KING DAVID WRITES: VICTORY OF JAMES GYAKYE QUAYSON IN THE ASSIN NORTH BYE ELECTION, A GOOD OMEN FOR THE NPP

As ridiculous, controversial and unfathomable as it may sound, the victory of the embattled NDC MP – elect of the Assin North constituency is a great omen to the ruling New Patriotic Party.
One would be wondering how a painful defeat of this nature could be referred to as a good omen but that is exactly what it is!

Just a little over a month ago, a similar bye election was held in Kumawu following the demise of the late MP for that constituency.
Though the Electoral commission declared the candidate of the NPP as the Victor of that election, I have maintained and continue to insist that the NPP never won the Kumawu seat. The NPP only retained the seat. You only win something you didn’t have before and now have. In the case of the Kumawu seat, it was an NPP seat and retaining it wasn’t anything adventurous.

Assuming the NPP had won this just ended Assin North seat, I could have imagined the kind of complacency that would have set in the minds of the rank and file of the party.
We would have even touted ourselves as having won two bye elections in a row.
The party would have shouted all over, “Breaking the 8 is possible!” and tickled itself in great accomplishment.
This is never to say that breaking the 8 is impossible, however, it has become exceedingly clear that breaking the 8 should go beyond mere rhetoric and sloganeering but with a sense of focus, commitment, dedication, hardwork and strategy.

Our elders say,”When pepper falls on the forehead, it’s a warning to the eyes”.
We have been very lucky that the Assin North bye election pepper has fallen on our forehead and so this should be a wake up call for all of us to avoid the pepper entering our eyes in 2024.
As I sat quietly whiles the results from the polling stations in Assin North trickled in, as uneasy as I was, I kept wondering, what if this were the 2024 election results, what would have been the situation?
Then I remembered that we had a second chance to amend our ways in order to avoid such unfortunate feeling in 2024.
What are our take homes as a political party following this defeat despite doing everything possible to have won the seat?

Does this reflect a general outlook of what Ghanaians feel about our party going into the 2024 elections?
Is there apathy on the part of our own party members who feel disgruntled about our poor treatment to them?
Is it the case that Ghanaians are not moved by infrastructural development but their economic situations?
Is it the case that we didn’t get our strategies right in Assin north?
Did we misapply our resources?
Were our messages targetive enough?
What did we get wrong?

Let’s do a strict introspection of these and many more to get ourselves in readiness for 2024.
It’s a good omen that this has come at the time when we still have the opportunity to put things right and break the 8 with ease.

In 2015, when there was a similar bye election in Talensi when the MP at the time resigned following his installation as a paramount chief, the NDC in power at the time Marshalled all the arsenals at their disposal including violence, intimidations, vote buying and incumbency advantage to snatch the seat from the NPP.
When they won that seat, they felt very comfortable and complacent.
They went into the 2016 election thinking all was well because they had won a seat previously belonging to the NPP. This led to their humiliating and unprecedented defeat in the 2016 election.
God has been on our side and continues to show us favour at all times.

That’s why this is happening to us at this time that we still have the opportunity to make amends.
If after this pepper falling on our forehead, we fail to take precaution and allow this pepper in our eyes in 2024, then we would have successfully converted our good omen into bad omen.
May it never be said, that we had all the opportunity to right our wrongs yet failed to do that.
May God forbid!

The NPP remains the only political party that can transform Ghana into the future we wish for ourselves.
Posterity would not forgive us if we sit down and do nothing and let this opportunity elude us.
This is the time for real action and not just words.
Breaking the 8 is still possible!
May God bless our great party and grant us the strength, wisdom and commitment to work hard in unity for victory in 2024.

Breaking the 8 is possible!

King David Nkanbonam.
Oti region.