Opinions of Friday, 27 December 2013
Columnist: Damptey, Daniel Danquah
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The stream crosses the path
The path crosses the stream
Which is the elder?
Our elders found the stream when they were making the path.
Is Dr. Kofi Konadu Ampadu a genuine party man? Is he the hand of Esau with the voice of Jacob? And last but not the least, did be embezzle party money in his custody meant for the 2008 General Elections? These are relevant questions to be analyzed before the party decides on its progressive forward march towards our El-Dorado. Anything short of this will not augur well for the party.
Therefore, let no one talk of keeping quiet for the sake of party unity while evil reigns supreme. Let no one talk of “adwobre” for Kofi Konadu Apraku has murdered sleep and will sleep no more. Full of venom in his system, he has unleashed his unwarranted fury on the most potent politician at the moment, but we shall not allow it to get to its target and victim. We shall send back the evil to it perpetrators with double the force with which it was hurled. This is my Christmas and New Year bonus to Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku.
I would like to say that I am a genuine grass root supporter of the New Patriotic Party and equally have the same rights like Kofi Konadu Ampadu to air my views on what goes on in the party. So, let nobody make any attempt to gag me. You see, Dr Apraku reckless utterances have opened the floodgate for unprincipled politicians like Tony Aidoo with his unnatural dental formula to launch an unbridled attack on the man Ghanaians are earnestly yearning for his presidency. Such a thing is not in my dictionary and I will not sit down unconcerned for virtue to suffer whilst evil triumphs. I will not fold my arms and allow disgruntled and sullen looking politicians to tamper with the cosmic order which might like have serious implications for our beloved party and the entire country.
Let me state for the avoidance of all doubts that nowhere has Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo said that the Presidency is his birthright. It is we, the grass root members of the party who have become convinced that the innate and progressively sterling positive qualities of the icon of Ghanaian Politics, Nana Akufo Addo are what the party needs to reposition itself for the titanic battle in the 2016 Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
It is to make this dream a reality that the Platform/Forum of Ghanaians Earnestly Yearn for Akufo Addo’s Presidency has been formed. We shall mobilize grass root support for Nana to ensure that the internationally acclaimed diplomat with charismatic personality wins the presidential slot of the New Patriotic Party. Our target (Nana Akufo Addo) will have no say in this. He will have no choice but to succumb to pressure from core and grass root members of the party. No matter what people say, Nana will be the eventual flag bearer of the party. You can bet me on this. If we the grass roots have to “conscript” him, we shall do so. Surely, a gold fish has no hiding place. And who is this gold fish? Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, of course!
Now, let us delve into the core of Dr. Apraku’s reckless and anti-party utterances. As it is in the Holy Bible, so also it is on this earth. Satan knows that his remaining time on earth is short and wants to win as many souls to eternal damnation. So it is with Dr Apraku. He knows he stands no chance against Nana Akufo Addo and so has become the arrowhead of those with similar ambitions but stand no chance against the man of the people and the chosen one of the masses, Nana Akufo Addo. Dr. Apraku believes in the adage that which says “the comfort of our suffering is to have close associates in our misery”. To this end, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku has ganged up with others like Dr. Wireko Brobbey, Dr Nyaho Tamakloe and Dr. Arthur Kennedy to form a Nefarious Alliance Against Nana Akufo Addo – all with the sole intention of derailing the forward moving train of the latter. But this their unholy alliance against the “Man of the People” will fail miserably.
Kofi Konadu Apraku has embarked on a treacherous mission to unsettle the apple cart. He is toying a similar line embarked upon by Mr Spio Ekow Gabrah who shockingly damned late Professor Mills bid for the NDC flagbearership in January, 2006, during the “Good Evening Ghana” show hosted by Mr Paul Adom Otchere on Metro TV.
Kofi Konadu Apraku favours the Machiavellian malignancy of total annihilation of Nana Akufo Addo and all that he stands for. By his reckless attack on Akufo Addo, evil has been let loose and Kofi Konadu Apraku must be prepared to face and accept the consequences.
Hear KKA speaking the thought of Cassius in “Julius Caesar”
“But ere we could arrive the Point Proposes
Caesar cried, ‘ Help me Cassius, or I sink
…………………………………………………………….
Did I the tired Caesar, and this man
Is now become a god” (Act 1, Sc 11).
Here, Dr Apraku, like Cassius wants to diminish the stature of Nana Akufo Addo before NPP delegates. The former’s jealousy for his selected target and victim knows no bounds. He has contrived to bring Akufo Addo low and indirectly hints at the unproven allegation that the latter is ambitious but is mortal like he, Dr. Apraku. Yes, the former MP for Ofinso North has, like Wireko Brobbey, Arthur Kennedy and Nyaho Tamakloe, has come face to face with the reality of his life – the life he attempted to build with spittle. He will reap whirlwind. This great blunder on his part is a byproduct of an unsettled mind which he has developed.
The reckless and unsubstantiated allegations against the “people’s choice” will indeed open a door for the total annihilation of Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku’s political career. Those against Nana Akufo Addo’s presidential ambition will die politically with the full realization that, no power or force will dismantle the aura of success that surrounds the immediate past Flag- bearer of the New Patriotic Party because God has ordained him to come and cleanse the Augean Stable created by the Nefarious Destructive Cancer with its anti people policies. God’s decree will surely come to pass, Insha Allah.
Attempts by Dr. Apraku to emphasize the so-called shortcomings of Akufo Addo will in no way diminish the latter’s greatness. It only reveals Dr. Apraku as a victim of jealousy. There is no way he can compare himself of the immediate Flag-bearer of the party. I challenge him (Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku) to take a popularity walk with one of the aides of Akufo Addo in towns and cities in the country and he will be shocked at the hostility that will confront him. This is the simple truth. Apraku’s popularity has dwindled to its lowest ebb – thanks to his reckless, selfish and infamous utterances. But I ask, “why, Apraku, why?”
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, we all know made those reckless and suicidal utterances in order to satisfy his own personal desire. Yes, Kofi Konadu Apraku has been demoralized by the prospect of Nana Akufo Addo clinching the NPP Presidential slot on three consecutive times. I see him (Kofi Konadu Apraku) as a disgruntled and sullen looking character whose hostility against his mentor is steeped so deep in personal rather than genuine motives.
But one thing Dr. Apraku and his sullen looking conspirators deliberately refuse to acknowledge is the fact that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has reached the highly revered position he occupies at the heart of core party members by dint of hard work and not by self imposition.
But, did Dr Apraku embezzle campaign funds of the party? To me, I can say on authority that, yes, he did. When he was asked whether he had embezzled or did not, he went round the question without answering it. He said that after the 2008 Elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo called him to thank him for the good job he did. Did he think he was speaking to Primary school pupils with such an evasive answer? If Dr. Apraku would be honest to himself, he will be the first person to admit that indeed, party money passed through his hands. He should be sincere to tell Ghanaians whether or not he rendered any account at the end of his stewardship. Deep down in his heart, Dr Apraku knows he never did. The fact that the Flag bearer called you to thank you does not mean that he was happy with your stewardship. The difference between you, Apraku and Nana is great. Being a natural born leader with good skills, Nana Akufo Addo appreciates the contributions of every member of the party, no matter how little. And that was the reason why he called you and thanked you. But that is not so with you, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku. You are so full of yourself that you feel and think that you are greater than everybody in the party and so members should kowtow to you. If it were not so, why should you raise up your voice against the person who gave you a shoulder to cry on when you scored a miserable twenty during the 2007 NPP Presidential Primaries? A mere twenty votes and you are opening your mouth too wide to make incoherent utterances! Why shouldn’t the mouth be shut permanently for you? And this is exactly what I am doing.
It appears Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku has short memory. He talks of dwindling votes of Nana Akufo Addo in subsequent elections after that of 2008. He forgot to say that the same trend had followed late President Mills after the 2000 Election. What was the total vote of late Mills in the 2004 Presidential Election? Yet he clinched the presidency in his third attempt! Enti wo haw ne se, Kofi Konadu Apraku!! You suffer from what is called selective amnesia. Have you forgotten so soon the votes you had over your political opponent in the 2004 Parliamentary Elections? A mere Four Hundred votes! Yet this man, this yesteryears politician who cannot see beyond his nose is accusing his mentor of the same crime he himself is involved in. Was he dazed or drunk while he was making those reckless utterances? Wonders, they say will never end.
Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku is a political novice with dwindling fortunes who should rather appreciate others for what they are and not attempt to bring the character and credibility of selfless and hard-working people in the party into disrepute.
As Campaign Manager of the 2008 Elections, there were issues he could have brought out to discredit the Nefarious Destructive Cancer, but he did not. When Nii Lante Vanderpuye and a member of the security detail of the then Candidate Mills beat up a serial caller of the NDC, Konadu Apraku kept mum. When Nii Lante Vanderpuye had huge slice of the blood money meant to pacify one Walid, an NDC stalwart to make him step down for the NDC candidate in the Odododiodoo Bye Election, Kofi Konadu Apraku was again missing in action. Now this man has all of a sudden resurrected from his grave to accuse another of negligence in an assignment which was directly under his jurisdiction.
Again in the 2012 Election, this same Apraku was put in charge of security. How did he undertake that assignment? As usual he did not live up to his responsibilities. But how can a leopard change its colours? Again, what will a butterfly be doing in a company of fishes? Not much! Nii Lante Vanderpuye, then a Presidential aide during the registration exercise used his thugs to prevent Akans from registering at polling stations in Odododiodoo constituency. What did he as the person in charge of security do? He re-enacted what President Mrs. Aquino of the Philippines did when she learnt of an attempted coup d’état against her government. She hid herself under her bed. Konadu Apraku was out of coverage area. It took the courageous stance of a lady, Ursula Owusu, now an MP to bring that ethnic aberration to an end. “Where was Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku”, one will ask.
As if that was not enough, two armoured cars vehicles were dispatched to guard the residence of the then Vice President at a time when we were told the then President was alive. Was that not a treasonable offence? But our ‘afraid man’ of a security chieftain made no comments on the issue. Was Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku not in this country when our former President died under bizarre circumstances? When even the current President and his minister of trade, Haruna Iddrissu contradicted themselves openly on how our former President died, Dr Apraku pretended to look the other way. The NDC made political capital of the death of the Ya Na even though all the allegations they made against the NPP in connection with the death were blatant lies. But there we had fact to bury the NDC on the handling of the late President’s illness and his subsequent death. And we left them off the hook, because the person who was meant to initiate action either went to sleep or lost his guts and became a woman.
What did our man say about all these infractions of the law by the Nefarious Destructive Cancer? Nothing! Yet this man has resurfaced from the hole he went to hide when the going was tough to throw dirt on the person who gave him a new lease of life in the political career. Does he have balls at all, one may ask! My response to the question is ,”Go ask the man himself”
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku cannot get the correct implications of his infamous and reckless utterances because he is very much interested in the down fall of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. If the latter “like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his legs, and peep about to find ourselves dishonourable graves,” Kofi Konadu Apraku and his think-alikes must realize that they have not been able to get themselves involved in deeds which can bring them to the level of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.
Kofi Konadu Apraku has revealed himself as “a shrewd contriver” who is likely to become a coy in the wheel of the success of the New Patriotic Party. He must realize that not everybody can become a leader. If he wants to be the leader of the party, he must tell us, the party faithful what he has done and will do for the party. His attempts to denigrate selfless and hard working party elders will be fiercely resisted with all the forces at the disposal of grass root members of the party.
I have said it many times and will repeat it the umpteenth time that in our desperate attempts to get the Golden Fleece, we should not sides tract the moral aspects which go with it.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku has metamorphosed into an errand boy of a cabal which is bent on rocking the progressive moving boat of the New Patriotic Party, and if this man who suffers an identity crisis is not dealt with decisively he will rock our boat. He is a danger to the NPP and the country as a whole.
Wishing my avid readers A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
Daniel Danquah Damptey ([email protected]) 0243715297