Who is Afraid of Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom?

IT is clear that the key candidate in the 2012 presidential election is NOT going to be Nana Akufo-Addo or President John Evans Atta-Mills.  The candidate who will make the difference and be the key is Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.

HIS being on the ballot in 2012 automatically throws the presidential contest into uncertainty and cracks it wide open.  Given the accusations and counter accusations by the NDC and the NPP on each other about which is more corrupt, which one is more connected to the drug trade etc., etc., the Ghanaian voter is becoming more and more independent of those two parties.

THEY are simply tired of the noise.  With the Woyome troubles casting doubt on the integrity and leadership abilities of President Mills, the NDC has also stepped up its attacks on the personal characteristics of the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

WHILE they are doing their best to destroy each other’s candidate, both the NDC and the NPP are afraid that Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom with his independent posture, aggressive support for Ghanaian control over the economy and positive personal attributes may “steal” the 2012 presidential election.  This time there will not be internal noise to drown out Dr. Nduom’s efforts.

IN September 2011, Dr. Nduom put out many real and potential fires when he declared at the very successful public event to enter the 2012 contest in his own words that, “I am human.  So sometimes I make mistakes.  I grieve over my mistakes and given the opportunity, I work hard to correct them.”

THIS endeared him to many, many Ghanaians.  Indeed, given his humble beginnings in life and his rise to the top of his profession as a management consultant in the USA and Africa; his ability to create jobs in the private sector in Ghana; and the sterling performance as a Minister of State, Dr. Nduom stands very tall compared to President Mills and Nana Akufo-Addo person to person.

NDC and NPP spokespersons do not have much to use to put down Dr. Nduom.  So they have resorted to the same old, propaganda battle to confuse the Ghanaian voter.

ON the one hand, they assume the posture that Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom contesting on the platform of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) will not win many votes in the 2012 presidential contest.  So they try to dismiss him and the PPP – both the NPP and the NDC.

ON the other hand, they are working very, very hard to convince potential voters that they should not “waste” their votes in 2012 on Dr. Nduom.  NDC strategists and their followers push their people and party supporters to automatically link Dr. Nduom to the party they love to hate, the NPP.

THEIR tact is to say, if you vote for Nduom, it will throw the election to a second round and will give those votes to the NPP because he will not be there.  Predictably, the NPP strategists and communications people led by Nana Akomea and their followers also push their people and supporters to claim Dr. Nduom as their own – one of them.  They ask why vote for Nduom in the first round when he will just turn around and give them the vote in the second round of the 2012 election.

THERE are many flaws in this propaganda strategy of the NDC and the NPP.  The key one is the disrespect it shows to the Ghanaian voter.  The NDC and NPP assume that voters are like [excuse our language] sheep and can be herded by a politician to go and vote in a second round for a presidential candidate they do not like.

A second round election is just that – another chance to vote and show personal preference only this time, there are only two candidates whereas the first round of voting may involve five or more candidates.  The two parties just don’t get it – that Ghanaians are so disappointed in them that they are searching for an alternative who will make live better for them.

THE NDC and NPP parties also automatically assume that they will get majority votes always.  This year, biometric voter registration will happen.  Many voters will drop out of the register and with it, some of their means of stealing elections.  Then, the recent census also suggests that over one million people are eligible to become new voters this year.  Couple that with the huge number of people disenchanted with them, the scenario this year becomes an open race with independent and floating voters being keys to victory.  So the brave, boastful talk of the NPP and the NDC may turn out to be just empty talk.

DR. Nduom will run on the PPP ticket with no baggage or traditional encumbrances.  He will not be haunted by the old CPP/UP rivalry or the PNDC nightmare.  The PPP is new and is independent and attractive to a cross-section of Ghanaians particularly the floating voters and the young men and women.

AS Dr. Nduom says quite often, “If everyone who believes that I am the best person to deliver the results the people want supports and votes for me come December 7^th, I will win the presidential election.”  We know it can happen.  It happened in Benin and Zambia when the people not expected to win did.  It can happen in Ghana.