ONE ONE DRAW; THE "BUGA BUGA" CAMPAIGN MESSAGE FOR 2016

My personal view of some events, how they played out and are likely to influence the upcoming elections and future events is the subject matter of this piece.

When the voter dictates the tune

The next turn on our right and we are in 2016, the year most of our politicians are dreading.  That is the year in which they virtually dance to any tune you call as a voter especially when you flag your voters’ ID in their faces. The government and all persons in positions of authority gained through the ballot box tremble at the mention of election year.  

As we approach the election year, I am reminded of a virtual noose around our neck. Much as many Ghanaians wish for the emergence of a third potent and marketable force that will widen the options and possibly take our necks out of this NPP-NDC albatross, there is something called reality which is difficult to escape, especially for people who house objective minds in their skull. It is sad but the fact is, “No such dependable force seems to show in the horizon, at least none I have seen yet.

The situation at hand is like a coin; it is two sided. You turn left and you are facing the spine-tingling devil, you turn right and you have the deep blue sea to contend with. The politicians are retreating to the drawing board to craft and execute workable strategies if the hope of “occupying their seats” (and the flagstaff) house from 2017 is to be achieved. Active campaign will start in earnest and will gradually hit third to fifth gear as December 7, 2016 inches closer.

But like cars which run on fuel, political campaigns revolve mainly around messaging. The more relevant and appealing your message is, the more your chances of making disciples which could eventually translate into the much needed thumbprints that vest you with the mandate of the people.

Tactically perching here on my rooftop, armed with my quill (pen) and old-fashioned telescope, I see two “buga buga” type of messages that promise to appeal to electorates in the Krobo region, one each for the two leading parties, the NPP and NDC and I can bet my bottom cedi that these messages will feature prominently during the peak campaign season.  Any attentive politician down there should long have spotted these hot messages that could easily work on the minds of my people.

Tasty hamburger for NDC communicators and propagandists

A few days ago, Krobo youth sprang up in a near spontaneous outburst against the minority in parliament and the NPP in particular for its plan to frustrate the passage of a bill that will cause the establishment of a university in the Krobo area. According to the minority side, championed by the NPP, they were dissatisfied with and disappointed in government’s perceived politically-informed choice of Somanya and Donkorkrom for the siting of the university.

From the look of things, if they had their way, they would have scooped the palm wine out of the “Krobo calabash” and given it to the people of Koforidua in the New Juaben municipality, riding on the argument of precedents which have shown that most of the public universities took off in the regional capitals, and so must this new one.

If you ask me, the NPP created some disaffection of a sort for itself among a section of the Krobo citizenry. For a party which is still struggling and hoping to break the dominance of the NDC in that zone, (bare fact and not fiction) any sense of opposition (which is the unfortunate signal sent to many) to a project like this that has the prospects of developing the area is sure to affect its fortunes, and for a long time to come, the party would struggle to explain its action and intention to the people.

Whether the Elephant folks like it or not, their rather unfortunate last minute actions and utterance on the project was a free tasty hamburger for NDC communicators and propagandists who are surely going to package and trumpet that to the Krobo community come 2016. May be the NPP must start thinking about a response.

The Umbrella’s weak point, a counter message for the NPP

I have a message

The NDC has an Achilles heel too and any smart shooter in the NPP would aim nowhere but that weak spot, at least it will appeal to a number of Krobos. It is common knowledge that the Manya Krobo state has, over the past years, reduced in size under PNDC/NDC government-made laws. As if Manya Krobo was too big to be administered as one traditional area and two constituencies, its communities were always the target any time government (under the NDC) thought of creating or adding onto a district, not new in Manya, but outside. 

At different points in time, government cut well known Krobo communities like Asedja, Meryiwa, Osubeng, Kakama SK, Miaso and Klumhe Akontaa to help create the Fanteakwa district and followed in a rapid succession with similar acts that saw known Krobo villages like Adjina Dornor, Sapor, Manya Yoyim, Sedorm, Yerniama and Dawa Toklo (the last two of which are prominently featured in some Klama/Dipo songs) cut away and aligned to the then newly created Asuogyaman district. 

Who said Manya Krobo too should not have three or four districts and constituencies and, for that matter, three or four MPs if its land size and population permit that? Wouldn’t that have increased our share of voice in parliament and influence in the corridor of power, if for nothing at all?

As if that was not enough, the same government continued what seems like (or perhaps rightly so) a deliberate policy to reduce the size of the Manya state and attempted illegally ceding Akuse (and all of its seven electoral areas) from Manya in the Eastern Region to the Shai-Osudoku district in the Greater Accra region, this time under a disguised Electoral Area re-demarcation exercise. Ask yourself why this is happening this number of times and repeatedly under the same government.  

First it was Manya Krobo losing lands to Fanteakwa and then Asuogyaman and now Shai-Osudoku. And who said government will ever cut another district (if it is the practice) and add to Manya to help meet the requirement for a third district/constituency? It can only suggest that the NDC, after all, is not as caring as it portrays. Could this be a deliberate (wicked and if you like anti-Manya) policy to reduce its size and influence as is wildly perceived?

Till date, the dust that was stirred by that veiled government-back exercise at Akuse is yet to settle and in fact may even be stirred again as we approach the September assembly election during which the two sides (Manya and Osudoku) are sure to lock horns again over Natriku, the last of the seven electoral areas yet to be returned to the former.

I am not moving an inch from my current position just so I can have a good view of the drama that will unfold between now and the elections. I shall return but until I do so, be reminded that these are my thoughts and not yours. Let the objective reader make meaning of this piece.

The writer is a journalist (an activist writer) and a blogger and can be reached via klonobi2007@gmail.com. You can follow him on twitter with the handle @henkingklonobi

HON. OKLETEY TERLABI MUST HEAR THIS !!!

Hon. Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, MP, Lower Manya Krobo constituency

The Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Hon. Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi has been trending in the media since yesterday. He seems to have taken over the social media space, displacing the likes of Yvonne Nelson and David Oscar who have been top of mind just the days before, thanks to the dumsor debate.  

For most part of yesterday, social media particularly facebook was awash with vituperative comments targeted at the MP for chiding the suffering public and ostensibly remarking that “the effects of dumsor are exaggerated by people who cannot afford to buy fridges or air conditioners in their homes”. This statement opened the flood gate of unsavoury remarks and attacks on him in a manner that gave a clear indication of how frustrated Ghanaians are in the face of the energy crisis. (http://www.ghana-news.adomonline.com/politics/2015/May-11th/only-poor-persons-are-complaining-about-dumsor-ndc-mp.php#sthash.nmY0er3e.dpuf)

I want to admit that though I have read the story online, I am yet to listen to the tape and assess the statement contextually, for which reason I am being measured in my condemnation.

If indeed my MP made the statement as he’s been quoted and with the intent as understood by the average Ghanaian, then that’s very very insensitive and unfortunate and particularly so when one considers his status as a leader- an incumbent MP, one time Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Deputy Defence Minister and until quite recently the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in the same ruling government which should long have found an antidote to the deadly power crisis.

I will be one of the first people to tell him in the face that his comment was a bit of a display of indiscretion and indifference towards the plight of the masses because clearly one does not need to own any of those gadgets he mentioned to feel the burning heat arising out of dumsor. In fact, I don’t own a tea kettle let alone fridge and “air korn” and yet I am painfully feeling the dumsor pinch in all its forms.

You will however agree with me also that fairness demands and it is only appropriate that we condemn him based on what he actually said (and can confirm that indeed he did say) instead of merely hinging our criticism and argument on what the media reports.

One thing we should as well be doing- if our argument should hold- is to analyse his statement or quote in the context as used and not in isolation because the two may give different meaning and MAY not be the same. He could easily have been misunderstood or misrepresented and we must make room for that.

Admittedly most of our media houses here in Ghana thrive on sensationalism for which reason I won’t necessarily take a media report as the truth, (the whole truth and nothing but the truth) and completely rule out the possibility of some reporter mistakenly or wilfully adding his bit to change the import of the statement. Let us convince ourselves, possibly with evidence that he made such a remark as reported and then we can justifiably call for his head.

Meanwhile can someone close to him whisper some advice into his ears to be more strategic with his media appearances? I noticed with restlessness over the past few weeks and month that he’s taken to a more aggressive show-up on radio talk shows, turning himself literally into what has come to be known as “party/political communicator”.

Listening to him on some occasions, it is my opinion that for several reasons (which are better discussed in privacy on the basis that I am one of his constituents) he shouldn't become too popular and regular a commentator (social commentator, if you like) because that comes with its own price, one of which we are experiencing now.

I took the pain to write this because I have been affected by association. Many were those who called to ask why you will make such a statement. There were those who bundled us together as Krobos and told us their piece of mind. Much the same way I was linked today (albeit indirectly), I will be linked when you make us proud and that is what I look forward to again.

LET THE READER MAKE MEANING OF THIS PIECE.

Hon Terlabi, MP, Lower Manya Krobo

MP in kente cloth (extreme right) together with the President (middle) at an event

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