oriented party ready to embrace Ghanaians of all stripes. Of course, this selection should be based on merit and whoever has the best solutions to transform the nation or take it to the next level. A candidate with empathy, care, sensitivity to the plight of the everyday Ghanaian and a realistic roadmap for national transformation. The party must recognize that above all, it’s appeal to Ghanaians will be defined primarily by how their ability to proffer solutions to the plight, problems and needs of Ghanaians. Culture and ethnicity must be celebrated not denigrated. Appreciating each other’s heritage, ethnic diversity and cross cultural values can foster understanding, empathy and unite people towards a common cause, promote peace and enhance development.
And if there is anything the party needs more than ever, it is to shed off the tag (real or perceived) that they are an Akan based party. We are all aware this is a tag the party has struggled to shed over the years. This nation has changed. Politics has changed. And the earlier the NPP wakes up to the idea that people are choosing leaders based on who represents their best interests rather than which festival they celebrate together or ethnic ancestor they have in common, the better. The party’s fidelity must be to equality, what binds people together as a nation and a set of beliefs that will transform the nation and not a fixation on what separates us.
By Prof. Etse Sikanku