Aduro wo so can only be a catchphrase or loosely translated, a slogan. Like in advertising, catchphrases constitute punchline of a sorts; and also, part of the merry that such occasions commandeer. Beyond the finesse and the joyful expressions, these are pronouncements that usually define the persona or the goods and services that are being projected with such theatrics.
Often, such idolizations are not the preserve of the also-runs. It’s reserved for people of substance or goods and services that are of top-notch quality. Within the political realm, such frenetic catchwords also help break unnecessary tension in an election year; be it, internal primary of national elections.
So, if Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen should command more than 200,000 marchers both in Accra and Kumasi, with all drowned in a unified rendition: aduro wo soooo, aduro wo so, then it’s not only about the euphoric occasion, but mainly the character substance of the person driving the frenzy. You therefore needn’t be surprised how people from the other side of the isle are consumed in unceasing cough with the simple Alan sneeze: Aduro me sooo….aduro me so!
Just maybe, their customized BMW has developed a thrust fault that is making it unable to move since the brand new 2023 BMW was launched at the Wontumi Villa in Ogyakrom. You can imagine how edgy and tickling there are becoming. So, a harmless slogan as all-embracing as It’s your turn, to wit: Aduro Wo So, could turn heads on with all manner of warped interpretations.
Elections are all about advertising a brand and how to get people hooked on to it. If people begin to substitute substance with such catchy phrases, then there is a problem. Therefore, such praise phrases should complement the quality and substance of the person carrying the mantle. And we are all witnesses to Alan’s substance which he eloquently expressed in his all-encompassing Blue Print address to the nation immediately, he resigned from the current administration.
History of Catchphrases in Ghana’s political history
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) which won independent for Ghana rode its luck through some catchy sloganeering. And so, we still learn from history how the party’s motto became a virtual slogan: Forward Ever, Backward Never. Then the Nkrumah Show Boy gimmick, all adding up to the extra-ordinary attraction of the CPP and Nkrumah at the time.
Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia’s Pro, Sure did all the difference in the 1969 elections for the Progress Party (PP). Komla Agble Gbedemahs’s National Alliance of Liberals (NAL) was all swingy with James Brown’s Say It Loud, I am Black and Proud also in the ‘69 elections. In between, there was even Rawlings’ Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which slogan: Action Now; later robbed positively on Col Benarsko’s Action Congress Party (ACP) in the 1979 elections.
In the same Third Republican elections, there were PNP’s Abe…aaa… Neko; Victor Owusu and the PFP’s Eye Pop and many others. The 4th Republic comes, and sloganeering has dominated and defined the identity of our parties. We have Eye Zu, Eye Za; Ehe Edzor Bodoo coming from the stable of the NDC.
From the NPP, you just can’t imagine the deep booming Kuuukruduuu sound of Peter Ala Adjetey reverberating around the NPP headquarters. Even at that, each President we’ve had brought his own aliases which easily became slogans of some sorts amongst their supporters. These spice up elections and take our minds from that robust, belligerent positions that we often carry prior to election periods.
Aduro Wo So, part of NPP’s Conservative Orientation
Aduro Wo So is not an Alan creation or orchestration. It’s been a part of the conservative orientation of the NPP. A party that rewards loyalty, dedication and long service. With an array of distinguished stalwarts of the UP/NPP tradition, Professor Albert Adu Boahene became the party’s nominee in 1992, because of his unflinching loyalty, dedication and the lead in the struggle to protect the UP/NPP tradition.
Prof Boahene beat the likes of Safo Adu, Djanie Selby, Peter Ala Adjetey among others not because the latter personalities were not committed members of the UP/NPP tradition, but the degree of Adu Boahene’s activism in the struggle to maintain the sanctity of the UP/NPP against all odds put him poles ahead of his contemporaries. You don’t dare break Rawlings’ culture of silence at the time; but Prof did. That stoical stance is part of the reasons we today enjoy democracy.
If being the flagbearer of the NPP was all about eloquence, oratory and showmanship, John Agyekum Kufuor would have been no match for Nana Akufo Addo in the 1998 delegates primary of the NPP. The occasion, however, became another moment of reiterating the party’s call to the conservative and conventional order of choosing loyalty, long service, humility and dedication to the cause of the NPP ahead of all other considerations.
So, J.A Kufuor who the reactionary forces had written off, became the choice of the conservative purists. And they were in the majority. It had nothing debasing about the other contestants; it was all about paying obeisance to the well-known order that had defined and continue to define the NPP, since its formation some 30 years ago.
The current President himself is perhaps the biggest beneficiary of NPP’s liberal outlook. After losing two consecutive elections in 2008 and 2012, the NPP still kept faith with Nana Addo because he came out tops as the one to enjoy the full benefit of the conventional wisdom in the NPP’s presidential selection. What then is Alan’s crime?
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