A leading member of the Movement for Change and a Special Assistant to Mr. Alan Kyeremateng, Nana Ohene Ntow, has called on former President John Agyekum Kufuor, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, chiefs, pastors and Islamic Clerics and anyone with a voice to rally behind the Government of National Unity proposed by Alan Kyeremateng.
He has stated that the evidence is prevalent that the partisan political governance practiced in Ghana currently has not helped to develop the nation and should be brought to an end.
Nana Ohene Ntow was speaking on Oman FM yesterday.
He called on Ghanaians to ask themselves about how they vote and whether they have received the benefits of voting.
“If we throw our support behind this political party or the other, when the party comes to power, leadership thinks about what the supporters would get first before they think about anybody else. All of us as Ghanaians should think about this; after thirty-two years, if partisan political parties would help us, we would have known,” he said.
Nana Ohene Ntow said that if the two leading political parties were going to help Ghanaians after thirty-two years, they would have known.
“We have tested them long enough. We put these political parties in the Constitution. However, a new type of thinking is coming that if we look at how the political parties are structured, we would see clearly that they have not been beneficial to Ghanaians,” he said.
He said that in actual fact the two parties are sworn enemies instead of just competitors.
“When one leaves office, your whole life comes to an end. On the other hand, when one comes into office, your whole life changes for the better,” he said.
“We even use political power to destroy our opponents work,” Nana Ohene Ntow said. He referenced Papa Kwesi Nduom, the founder of the Progressive Peoples Party and the GN Bank and other companies, who has said persistently that his businesses were destroyed by the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because they were afraid that he could use his networks and businesses to take power in future.
He spoke about Nduom’s troubles and how contractors that were owed by government, also owed Nduom’s bank, yet government refused to pay these contractors and yet set a regulatory fee that forced the thriving bank into the ground. He quoted Nduom as saying that he had documents to show that then Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta had written that if they did not destroy Nduom’s bank he would ‘disturb’ the sitting government.
He said that he was saddened by this development, adding that that that was why Alan Kyeremateng was preaching that if we did not eschew the partisanship represented by the two political parties, we should not expect anything different.
“So what Alan Kyeremateng is saying is that he was a member of the NPP. He was present at its inception and formation stages.
“It is the NPP that brought the government of President Kufuor, and also the government of President Akufo-Addo.
“The same party formed two governments. But the two governments have been as different as different can be. They are different in the management of the economy, the leadership style, between Kufuor and Akufo-Addo, and it shows that if the governance and the nation would do well, it was not attributable to the party, but to the leader.
“Look at how President Kufuor handled the party and the way President Akufo-Addo has handled the party, there are two different styles. Today, even party people are saying that NPP was John Kufuor. When you compare their governance at the national level, then you see a clear difference.
“I once spoke at an IEA program. I said that in Africa, if your party loses power, you lose everything. You lose your money, your marriage, you children’s education, your car, house, health, prestige, you lose everything. Why? I said that the reason was because of partisan politics, which has brought unbearable pain and hardship,” he lamented.
He said that right from independence to now, we have often had suggestions of a ‘unity government’.
“It comes up once in a while. Nkrumah tried it, Acheampong also suggested it. Alan Kyeremateng has no power, as an independent, he has the idea that after several governments in the Fourth Republic and at this stage, if we do not get a leader who would be for all and not target a specific set of people to benefit, then the nation would not go forward.
“I am saying that where we have reached, if we would continue to go forward like this, where those who lose power would only suffer and those in power would only benefit, we would not go forward. That is why Alan Kyeremateng is saying that at this stage, we should look beyond political parties and look at the quality of leaders we elect. Because if Kufuor and Akufo-Addo, both from the same party could govern in such diametrically opposed manner, then it is not the party, but the capacity, knowledge, background, training, character of the leader in power. We should look at the qualities of the leader and give such a person the power to govern nation.
“I want to appeal to all Ghanaians, all leaders, that where Ghana has reached, we should know that partisan politics would not help us, Alan is coming as a leader for all. I will start from President Kufuor, even though he is NPP, he has now reached a stage where he should speak first for Ghana before his party. He should help to bring this union government. I beg the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, all the chiefs in Ghana, we should make Ghana Number One beyond partisanship. We call on all Christian and Muslim leaders. All the people of the nation should help to bring about this government of national unity. Let us try Alan Kyeremateng to bring unity government to help all of Ghana,” he said.
