Presby Church Does Not Endorse Political Vigilantism

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

I was overjoyed to read about the supposedly “summary resignation” of Mr. Kwadwo Ansah Twum-Boafo, the notorious National Democratic Congress (NDC) loudmouth and executive secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Board, from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (see “Twum-Boafo Resigns from Presby Church” MyJoyOnline 9/11/12).

First of all, as a bona fide Presbyterian whose ancestors were instrumental in the introduction and salutary propagation of Presbyterianism in Akyem-Abuakwa and, through my Kyebi paternal clan, the landmark establishment of the Presbyterian Church at Akuapem-Akropong (the one that Mr. Twum-Boafo haughtily claims to have resigned from), I can only heartily celebrate the auspicious departure of this uppity and arrogant naughty boy from our grand and godly tradition. And on the latter note, I hasten to observe the fact that I was the Senior Prefect of Akropong SALEM (or the Presbyterian Middle Boys’ Boarding School) for the 1975-6 academic year, and can only thank Divine Providence for the first-class humanistic education afforded me by the diligent and distinguished likes of Messrs. Quansah, Owusu-Kena, Owusu-Antwi, Ofori-Agyei, Bekoe, Kwafo, Asare-Addo, Omenako, among others.

What is remarkable about the statement/press release announcing his “resignation” from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) is the fact that Mr. Twum-Boafo demonstrated such gross exhibition of linguistic incompetence, that I would not be surprised to learn of his not having been blessed with the same type of high-caliber education and intellectual and cultural discipline provided by SALEM for some 145 years now. And on the latter score, I don’t know whether to fault the parents of this urchin, or simply blame his insufferably scandalous behavior on a sheer act of destiny. Or could it be simply that Mr. Twum-Boafo is just passing through a crisis-ridden phase of his life and would likely come around to ruefully recognizing the proverbial error of his ways and promptly amend.

You see, one cannot truck with the largely rascally and reprobate operatives of the Ghana Taliban political machine – otherwise known as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – and retain one’s sanity and/or presence of mind. And it is, of course, for this reason that Mr. Twum-Boafo cannot be faulted too much for rather reprehensibly, albeit predictably, predicating his purported resignation from among the august ranks of the membership of the PCG on the unimpeachable diagnosis of the alcohol-induced psychological haze widely known to have clinically afflicted Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, general-secretary of the Ghana Taliban, and a nominal member of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

Actually, both Messrs. Twum-Boafo and Asiedu-Nketia are ungrateful freeloaders of the missionary magnanimity of the PCG, which is why Mr. Twum-Boafo’s purported resignation from the Church does not only smack of a slapstick comedy at the Efua Sutherland National Theater, it is simply cretinous.

You see, the young man cannot even compose readable sentences, which readily exposes Mr. Twum-Boafo as an impudent charlatan and a shameless poseur. Read, for instance, the following paragraphs and attempt surmising what the writer means by such reckless expression as “damnable acts that send this country into the strata of opprobrium” and “it [the PGC] has seized every opportunity to castigate the NDC at every turn, whilst failing or refusing to chasten the NPP with comparative fervor….” Also, “the church is now fully embedded within the conundrum of the politics of insults.”

Ultimately, what makes Mr. Twum-Boafo’s “resignation” from the PCG even more pathetic is the fact that other than the missionary feat of making a distinguished lady and gentleman out of this Ghana Taliban cell operative’s parents, his permanent separation from the Church neither adds nor detracts from the institutional integrity of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in any significantly measurable dimension. Thus, other than the attraction of regrettable attention, in the near future, it is not clear why Mr. Twum-Boafo presumed to beat his robin’s chest against the whaling waves of an oceanic institution like the PCG.

*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]. ###