Paa Kwesi “Bob Cole”

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Acute political desperation appears to be working wonders on the nerves of the proprietary-flagbearer of the so-called Progressive People’s Party (PPP). Scarcely a month ago, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom was widely reported to have told the chiefs and people of the Oguaa Traditional Area, in Cape Coast, during the Fetu Afahye, that it was only fitting for him to be overwhelmingly voted for by the people of the Central Region because he was a bona fide “son-of-the-soil.” He also went on to claim that he had, personally, contributed more to the development of the region than any of the major presidential contenders for Election 2012.

On Thursday, September 6, the former Convention People’s Party (CPP) Member of Parliament took his incurably ethnocentric road-show to the district and constituency which he once represented in Parliament and admonished the people not to cast their ballots on the basis of tribalism or ethnic affiliation but competence. If, indeed, it is true that the Central Region ranks third to bottom on the economic development index among the ten regions of the country, as President John Dramani Mahama claims, then it ought to have become amply clear to the former cabinet member of the Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP), by now, that his individual attempt at lifting the people of his region out of the throes of poverty has not registered any remarkable dent so far. He ought to thus recognize by now that merely bragging about the splurging of some of his, reportedly, enormous wealth is no ideal measure of his leadership potential (See “Tribalism in Politics Draws Nation Back – Nduom” Vibeghana.com 9/7/12).

One significant aspect of his widely reported press confab with a section of the Central Regional Media, regarded his call for all the political parties jockeying for dominance in Election 2012 to declare their funding sources. The relevance of the latter, compared to the development agenda or manifestoes of the players involved was not amply clarified, particularly since the Progressive People’s Party leader himself did not appear to the reader, at least not just yet, and by his own admission, to be prepared to reveal the sources of his own party’s funding. Dr. Nduom would only say that he intended to make the latter known “before the December general elections.”

It may also be recalled that in recent weeks, calls have gone out for several political parties to reveal their sources of funding, the most vociferous of which have been directed at the Nduom-founded and owned CPP-breakaway PPP. To-date, there does not seem to exist any clearly defined laws regulating funding sources for legitimately registered and licensed political parties, aside from the general constitutional stipulation that parties not solicit funding from non-Ghanaian sources abroad. But this stipulation clearly appears to be devoid of any teeth, as such major political parties as the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) liberally solicit contributions from Ghanaian-born residents abroad, many of whom carry the passports of their newly-adopted countries, and may thus not qualify to hold executive political positions in their old country which, nevertheless, grants them the veritably white-elephant option of dual-citizenship.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: [email protected]. ###