NDC Song Flops

Just as the �Ghana In Prophecy� conference, organised to shore up support for President Mills�s candidature last Friday, failed to secure the presence of the advertised prophets, a musical programme held at Pavilion A of the International Trade Fair Centre, La-Accra, on Saturday, to launch a campaign song for the President, did not only record a low turnout, but was also poorly organised. The song, dubbed �Ye die ne Atta�, was created and sang for the President by a musician called Eddie Max. The event was widely advertised in the media, but it attracted only a handful of persons who looked absolutely bored. Initially, the impression had been created that the event was being put together by officials of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), thereby attracting wild criticism from some members of the party, chief among which was a party youth activist, Mohammed Abdulai Mubarak popularly called Ras Mubarak, since the party was yet to go to congress to elect a presidential candidate. He explained that since neither of the two contestants, namely President Mills and Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, had been elected as flagbearer to lead the party, it was wrong for the party executive to sponsor such an event. This compelled party General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia to put out a statement, denying any official involvement in the event, with the explanation that the music launch was being organised by some members of the party, now called �Friends of Atta Mills� (FOAM). The programme, which was to start at 4.00pm, delayed for well over two hours, and eventually began at 6.40pm. All this while, invited guests including Defence Minister General Henry Smith and his wife, Greater Accra Regional NDC Chairman Ade Coker, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chris Kpodo, who arrived around 5.00pm, remained glued to their seats, wondering what was going on, until some of their other colleagues such as Deputy Minister of Agriculture Nii Amasa Namoale, NDC anthem composer and highlife musician Jewel Ackah, wife of NDC Chairman Comfort Adjei and some Members of Parliament (MPs) joined them. There were indications that the event organisers were waiting for more people to fill the several empty seats. However, when they realised that people were no more coming, the organisers eventually decided to start the programme because they could not afford to keep the ministers waiting. One Pastor Offei, who emceed the programme, was the first to offer an apology for the late start of the programme, but he fell short of giving any tangible reason why the programme had delayed. After a word of prayer, he made way for the chairperson to make a few remarks, after which Jewel Ackah, the first beneficiary of GH�10,000 from the controversial Heroes� Fund, took the stage and sang the NDC anthem, followed by gospel artiste Bernice Ansah. Thereafter, there was a long interruption in the programme. For close to 30 minutes, there was nothing going on, with no explanation being offered by anyone, except the music that was being played by the deejays. This left many, including journalists and the handful of people who had gathered, confused until the emcee came back to apologise for the �break� which he attributed to �something beyond our control�. The programme continued from there with the auction of the music and a performance by Eddie Max, the song composer. The auction of the �Ye die ne Atta� was done by General Smith�s wife who said she was standing in for the several support groups that had sprung up in the ruling party, including Friends of Atta Mills (FOAM). She expressed optimism that President Mills would be re-elected at the upcoming congress of the party scheduled for the Brong Ahafo Regional capital, Sunyani, between July 8 and 10. The first copy of the CD was sold for GH�1,000 and bought by the chairperson for the occasion, an unfamiliar face in the NDC. Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NDC Ade Coker, General Smith, Chris Kpodo and others bought their copies for GH�100 and the rest followed in a depreciating order. Meanwhile, another prayer session dubbed �Vigil� is being planned by a group called �Get Together Movement� (GETOM), and the Accra Polytechnic branch of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN). The programme, which is scheduled to take place at the old auditorium of the Accra Polytechnic on Republic Day, 1st July 2011, is meant to �pray for the unity of Ghana and the NDC family�. Flyers of the programme are already in circulation.