EDITORIAL: Catering For NDC Foot Soldiers

Today, The Ghana Palaver newspaper wants to take the opportunity presented it by the hullabaloo that greeted the directive from the Presidency, that Government appointees should see to the needs of the party�s foot soldiers when they are approached by such people. Comments on some Radio stations made the President�s directive look like it was an abomination for a political party to take care of its own. Taking care of party foot soldiers is no new practice in any democracy and for the information of the Radio Stations making the most noise, it happened not long ago under the NPP administration. Joy Fm in particular was asking listeners whether it was proper for the President to ask government appointees to come to the aid of the party�s foot soldiers. All of a sudden, some members of the public are behaving as if the Atta Mills administration is the first they had seen since they were born and did not know the kind of things the last administration did for its foot soldiers and even party sympathizers who were not know NPP card bearers. The directive by the President is not new and it pertains all over the world even in the advanced democracies. All over the world, Politicians reward those who made it possible for them to win elections. The only thing that �The Ghana Palaver� does not agree with Presidency is the fact that the directive was made public. If the government wants to reward its supporters there was no need to announce it to the whole world; the government must formulate a plan and implement it at the party level. In fact the foot soldiers don�t need to go to any government appointee for help; they must go to their party officials who know them and their contribution to the party. We were all in this country; we know how the NPP dished out money, cars, houses, foreign travels, scholarships, and job opportunities etc to its party faithful. The NPP did not tell Ghanaians what it was doing for its supporters; did anyone question the Kufuor administration for doing that? There is nothing wrong with the directive from the Presidency because in every democracy, it is people that are used to win elections therefore it is appropriate that the NDC show appreciation to its foot soldiers and how would the party do this other than giving them jobs, scholarships etc. In the view of �The Ghana Palaver� if the government is honest about wanting to help its foot soldiers, it does not need to tell anyone, it should go ahead and do it after all, these are the people who will ensure that the party retain power come 2012. Those who are shouting on roof tops are the people who will relish the defeat of the NDC in the next elections. They are also the same people whose flow of goodies have been stopped with the defeat of the NPP and are praying for the return of the NPP.