On the Run: It Is about governance track-record, stupid!

Joshua Hamidu Akamba, the National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), says that he spoke at least twice to the recently deceased younger brother of the former Energy Minister, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, and that the late New Patriotic Party’s Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West-Wuogon Constituency let on to him that he was a bitter man because he had been sidelined by the Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – (See “Kyeremateng Agyarko Died a Bitter Man – Akamba” Adomonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 11/22/18). Now, the man who was recently shown on a videotape criminally instigating some boarding high school students against President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s fee-free Senior High School Policy Initiative clearly lacks the credibility to speak on behalf of the late NPP-MP.

But what is even more significant to bear in mind here is the fact that Mr. Akamba clearly indicated in the radio interview in which he made the preceding statement that his first order of business is to ensure that his party, the main opposition National Democratic Congress regained the parliamentary seat which once belonged to the NDC, largely by default, by the way. By default, because of the grossly misguided Adu-Boahen-led New Patriotic Party’s decision to boycott the 1992 Parliamentary Elections, which effectively made Ghana a one-party state. I have already indicated in previous columns that the decision to boycott the parliamentary elections was inexcusably selfish and unwise on the part of the late Prof. Albert A. Adu-Boahen. The NDC’s National Organizer also does not cite any witnesses in the know about his purported telephone conversation with the late Ayawaso West-Wuogon NPP-MP, in which Mr. Kyeremateng Agyarko categorically confided to Mr. Akamba that he was a bitter man.

Naturally, one would have expected the late MP to have been displeased by the dismissal of his elder brother, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, from the Akufo-Addo cabinet. But, of course, as we all publicly observed, there was incontrovertible evidence of some wrongdoing on the part of the dismissed Energy Minister for whom, most party operatives, including yours truly, himself an expelled member of the New Patriotic Party by the Kufuor-Mpiani-Kyerematen-Kofi Boateng Faction, forcefully and strenuously went to bat for during his very fractious and factious confirmation hearings. Mr. Akamba says that his is a sincere tribute to the late Mr. Kyeremateng Agyarko. But, in fact, a close and critical examination of the report of what he had to say in his radio interview clearly indicates that his was a veritable propaganda piece geared towards the gratuitous demonization of the Akufo-Addo Administration, as both major parties prepare to contest a by-election to find a replacement for the quite respectable late MP.

Needless to say, whether Mr. Akamba fully appreciates the serious implications of having this political heavyweight replaced or not, the stark fact remains that the ability of either major party to win a byelection for the replacement of Mr. Kyeremateng Agyarko will squarely be predicated on the comparative track records of the contesting political establishments.

And on the latter score, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the ruling New Patriotic Party will handily retain the Ayawaso West-Wuogon parliamentary seat, if only to honor the memory of this widely respected politician and, we learn, versatile professional pharmacist and medical practitioner. I am personally inclined to believe that Mr. Kyeremateng Agyarko, one of whose sisters is known to be serving in diplomatic circles on behalf of President Akufo-Addo, was probably sidelined by the movers-and-shakers of the present government, if, in fact, such claim has validity, primarily because throughout the post-Kufuor era, the man well appeared to be strategically noncommittal to even those of us keen observers of Ghanaian politics resident abroad.

Several times in the recent past, on quite a number of critical and controversial issues, I kept wondering whether Mr. Kyeremateng Agyarko was not a bona fide “Kufuorite” pretending to be neutral in the putative Kufuor-minted bitter rivalry between Messrs. Akufo-Addo and Alan John Kwadwo Kyeremateng.

Whatever the real details of the matter might have been is decidedly passé at this time. What matters now is to solemnly and decently honor the memory of this evidently multitalented and remarkably competent administrative and legislative operative. May His Soul Find Peaceful Eternal Rest.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York November 22, 2018 E-mail: [email protected]