With A Heavy Heart, Socrate Safo Writes To NPP…

Brothers and sisters of the great New Patriotic Party,

I write to you with a heavy heart, but also with fire in my spirit.

 A brother once told a story. He spoke of two sisters who fell into a bitter feud. They traded insults like weapons. Each insult sharper, each word more poisonous than the last. Then one sister paused and asked:

 “With the kind of words you’re throwing at me, are we going to reconcile as family after this, or are we parting ways forever? Tell me, so I know the kind of insults I should prepare in return.”

 My brothers and sisters, that is exactly what our beloved NPP has become. Two sisters locked in a quarrel, tearing each other apart, while the whole neighbourhood, the whole nation, stands by and watches in disbelief.

 Recently, I tuned into a political program on television where a party communicator was promoting one of the contesting candidates of the upcoming presidential primaries. What I saw was shameful. What I heard was disgraceful. That was not debate. That was not strategy. That was not the proud tradition of Danquah, Dombo, and Busia. No, it was gutter fighting. It was reckless insults on the other candidate. It was arrogant, unguarded words coming from people who claim to love this party.

 And let me be clear, this is not about one candidate’s supporters. No! Both sides are guilty. Both factions are guilty. Both are dragging the name of the NPP into the mud.

 

They fight as if, when the house finally burns to ashes, they will still have a roof to sleep under. But they are wrong. When the house is destroyed, no one has a home. But let me tell you, the shouting of the reckless is not what shocks me the most. What shocks me is the silence. Yes, the silence of the elders of this party!

 So today I ask, and I ask loudly:

President Kufuor, where are you?

Chairman Freddie Blay, where are you?

Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, where are you?

Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, where are you?

Council of Elders, where are you?

 Do you not see what is happening? Or do you see and deliberately stay quiet because the fire has not yet reached your doorstep?

 Your silence is not golden. It is cowardice.

Your inaction is not patience. It is betrayal.

 And hear me well: if this party collapses under the weight of insults and division, history will not blame only the two warring sisters. No! History will write your names, too. It will record your silence as complicity. It will mark you, not as statesmen, but as grave-diggers of the very tradition you fought to build with your sweat, blood, and tears.

 Because what is happening now is no longer politics. It is cannibalism. The contestants and their supporters are devouring each other alive, and you, the elders, are watching with folded arms.

 Your house is on fire. Either you rise now to quench the flames, or you will forever be remembered as the cowards who watched your family burn.

 

To the winner, after the primaries, only one contestant will be elected to lead the party. With the kind of insults (instead of superior ideas) being traded, would you reach out to the other contestants you’ve  insulted and call names to come and support the winner to campaign?

 The candidate may jump on the bus and dance with you and shout Kukrudu, but what of his supporters?

 Can your candidate win the national election with only his faction of the party supporters?

 But now, let me turn to the grassroots. Yes, you, the ordinary members. You, the heartbeat of this tradition. You, the people who stand in the sun to vote, who carry the party on your shoulders in every village, every town, every city.

 Do not wait for the elders.

Do not be fooled by insults.

Do not be used as weapons of destruction.

Do not sell your future for the anger of today.

 If the elders will not defend the party, then the grassroots must.

If the leaders will not protect the house, then the base must hold the walls.

 So I say:

Stand up for unity!

Stand up for discipline!

Stand up for dignity!

Stand up for the NPP you believe in!

 If the NPP is to be saved, it will not be saved from the top. It will be saved from the ground.

 The future of this party is not in the hands of quarrelling factions. It is not in the hands of leaders who tear down what they can not control. The future of this party is in your hands, the loyal, steadfast, unbreakable grassroots.

 So rise up! Refuse to be divided. Refuse to be manipulated. Refuse to fight your own brothers and sisters. Because when we fight each other, we all lose.

Let’s trade ideas and policies, not insults

 Let us protect this party. Let us preserve its dignity. Let us rise above the chaos. And let us show Ghana that the NPP is not a house of quarrelling sisters but a strong family ready to lead.

 For the soul of the NPP must not die in insults and division. It must rise in unity and strength. From victory unto victory

 God bless the NPP. God bless Ghana.

 

NOTE: Socrate Safo is a Ghanaian filmmaker, director, and producer. He is a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) served in government positions related to the creative arts in Ghana under the Nana Akufo-Addo led government.