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�It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.� Mr. Thatcher (Spouse of Margaret Thatcher) In my young adult life, I have come to the conclusion that, government is the easiest Institution anybody can criticize. But the question I have asked myself time with number is that who is the government? Last week, was one week that I will never forget, not because someone gave me money, or I won a lottery, but because I listened and read about the National Democratic Congress (NDC) pressing a self-destruct button, a situation that could have been avoided had cool heads prevailed. Ideally, I will enjoy a good fight, if it is one that is advancing the course of humanity, but unfortunately, the one I witnessed last week and is continuing unabated this week is one that is more of a selfish one. A family divided is likely to be defeated by its opponent. A great Statesman, who I am privileged to learn from, once told me that a leader is the loneliest person you can find anywhere in the world. It is not because he has no loved ones or friends, but simply, because the people he called so, will only tell him, what they want him to hear. It is even worse in Africa, where we have raised our leaders to the status of thin gods. President John Dramani Mahama is the luckiest president, but luck alone is not enough to rule a country like ours with a plethora of problems. He needs to assert himself and take charge. Alban Bagbin was only echoing the sentiments of many people in the party, from the grassroots, to businessmen, to even the media. It is sad that a government agency organizes a press conference or programme and the media favourably disposed to the NDC don�t get invited, yet anytime we write a story, we are supposed to be doing a hatchet job for the government. We all fought to bring NDC to office, but the opposing media are having access to the Ministers, government appointees etc, more than us, we are only good at publishing press statement and releases. Why must that happen? The President must call his men to order, Baboon cannot work for Monkey to chop. Indeed 2016 is just around the corner. I can only imagine, what will have happened to NDC, had President John Evans Atta Mills met his unfortunate and untimely faith in 2011 or 2010 or even earlier in 2012. All the rumours of the plans by some elements to have somebody challenged President Mahama for the flagbearership race for the 2012 is beginning to manifest and make sense now. There is an iota of truth to rumours, I can confirm it now. No wonder, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Ade Coker, was told to shut up, when he suggested that the President will go unopposed in the 2016 elections. Alban Sumani Bagbin, a former Minority leader, is on the wrong side of history, this is so, because his open criticism of the President is being interpreted to mean, it was borne out of sour grapes, because he was left out of �team A�. This fine legislator did the same thing to late President Mills, until he was appointed to serve at the Ministries of Health and later Works and Housing. He was not heard of again, until now. He has a very clever time of picking on his prey. He attacks them when they are most vulnerable. The President is reeling under a lot of pressure, because of the state of the economy, allegations of corruption that has become a daily dose for us etc. People are beginning to asked, whether Bagbin is not walking the path of history again, trying to tie the hand of the President into appointing him. The question, I want to ask is that. is public service, an opportunity to serve, or an opportunity for self enrichment. The way things are, I don�t see, the part where people purely want to serve the State. It is more like this is my year of riches, the moment a political party wins power. Alban Bagbin is not alone in this. They are a lot of people who equally feel the President has surrounded himself with people, who are alien to the party. If that is the situation, then the President must begin to wean himself of these people. Nobody is suggesting that the President does away with his friends, but he should know that he is not running a private business. It is the party that made him and so the party must come first in all things. He should not distance himself from the party; he will need the party again in 2016. Political parties are built around principles, ideologies etc, the people who join it are those who believe in these ideologies and principles, so surrounding himself and appointing people who do not share in the ideology of the NDC, is a one way street to disaster. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is coming into the 2016 elections, more wounded than before, they will throw everything to make sure they win that election. The NDC must remain united if they hope to win that election. The 2012 elections was a walkover for so many reasons, but trust me if I say 2016 will not be easy. A lot of people are disenchanted, sad and feel left out, coupled with the wide held notion by the NPP that the 2012 elections was rigged, you can�t possibly exhaust all the channels to reach the President. The party structures are there, that could have been used rather than feeding your opponents ammunition to attack your party and government. I will appeal to Alban Gbagbin to please hold his fire. He has made his point, pissing in is not the way to go. I feel very uncomfortable reading or listening to people, whose contribution to the party cannot equal that of Alban Bagbin to be criticizing him in the harshest of words. Alban Bagbin for eight years, held the party in parliament as a Minority Leader. At that a lot of them were nowhere to be found. I personally disagree with the utterances of the Honourable Member of Parliament for Nadowli, but those who are closer to the President, must also restrain themselves from responding, whiles they think they are defending the President they are unfortunately opening him up for further criticism and things that should remain in the family, It will be like a dirty linen being washed in public.