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After reading what you are purported to have said, my conclusion was that this man has lost touch with the current happenings in the party. Nana, quite honestly, you don’t seem to know what is currently happening in the party and have no idea the rage at the grassroots. But I don’t blame you. I blame your boss for making you virtually redundant over the years.

It’s quite disheartening when a national officer like you, who ought to understand politics better, makes such categorical statement without any convincing arguments to back it. What if someone also comes out to say the next leader must be a Ga person because the highest position the Gas have had in the party is Speaker of Parliament.

Or haply, someone else advocates for the next presidential candidate to be native of the Bono Region because, unlike the Northerners and the Gas, who have enjoyed the Vice President and Speakership positions under Kufuor and Nana Addo, the Bonos have had no significant position in the party, even though Busia was a Bono. With this kind of politics, we may be plunging our party into a stream of bedlam.

That’s why in selecting a candidate, we should do away with emotional sentiments and other tangential issues, and allow our strategy to be informed by these two important questions: First, where are we going to have the massive numbers from? Second, how are we going to have the massive numbers to win? After all, when this is all said and done, it is the party or candidate with the highest number of votes in the election that would emerge victorious and not who is well represented. So, every argument should be situated on the numbers-factor.

The only argument you seem to ride on for your candidate is the Dombo argument which has already been shot down in the face of your preferred candidate. You see, the Dombo argument, as a standalone argument, is a fantastic argument. However, it loses its value completely when it is made for Alhaji Bawumia. The complement to this political disposition is definitely immature.

Nana, won’t you agree with me that any true Dombo person at Alhaji Bawumia’s age, would have joined the NPP in 1992 when the party was formed? I tell you no lie, if Dombo himself were to be alive today, on a matter of principle, he would have stopped Dr. Bawmia from riding on his name.

Nana, if I ask you to tell me which political party your preferred candidate voted for from 1992 to 2004, would you be able to tell me? I know you won’t be able, yet you are talking about a tradition, when you know that the NPP tradition didn’t start some 13 years ago. Please, if you want your candidate to be elected on the ticket of the NPP, tell us what he can bring to the table in terms of numbers (votes) and stop this dry tribal politics you have been contracted for.

The late Alhaji Aliu Mahama, may his humble and gentle soul rest in peace, was a true party man from the North. He joined the party in 1992 and was a major financier, yet this Dombo argument, being made now, could not be made for him. Isn’t it rather ironic that, the Dombo argument, is now being made for someone who, until joining the party in 2008, had never contributed a pesewa to the party? So, which tradition were you talking about? If it’s the NPP tradition you were talking about, then per our tradition, which would always stand, your candidate is the last in line.

For me, it would be politically imprudent to present a candidate who is doubly disadvantaged in terms of numbers relative to religion and tribe. John Mahama was only disadvantaged in terms of tribe but made gains on the terms of religion, as he belongs to the 71.2% Christian Community. Dr. Limann was also only disadvantaged in terms of tribe, not religion. These may have contributed significantly to winning election as Northerners.

However, when it comes to Dr. Bawumia, he is doubly disadvantaged in terms of tribe and religion. If truth be told, the numbers would greatly be against him. Frankly speaking, presenting him would amount to a needless risk that can only lead to pains, tears and regrets.

We can’t be sensitive to the issue of religion and tribe when it comes parliamentary candidates and decide to ignore same when it comes to presidential candidate. Nana, why do we present Muslim candidates in overly Muslim-dominated communities and Christian candidates in overly Christian-dominated communities? If we really believe that one’s tribe and religion play no role in election, let’s present a Hindu or Christian candidate in Tamale Central or Yendi against the NDC’s Muslim candidate and see the outcome.

You see, self-deception is the most dangerous poison any system can inject into itself. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves. Dr Bawumia, however good he might be as a person, would be a very bad product for the political market today. Mind you, a good and profitable product is determined relative to market.

Besides, your preferred candidate, apart from the aforementioned factors, has personally made contradictory, disputable and unfulfilled statements and promises, that can really cost the NPP a great deal of political fortune in 2024. I don’t know whether you have seen those worrying videos making rounds on social media. Regardless of who becomes the candidate, those statements and promises would cost the party some fortunes. Even worst, should he (Dr. Bawumia) be made the candidate.

Politics, as you're aware, is a game of numbers. Therefore, any factor that can negatively affect our numbers should be taken seriously. Our dear party respects all religious groups permissible by the constitution and would not commit any act of discrimination now or ever.

However, as a political party, while respecting the various groups, will not be swayed or blinded by the antics of a few individuals, such as yourself, into opposition. We would continue to love each other, but would present a candidate who can bring in the numbers for our victory. And, when the victory is won, we will all sit happily around the table of power and eat from the same bowl. This is political wisdom. Power first!

Shalom shalom!

E. G. Buckman
[email protected]