On Christmas Day I went to Legon in the supreme interest of journalistic research: I wanted to check on those flags and posters that had commanded pride of place at the campus environs in the run-up to the NPP congress. I just couldn't resist the temptation to take a final look at the massed ranks of posters at the gate and along the university's main routes.

It is unlikely that there will ever be so many political streamers and garlands squeezed in such a confined space, and in any case, never in the history of the human race have so much decoration rewarded so few.

I had hoped that in typical Ghana style, the posters will be where they were planted for at least one week until the weather and other elemental forces took their toll. So, armed with my camera I headed for the university. Sad to report, there was not much left to admire or even observe.

Ironically, the only giant poster still on its feet, albeit leaning askew, belongs to ex-aspirant, Dr Arthur Kennedy, the man who has secured his place in our country's political history by securing one single vote in his party's primary.

Here and there stood smaller posters of Alan Cash, Oyeadeeyie, and "Apparatchiki", who obviously was the darling of the rank and file. There was a big papier-mache animal, presumably an elephant, still standing in the Volta Hall roundabout, otherwise the campus of the University of Ghana at Legon had been reclaimed for the purpose for which it was set up. This was by courtesy to Zoom Lion, which had sent in its Charge of the Light Brigade to do battle on the detritus of war.

I got out of the car to take a closer look at a rubbish pile near Commonwealth Hall, which had been declared the legal limit for unauthorised persons during the congress. Two torn posters lay one on the other like fallen comrades in a death embrace. They belonged to Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama and Mr Dan Botwe. As I looked at those posters, it occurred to me that this was an existential moment pregnant with meaning. The NPP congress resembled the year 2007; they both promised much but delivered little.

The year 2007 was the Golden Jubilee of Ghana's independence and was rightfully signposted as a significant moment in the country's history. The fact that it was happening at a moment of settled consensus on our governance structures was seen as favourable for the country. All previous significant anniversaries had come during military regimes except the 40th in 1997 which happened under the NDC.

A Planning Committee was announced for the Jubilee, which ran into immediate predictable trouble for not having representatives nominated by other political parties. Despite being reminded that the 40th anniversary was not organised by an all-party committee, one NDC radio panellist said that they would have done it differently now if his party was in power. Logic and politics apparently are not bedfellows.

After the committee was formed money was secured for it to do its work. There was a lot of agitation at the fact that 20 million US dollars was going to be spent on the Jubilee. Many people suggested other very useful things that we could buy for that amount. The government argued that the Jubilee was not a one-off affair and that it would leave infrastructure in its wake.

Pro-government commentators also pointed out that the Jubilee was going to provide the nation with valuable intangible assets such as national identity, pride in our heritage and a conscious melding of our multiform cultures into one underscored by unity in diVersity.

We failed, didn't we?

Above all, the showpiece of the celebration, which was the grand parade at the Independence Square, was expected to showcase our national cultural heritage and our famed hospitality. Hundreds of school children and personnel drawn from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Fire, Prison and Police Services went into rehearsals for a big day, which would demonstrate our positive attributes.

The day duly arrived and several foreign dignitaries, including most African heads of state, arrived but were neither introduced nor acknowledged at the parade grounds. When the President arrived at the parade grounds he was wearing a Western style suit, the very symbol of colonial oppression which our founding fathers ostentatiously cast aside 50 years ago. So much for intangible assets. On the tangible side, I have not been to most parts of the country so I am sure there could be a lot of Jubilee infrastructure that I am not aware of.

But we ought to have made more of, and got more out of the Jubilee. The idea of the Jubilee Lectures was brilliant but poorly executed. They were mostly held at the Conference Hall which automatically excluded the masses. The celebration was supposed to be year-long but after March it was allowed to go into quiet snooze, the better for all concerned. If truth be told, the whole thing was a damp squib.

Another occurrence that is indelibly etched on my memory of the year is the energy crisis which lasted until... actually depending on where you live it may not have ended. For most of the year, power was rationed which made life rather difficult for most of us. My memory is of long steps towards home every fifth night. Those nights were dark, deep and dispiriting. Pray God, they will never return, but I can't bet on that.

We got something right, though. This was the re-denomination of the national currency, which saw three zeroes knocked off for being completely useless. Even that was not without its political drama. A leading member of the NDC announced that his party "will not have anything to do with the new currency", which means that from next week, as the rest of the citizens use the Ghana Cedi, the largest opposition party will either continue to use the old currency illegally or may decide to resort to barter. Interesting times ahead.

You can't talk of 2007 without touching on the politics. It was relentless and the media, in particular radio, made sure it was right in your face. If there is one failure in our media it is the absence of filters to determine the wheat from the chaff. So, if say I declare that I am about to form a political party every radio station will fall over itself to interview me when a little quiet checking would establish that I am probably not even in a position to organise a tea party in my house.

The sheer number ofNPP aspirants worried me for a while but now I think that was the main redeeming feature of Politics 2007. It made it a lot of fun. I mean who can forget the faces of the aspirants at the NPP congress as they got their ones and twos. It was a moment to savour, if like me you are happy to see politicians egos deflated every now and then.

But the one moment I will never forget from Politics 2007 was the moment Alan John Kyerematen conceded defeat, and announced that one of the reasons he was doing so was to save money. I mean this was the man who rained cash like confetti at a New York ticker tape parade. It was like Count Dracula proposing himself as the director of the blood bank, or worse, like the devil asking to be baptised in the name of Father; Son and Holy Spirit. I haven't stopped laughing since.

Happy New Year to all Diary Fans: Keep the faith and we will always tell it like it is.




Source: The Mirror/Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng
e-mail: gapenteng@hotmail.com