I write this article not as an attempt to “piss-in” but as an attempt to wake the NDC up to the realities of ROPAA. The ROPAA team just ended their fact-finding meeting in USA.
They visited four states: Massachusetts. New York, Ohio and Mighty Virginia. My group, Diaspora Progressive Movement, attended the one in Virginia, and I must say when I saw the excitement and seriousness on the face of Dr. Bossman Asare, the Deputy Electoral Commissioner, I got alarmed and frightened. I was frightened because I saw no NDC representative on the ROPAA team.
What made it scary was that Dr. Bossman told us that after the Virginia meeting, they were going to put up a report from USA and after all the consultations are done, they will write a report to Parliament and the process moves on. Now, the person who was writing the minutes at the Virginia meeting was the NPP representative on the team. It is very likely, he was the one who wrote the minutes at all the meetings held in USA. This is why I am cautioning the NDC not to lose Focus on the ROPAA because the NPP are very serious with it. Some of us don’t want to work hard and NDC will again give victory 2020 to the NPP on a silver platter. It was painful, frustrating and annoying.
I, representing my group, was the first to ask a question. I wanted them to tell us the whereabouts of Hon. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the NDC representative on the team. Those who have watched the video saw how Dr. Bossman Asare took his time to explain the situation and attempted to blame Hon Afriyie-Ankrah for traveling to UK when they were processing their VISAS for the trip. Dr. Bossman said he even suggested to the party leadership to find anybody with a US Visa to join the team but he didn’t hear back from them. He also suggested a representative from NDC USA, but that too didn’t work. Whether Dr. Bossman lied or not, the fact is NDC was not represented on the team.
Normally, at such fact-finding missions, the views from the US folks dominate the decision in the final document. So for NDC not to have taken the visit seriously beats my imagination. Why did they leave Hon. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah alone to fight for his Visa to travel with the team? When did they know Hon. Ankrah was not joining the team? Why couldn’t NDC do everything possible to get a representation on the team? There is about 17-member Executive committee here for NDC USA. The NDC didn’t see why they should have contacted this executive committee to get a representative on the team? I mean, what is the reason for NDC to have chapters and branches in various countries? Is it only to receive them as visitors when they visit those countries?
My group made it emphatic that every Ghanaian living every where should be given the chance to vote. In fact, that is the law and the view shared by the flag bearer of the NDC. But who was in the team to ensure that at least, it was captured in the report from USA?
Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that it was because of this ROPAA and other rigging machinations that was why Mrs Charlotte Osei and her deputies were all kicked out. Dr. Bossman Asare has strategically been included in the ROPAA team and he is a crafty and a skillful striker. We need a rough, strong and tough defender like Ofei Ansah, Opeele or Frimpong Manso to tackle him.
If NDC should leave Dr. Bossman to be dribbling at the front of our penalty area, we will throw away our kenkey and fufu. Some of us wept bitterly in 2016 because the defeat was painful, frustrating and annoying. The leadership of NDC should not take us there again in 2020 because somebody didn’t get a visa to travel with the ROPAA team and nobody did something about it. Ghanaians will never forgive NDC if the results from the diaspora change the outcome of election 2020 in favor of the party of criminals. Let’s be serious.
Dr. Lawrence is the Founder of the Diaspora Progressive Movement based in USA.