Fun and GAMEs with FONKAR, OLONKA and GARI

The Cocobod House in Sunyani, the capital of Brong-Ahafo. Source: www.panoramio.com

Apparently, all roads [in Ghana] lead to the capital of the Brong-Ahafo region, Sunyani this weekend. From all accounts, these roads are already congested and laden with heavy traffic transporting ruling party faithful to the congress to elect a party flagbearer. Over the past 6 months, there has been much discussion about the hotly-contested race between the incumbent president of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills and an unlikely contender in the person of the former first lady of Ghana, Mrs. Nana Konadu Agygeman Rawlings. I will not even want to delve into the much-dissected reasons why Mrs. Rawlings is challenging the one-term incumbency of President Mills and the implications of such a move. 

Rather, what I find fascinating is the proliferation of grass-root pressure groups  supporting each side. 

It all started with the emergence of FONKAR (Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings) which burst onto the political scene with a glossy website, beautiful portraits of Mrs. Rawlings and a list of her achievements. With the birth of FONKAR came the first real  indications that Mrs. Rawlings had her eye on the presidency not in the distant but rather the immediate future.

As time went on and the whispers of Mrs. Rawlings running started to become a reality, the FONKAR website suddenly became filled with President Mills' pictures and a strange "we was wrong"  disclaimer that they (FONKAR) had been supporting Mrs. Rawlings for a 2016 bid and not a 2012 one. The plot grew even thicker when FONKAR emerged to say their website had been infiltrated by the Mills camp. Clearly an easy chair and popcorn were required to follow all the action.

Eventually, the incumbent side kicked off their own game-plan with the wittily-named GAME (Get Atta Mills Endorsed) campaign. This launch was followed by curious radio ads by Friends of President Mills in the Eastern Region** declaring their love for the President and deep gratitude for the new roads, school uniforms and abolishing schools under trees. With the GAME campaign in full swing, came accusations by the FONKAR side of intimidation and abuse of incumbency. There was also talk of a GAME budget running up to 90 Million Ghana cedis  ($60 million) and an elusive tape (that never surfaced) to supposedly buttress the accusations. The twists and turns were becoming riveting.

Well, the President laughed off the astronomical budget claims and I mean literally laughed it off. His rich laughter can be heard on an audio clip from an interview first broadcast on Asempa FM. Of course I was hoping the laughter would be followed up with an actual budget outline since having the Friends of Atta-Mills in the Eastern region ads in heavy rotation on the radio cannot come cheap!

Aside from the very active FONKAR and GAME, there are other pressure groups in operation:

• GARI: Get Agyemang Rawlings in
• FOAM: Friends of Atta-Mills
• OLONKA: Original Ladies of Nana Konadu Agyemang.
• SADAM: Sons and daughters of Atta-Mills

The clear overlap between the mandates of  some of these groups could only lead me to one conclusion; the real battle is about which side  can come up with the wittiest acronyms!

Meanwhile, over in the main opposition camp (yes, there ARE actually opposition parties in Ghana and not just opposition from within one's own party), a nationwide campaign by the presidential candidate Nana Akuffo-Addo has kicked off. This Listening Tour/Campaign sounds mysteriously like then-candidate Mills' House-to-House Campaign in  2007/2008. Ironically, this very strategy was laughed off (literally laughed off) by the then-incumbent and now-opposition New Patriotic Party. Well, I guess it is true what they say that "he who has the last laugh, laughs longest" since the house-to-house campaign proved that it indeed had GAME. After all, it Got Atta Mills Elected (GAME).


**Not sure why I heard only ads by Friends of Atta-Mills in the Eastern Region. If anyone heard ads by other friends in other regions, please let me know.