Alban Bagbin Can Return NDC To Its Values And Win The Presidency

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been out of government for ten months now due mainly to its flamboyant style of governance at the expense of attending to the human development needs of the people, for instance delays in reintroducing the Youth Employment Agency, the scrapping of allowances for teaching and nursing trainees as well as the neglect of the issue of unemployment.

In any case, this has been a welcome fall for so many who have supported the party for all of their lives because of its tight attachment to the values of probity and accountability much more associated with its founder Jerry John Rawlings.

The weakening of those values which saw young party members cling on to positions in government and displaying a lifestyle far contrary to those values has worked as a panacea for the demise of the party in electoral terms lately.

It ought to be remembered that the founder of the party had raised the alarm on a number of occasions to no avail as both party leadership and government sought to distance the party and its government away from his perceived constant nuisance. No wonder much can be said of the adage ‘a man is bound to go astray if he chooses to chart his future without the counsel of the old’.

But as the party keeps jostling over the real causes of its defeat eleven months ago, as well as who is most deserving to carry the party’s banner into the 2020 Presidential election, it’s fitting to understand that the values of the NDC of old are the biggest requirement to winning in 2020, and not too many party members at present can measure up to the demands of the party’s values.

Therefore, it’s fitting to identify that individual who represents the past and the future and is as well very much ‘brewed’ in the pot of the values of probity and accountability. One such man is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli, the Second Deputy Speaker of parliament, the former Minority and Majority Leader of parliament, the former Minister in charge of Health as well as Water Resources Works and Housing, the man Alban K.S Bagbin.

Bagbin rose through the ranks of political leadership through hard work, loyalty to party values and principles, and with a clear understanding of his social environment. A lot of things make it pleasing for a call on a Bagbin leadership of the NDC.

The popularity he has carved for himself through the great and fine work he has done over the years, his enviable reputation of working well and establishing strong relations with the opposition, the strength of his character and grounding in the party’s values, and his continuous thirst and hunger in serving the people in any capacity are some of the few factors which will at any time validate a call on the revered law maker to lead a party as the NDC.

Whiles growing up as a young boy and going through my secondary education, my greatest source of attention to the parliament of Ghana was Alban Bagbin. His, wit and grits, style and eloquence and his constant ability to adore his presentation with a mix of localised proverbial Ghanaian expressions with a tone as local as can be, makes the feeling of listening to him much more stronger, and the pride of having him as your representative much more fonder.

Until today, I remember my dad asking me of a man that speaks in the parliament of Ghana whose voice sounds as one from the north.

What is interesting about Alban Bagbin’s popularity and his rise to fame in Ghana is not the positions he has occupied or the charm on his face; it’s not even the flamboyance of his style of living or his exotic tone of speaking, but it is the work he has put into years and years of experience as a public office holder whose passion and derive propelled him to work and speak for the poverty in his backyard, the ignorance in his surroundings and the slumber of leadership towards such conditions he represents which in the process made him a household name in much of the forgotten corners of our country.

Incomparable to the likes of former President Kufuor whose party offered him the position and support of public life, and former President Mills whose godfather thrushed him onto the public scene, as well as former President Mahama whose position as Vice President gained for him the spotlight to assume popularity, Alban Bagbin fought for the masses of his constituency and country in neck breaking works of parliament and in the process gained his popularity.

Even though he comes in with decades of experience as a public office holder, the tone of his voice will resonate with the public who have become used to his gritty and stylish presentations over so many years. In any case, the mention of Alban Bagbin will set the reminder in the minds of Ghanaians as to what they can believe they have been made to miss for so long, something missed which they still can have.

Indeed, we ought to be minded that what sets Alban Bagbin and John Mahama apart is that as Vice President, John Mahama failed in the much talked about SADA project, but Alban Bagbin has now held his party’s banner in his constituency for well over 24 years and as Minority Leader in parliament, he successfully returned his party back to the seat of government in 2009.

Also, it is delightful to note that the former Majority Leader established a very sweet working relationship with the opposition New Patriotic Party in parliament when he was the leader of his party in the house.

Unseen and unheard-of in recent Ghanaian political life, the then Majority Leader had an enviable love affair with then Minority Leader Osei-Kyei Mensa-Bonsu. This relationship created the desired image for the governing party at the time and facilitated harmonious and peaceful execution of the business of the Mills government at the time.

It is worth remembering that entertaining day on radio when the two leaders were having a go at each other on Senior High School literature such as Things Fall Apart. It was a beautiful display of harmony, peace, maturity and intelligence in an African parliament most of which are characterised with bullying of opposition parties especially when the ruling party has a majority in parliament. This is testament of a leader who appreciates opposition, has a way of bringing the opposition to the table, and one who will most surely enjoy the goodwill of his opponents.

Back in 2010, it is worth remembering that the opposition in parliament endorsed calls for the law maker to be given a ministerial appointment for the sacrifices that he has made for the party and the potency of the contributions he was bound to bring to improve the government at the time.

As a friend to the opposition on the eve of an election, what is warming of the heart to note is that you will not only have the goodwill of the opponents who will desist from smear tactics against you, but it is also increasingly likely that one will appeal greatly to the opposition supporters and following.

And so if Ghana needs to maintain its peace via electing peaceful leaders who are masters in their own right at playing the parsimonious card, then a leader like Alban Bagbin does not appear off target. And if the NDC needs a leader who wouldn’t draw confrontation by asking his opponents to taste the presidency before criticising him, then they ought to start rehearsing the Bagbin song.

Importantly, at this defining moment, the best candidate to win the presidency for the NDC is the NDC party values of the Jerry Rawlings era – probity and accountability.

If there is one character of the NDC government that shot it back into opposition then it is the character of ignorant young leaders detaching the government from the NDC founder and the party’s core values, government officials who chose to hang on to flamboyant lifestyles thereby distancing themselves from the ground needs of citizens and most especially party followers; government officials who turned themselves into tin gods that ought not to account to anybody for their wayward style of life and governance, and a leader who lacked perhaps the integrity but also the courage and boldness to whip his appointed officials back in line.

It is a demand for a personality who swam across the tide of the NDC history and the history of Ghanaian political life in order to understand in full the best guardians of the NDC party – its values, and a personality who stands uncompromising of such values to represent again not just the NDC but what the NDC stands for.

Look left or right, back or forth, up or down, and no one fits the bill in its exactitude than the old bone, rich with the nutrients of its marrow and strong in the durability of its thickness.

My father and his colleagues who share the NDC party card and carried it with the pride of their lives in the 1990s spoke of the dissipation of criminals who stole in the open market places and in the neighbourhood in broad day light at the time, he spoke about the soldiers who whipped public servants on the road who go to work late as well as the greedy ones who grew their bellies with the people’s money, he spoke about the disappearance of crime and the building of strong values of accountability.

When I remember his words and the recent daily utterances of lamentation by the party’s founder, then I feel reminded like anyone else especially the NDC party loyalists of old about the people who can rekindle the lost image, the lost values and revitalise the chances of the party in winning again and making the Ghanaian society calm and clean like in the 1990s.

I speak about Alban Bagbin because he was the very one who spoke against the poor performance of the Mills government by calling for proper invigoration of the government with new appointments. He was ever consistent with his demand for better from his own government when he again criticised former president Mahama for not doing enough to fight corruption.

As a full blooded NDC member well bred in the values of the party, he demanded consistently that the right things be done to return the party to its roots. Blinded by power or ignorance, former president Mahama lashed back at the revered law maker calling for him to challenge for the presidency.

But as forthright as can be, with his head fixed above mediocrity, and mindful of the deteriorating conditions of governance, Alban Bagbin called for support for the criticisms of former Presidents Rawlings and Kuffuor in order to reverse the slide.

It is testament to the fact that he is the remaining block in the party that shares in the understanding and concerns of the party’s founder who also stands as a forgotten block required in the rebuilding of the party in preparation for election 2020.

Bagbin is bred in the party’s values, he represents them, and should be given the chance to bring those values back in the fight for power because it is only with those values in their undiluted and unromanticised version that the NDC can recapture the presidency yet again.

Finally, Bagbin is a dedicated son of the land who has shown in decades of public life that he’s ready to do his bit for Ghana. He has done over 24 years for his constituency, answered the call to lead his party as Minority and Majority Leader, humbly accepted to serve in ministerial capacity, and has ultimately accepted to cap his role in parliament as a Deputy Speaker of the house.

At 60, he is old and pregnant with experience and wisdom, but as a patriotic son born after Independence, he is young with the vitality and enthusiasm required to juggle round the country and pay his last dues to the land of his birth by serving as President.

Some say the position of Deputy Speaker is a much compromised position for a man of the stature of Alban Bagbin, but if the position of Deputy Speaker offers anything at all, I think it offers him the time, the rest, the introspection and the planning he requires at this great moment to make a major shot at the presidency.

By David Azuliya

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