NDUOM FEVER GRIPS ACCRA

It was a Kwesi Nduom-tremble in Accra, the nation’s capital. The occasion was the official 2012 campaign launch of the Convention People’s Party’s (CPP) presidential front-runner at the Ghana International Press Centre.

At the sight of the car, his wife and body guard from a distance, the enthusiastic youth who were clad in Nduom T-shirt rushed to receive him to the launch ground. They could not be bothered about the fact that other vehicles, apart from that of Dr. Nduom’s, were plying the road.

It was as if to suggest that their messiah was on his way to promise them of hope after their long suffering. One of them-Joojo Hagan, a young man who says he is an HND holder from the Accra Polytechnic, threw himself onto the hot coal tar and wept uncontrollably, hoping that his pain for the country can only be soothed by an Nduom presidency.“I am very happy that at long last the Edwumawura has declared intent to seek the presidential nomination of the CPP. Initially, the impression I got was that Dr. Nduom was not going to stand for the CPP presidential primary.

But today, I can go and sleep and hope that the CPP would do its home work very well to run the confidence of the Ghanaian people,” Joojo noted. The composition of the huge patrons at the Nduom campaign launch was amazingly unsuspected. Some of the oldies in the group either had to be supported by others, or accompanied by their children or caretakers.Able-bodied youth- both girls and boys- engaged and tried to out-sing each other in special jama sessions and when the Edwumawura song of Dr. Nduom boomed at the launch ground, the ecstasy went into a frenzied height with some Yenko Nkoaa steps and dance moves.

It was as if Dr. Nduom had won the CPP presidential nomination and this is how Akosua Jamaa summed up the feeling: “I swear the day Dr. Nduom will win his party’s presidential slot; I just can’t imagine what might happen to many of us, let alone to talk about the ultimate presidency of the Republic of Ghana.” Apparently Akosua and her friends were apprehensive that the obvious hate campaign that was waged days before the launch would have an effect on Dr. Nduom’s presidential bid campaign.

“We were very scared this morning when some radio stations started broadcasting that Dr. Nduom has breached the CPP constitution because the hierarchy of the party has not set out modalities for the opening of that process. But thank God, when we came here we saw all that was pure and cheap propaganda,” Akosua noted.

Dr. Nduom himself set many hearts at ease on the issue when he stressed: “I have not flouted any rule in the party. By the party’s new constitution, the CPP should have gone for congress two clear years before the national general elections. If we should go by that we have flouted the CPP constitution,” he queried. He also charged media personnel to find out why some of his competitors have made similar declarations on other platforms but no one was questioning anyone and believes most CPP members were not making capital out of the situation because they are aware that he [Dr. Nduom] has done nothing wrong against the CPP.

Before Dr. Nduom made an entry into the Press Centre yard, ecstatic party members and supporters were let loose with many interpretations of the rendition of the CPP anthem or song- Forward Ever, Backward Ever. The rendition was sung in many languages as possible. That alone should offer one a fair idea that the Ghana International Press Centre momentarily became a melting pot of many Ghanaians of different backgrounds.

The launch attracted party members and top executives like regional chairmen from the Upper East and West Regions, the Northern, Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta, Central and the Greater Accra Regions. There were other youth groups who said although they were not particularly affiliated to the CPP, they were driven to the ground because of Dr. Nduom. “My brother if this man has employed as many as almost 3,000 workers by his individual and personal companies, what shows that he cannot offer us jobs if he assumes the reign of power,” Bernard Nii Lartey told Today.

Bernard, his group and others of his ilk talked about the way they had struggled to find jobs after school for close to five years without or with little success. The paper found out that some members of the group were indeed first degree holders from some of the top public tertiary institutions in the country.

But that pain seemed to have been soothed by the pledge of Dr. Nduom that his administration will focus primarily in finding jobs for the many unemployment youth.Dr. Nduom assured the youth and the many who gathered at the function that because of his ingenuity in creating jobs, the issue of jobs would be very easily dealt with using the state purchasing power.