<<Print>>Her body wrecked by age, the old woman, a shaky assembly of carved bones, wants a change. Not in her body - in the country.
Perhaps the least personal beneficiary of a change in political power, she was nonetheless ready to make a mark in a Ghanaian election where one vote is as politically fatal as a KGB sniper shot.There is a man in parliament because of three votes. Titus Glover. They call him MP3. And so she lurched slowly by, nailing NPP colours into the mast of her body and dress.
At a time when voting has been branded by some democracy-fatigued youths as a waste of time, the old woman had fresh strength in the system.
The virginity of her hope yet to be broken by the many disappointment from politicians, public indifference and youtfhful cynicism all around us.
This was an NPP rally, a gathering of party supporters who smell victory like the way a male luna moth can detect the scent of a female from over six miles away. They call it confidence. Others call it complacency.
And so huge waves of NPP supporters locked down the Trade Fair Center at La in Accra last Sunday.It was a campaign that appears to be learning from American politics. Neatly designed hard paper replaced the untidy placards and untidy descriptions. One man came with his 'NPP traditional council' in a rally where creativity to undo each other in dramatising commitment was set to be a regular feature. Curiously, he would not really notice a slight contradiction in his outlook.
Someone carried his stool - predictably with an elephant totem - the NPP symbol. And while his umbrella was in NPP colours, the anti-weather equipment is an NDC emblem. But what is a chief without an umbrella? Three minature elephants installed like CCTV cameras on this bicylce in an intended demonstration of the words; ' Vigilance is the price of liberty". While 'three elephants' watched over the bicylce rider, this one here watched over a mechanical 'elephant'. The 'chief' would be full of envy for this feat - he has just been robbed of the majestic air of riding an 'elephant'. The NCCE has encouraged voters not to go to the polling station sipping Kalyppo, a commercial product that has been given a complete make-over in a masterful piece of political marketing. The fruit drink a parting gift for school children has become a parting shot at the NDC.
An attempt to ridicule the NPP flagbearer, Akufo-Addo who was captured sipping on it, terribly backfired as a pro-NPP social media space responded by taking and sharing selfies sipping on the drink. Someone topped up the whole month of kalyppo selfies by actually taking a video bathing with the fruit drink. Leading NPP member and veteran MP Hackman Owusu Agyemang blended in, strutted cheerfully through the crowd and waved to anyone.
It was a gathering of veterans too. The men who formed the first NPP government of President John Kufuor. Former NPP Chairman Haruna Esseku was walked into the Trade Fair Center. About 16 years ago, he was a kingpin in the NPP 2000 victory.
Esseku, was the deputy campaign manager of President John Agyekum Kufuor in the 2000 presidential election. He knows victory and if you ask him, he would tell you, he smells it again and feels it again as he remembers his own victory in the 2001 NPP chairmanship race.
He polled 348 votes to crash a rival, Major John Addai Duah (rtd), who secured 61 votes. A third candidate Mr Mohammed Musah had 22 votes - a little more than the number of letters in his own name.
'Kufuor, can you see the promise land?' - NPP Presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo points it out for his predecessor who appears to strain a little bit and seals his optimism with a satisfied smile. Let's just say, an NDC taxi driver is not likely not return this phone if the owner forgets it in his ride back home. The NPP rally featured Ghanaian gospel star Cindy Thompson. And her worship session is responsible for this picture of a woman who sank to her knees, eyes closed, imagery of her own life experiences, a pyschological fountain out of which flowed - the tears.
She was lost for a moment. No attention was paid to her environment. We may never know for sure if the tears are for God, for Ghana or for Nana.
And it got worse as Cindy Thompson's hit song in 2000, was used by the NPP to pack out of opposition and into government. The iconic gospel star was on the stage again in 2016. Her colleague, Evangelist Diana Asamoah was there to also do the 'change' sign. No attention was paid to the verse, 'I am the Lord, I changeth not'. As long as God is not on the ballot, everything is subject to change, she signalled.
Well, what can we say - the men of God exercised their democratic right to endorse and their spiritual right to pray. But is this right?
Last minute cross-carpeting and some endorsements from failed presidential candidates were also recorded. Here is Kofi Akpaloo and Odike [in white].
Ag. NPP General Secretary John Boadu, with bloodshot eyes, will be the second General Secretary in NPP to have lifted the party out of opposition and into government. The first was Okere MP Dan Botwe in 2000. Maame Afia Osei Akoto - fiesty, soldier-like aggression, deputy NPP Communications Director.