Opinions of Thursday, 9 February 2012
Columnist: Boateng, Chris Gyamfi
Interesting things are happening in Ghana, to the extent that an opportunistic caricature called Kwasi Amakye Boateng claiming to be a political science lecturer at the KNUST has had the audacity to call on President Mills, democratically elected by the people of Ghana, to resign his position due to the so-called Woyome debacle.
Inquiring minds have one or two questions to ask Mr. Amakye Boateng; before we proceed however, we would like to state fiendishly that this individual’s call is nothing but a gross intellectual dishonesty borne out shabby, myopic and ignorant partisan and tribal stance and therefore must treated with all the contempt that he deserves.
Readers may recall that Kwasi Amakye Boateng was an ardent NDC activist throughout former President’s administration and even went ahead to contest as a parliamentary candidate in the Effiduase area of the Asante Region in the 2000 elections and lost miserably to his NPP opponent. Interestingly, being an opportunist as he is, Amakye Boateng, with a telepathic speed resigned from the NDC and joined the NPP when he realized that the former could not be redeemed in the 2000 elections. During a press conference in which he announced his defection from the NDC to the NPP, Amakye Boatentg, among other things stated that J A Kofi Diawuo Kuffor was his “brother” and therefore was joining hands with him to develop Ghana. Did Amakye Boateng know that the Kuffuor of the NPP was his brother when he was hob-nobbing with Rawlings and the NDC? Well, Amakye Boateng’s opportunism didn’t end there but also resurfaced at KNUST where he abandoned his wife and capitalized on his position as a lecturer, engaged in a hanky-panky with a female student whom he eventually impregnated. One would have thought that Amakye Boateng, who claims to be a principled person would have followed through with his stance and resign his position as lecturer for bringing the name of that academic institution into disrepute; but nay! Amakye Boateng is unflinchingly holding on to his position while taking undue advantage of female students at KNUST with whom he exchanged grades for sex while leaving his wedded wife to her fate. This is the holier-than-thou Amakye Boateng having the nerve to ask President Mills to resign his position over a matter that has nothing to do with him. Readers must note Amakye Boateng’s accusations do not derive from concrete evidence but based on narrow probability. Remember that he uses the clause “if”, stating that “…if it is true that President Mills benefited from…”. Since “if” is a conditional clause, what makes Amakye Boateng absolutely certain that President Mills benefited from Woyome’s largesse, thus warranting his resignation?
Amakye Boateng’s accusation is far different from what we know transpired during the rule of his so-called brother John Agyekum Kofi Diawuo Kuffuor. We know of Haruna Esseku, the then chairman of the NPP stating emphatically that Kuffuor had turned the Castle, the seat of government to bribery and kickback hob and that such kickbacks are loaded in the trunk of cars. We also know of Mocta Bamba forging presidential letterheads for his personal gains only for Kuffuor to turn around to slap his writs with the law. Was Amakye Boateng in Ghana when all these shameful acts took place in Ghana under his brother Kuffuor’s reign? Or his throat was in a cast then? Maybe this political science lecturer was still a fetus when the events catalogued above and below took place under his “brother”s rule so we’re going to remind him and also to tell him that we didn’t hear his squeaky voice on the radio stations asking Kuffuor to resign; maybe Mills should resign today for Kuffuor to be sent to jail now for supervising and engaging in criminality and corruption himself.
Now this: Did Amakye Boateng ask Kuffuor to resign when NPP MP Eric Amoateng was caught on camera, off-loading heroin in New York, crow bar in hand and Kufuor stood by his NPP drug smuggler?
Did Amakye Boateng ask Kuffuor to resign when Anane was even found guilty for using Ghana Airways monies and collapsing the national airline for his own personal frolicking activities by CHRAJ? Didn’t Kuffuor defend and still kept him in Govt?
When 2 tonnes of cocaine, under police watch during the time of IGP Patrick Acheampong vanished into thin air, Kufuor awarded the useless IGP with a national honors award without Amakye Boateng finding his voice to ask Kuffuor to resign.
When Kuffuor was asked about graft in his govt, he responded that "corruption started from Adam" and yet Amakye Boateng didn’t consider this a breach of public trust and an indictment on the presidency warranting Kuffuor to resign. It’s obvious that Amakye Boateng is nursing an opportunistic agenda by being vociferous, hoping that he may earn a place in government in the unlikely event that Akuffo Addo becomes president of Nkrumah’s Ghana. But we have a message for him; Mr. Amakye should rather patch up with his wife and leave the female students and also concentrate on the job that he is paid to do because there is no way, and I mean there is no way that Ghanaians will mesmerize themselves into voting Akuffo Addo to power.
One may argue that should Mills repeat the same thing that Kuffuor did and I must say this argument falls flat in its face; this is due to the fact that nobody has been able to place Mills in the middle of this Woyome issue and as NPP Kwame Pianim said, most discerning Ghanaians can vouch for Mills when it comes to corruption. Can we say the same of either Kuffuor or Akuffo Addo who superintended over the missing Ghanaian diplomatic passports while serving as the Foreign Affairs Minister? Or can we say the same of Akuffo Addo who stood aloof while a parcel of land earmarked for a foreign affairs edifice was being shared among NPP operatives, even though his nephew said Akuffo Addo knew that was immoral and yet elected to do or say nothing?
Chris Gyamfi Boateng, aka Koo Boateng
Philadelphia, USA.