The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) went to the polls last Saturday and others on Sunday to elect parliamentary candidates to represent the party in the 2016 general elections.<\/p>\n
They also used the opportunity to affirm the candidature of President John Mahama.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a lecturer at the School of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr. Etse Sikanku delves into the issues that characterised the primaries.<\/p>\n
1.Democracy wins<\/strong><\/p>\n The NDC has accomplished what, I believe, should give democratic purists something to cheer about. It\u2019s an absolute first as far as Ghana\u2019s gubernatorial primaries are concerned: giving power to people to choose parliamentary candidates at the party level instead of leaving it to a select few.<\/p>\n When Americans speak of popular democracy grassroots participation even at the most basic levels features prominently. The NDC has moved closer to this creed by the novelty of this year\u2019s primaries. No matter where you stand, I believe this is something the Athenian Democrats will applaud.<\/p>\n 2. \u201cBigmanism\u201d suffers a bad day at the polls<\/strong><\/p>\n This weekend was not a good one for the \u201cBig men\u201d and \u201cgodfathers\u201d of politics. It was one of those days when some entrenched party apparatchiks met the fire of party insurgents. This is not the day to talk about the substance of both candidates; the symbolism is what stands out here. It\u2019s also a clear lesson on how to exit the stage in any facet of life: sports, politics or whatever field. The power of goodbye does not come easy. There are too many life lessons here: contentment, when to call it quits etc etc. We are all learning. On other end of the spectrum some old hands are coming back though as things remain unchanged in some constituencies. Heads up: Nadowli\/Kaleo.<\/p>\n 3. The Rawlings Factor<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Congratulations to Dr. Zanetor Rawlings and all the folks who scored big victories.\u00a0 I have absolutely no doubts about her qualifications, agility, abilities, skills and reform mindedness. However we still can\u2019t ignore context in any reflective exercise no matter how peripheral\/brief.<\/p>\n The depth of her accomplishment: female candidate with little previous political experience \u201cdowning\u201d an incumbent in the core greater Accra constituency of Korle Kolttey is something that should catch the eye of democratic gazers.<\/p>\n 4. Violence still a major specter<\/strong><\/p>\n For all the commendations and pomp associated with the just ended primaries, those concerned about electoral politics in general should feel uneasy.<\/p>\n Ballot box snatching, doubts about veracity of voters register, overt and covert violence on several levels, anxiety and insecurity were major issues which need to be seriously addressed at both party and national level before we get overtaken by events.<\/p>\n 5. Fresh blood…changing of guard:<\/strong><\/p>\n There is something surreal happening in Ghana politics. The NDC now has its response to the NPP\u2019s Francisca Oteng-Mensah, the second year Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), law student who won the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primary in the Kwabre East Constituency.<\/p>\n Enter Joycelyn Tetteh a final year student of the University of Cape Coast who unseated a well known incumbent while vanquishing a professor along the way. This is where politics is as good as Hollywood at the box office.\u00a0 Sometimes, you can\u2019t just make this stuff up. Or you could.<\/p>\n 6. Mahama overwhelmingly endorsed but no votes cause for pause:<\/strong><\/p>\n John Mahama has the endorsement of about 95% of his party people. It doesn\u2019t get better than this. However the Mr. President should be pondering those 61, 836 or so votes.<\/p>\n \u00a0–<\/p>\n By: Etse Sikanku\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) went to the polls last Saturday and others on Sunday to elect parliamentary candidates to represent the party in the 2016 general elections. They also used the opportunity to affirm the candidature of President John Mahama. Meanwhile, a lecturer at the School of Communication Studies at the University of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":168680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[8,38],"yoast_head":"\n