Opinions of Sunday, 4 November 2007
Columnist: Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame
Stop Playing God, Mr. Yirenky Apau!
I read Mr. Yirenky Apau's article titled “The Man Akufo-Addo” (Ghanaweb.com 10/24/07) with the amused contempt that it rightly deserves. Under the specious guise of delineating the qualities of whom the writer deems to be the most apt, or ideal, presidential material, were there ever one in postcolonial Ghana, particularly the Fourth Republican era, Mr. Yirenky Apau displays crass and brazen arrogance even as he also quizzically pretends to reserve an especial monopoly on leadership humility. Thus, regarding the relationship between Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), this is what Mr. Yirenky Apau has to say: “There could still be a place for Nana Addo in the next NPP government, but for the top job[,] he should forget it.”
Exactly what gives him the temerity to make such an unpardonably arrogant remark, the writer does not tell his readers, except to vacuously whine about Nana Akufo-Addo having supposedly intimated that the only way that the latter could lose the heated electoral contest for the NPP presidential nomination, come December 22, 2007, would be for the electoral process to be rigged. Needless to say, Mr. Apau’s rather disgusting and flabbergasting assertion that “There could still be a place for Nana Addo in the next NPP government, but for the top job[,] he should forget it,” undoubtedly corroborates Nana Akufo-Addo’s alleged assertion regarding the possibility of electoral rigging vis-? -vis the December 22, 2007 contest for the selection of the next NPP presidential candidate. Else, how could Mr. Yirenky Apau, who smugly bills himself as “PARTY ELDER” of the NPP make such a scandalous assertion? And just who gave the so-called NPP PARTY ELDER the mandate, or authority, to make such a slanderous remark about the putative NPP presidential frontrunner? And on the latter score, the Akufo-Addo Campaign Committee ought to be seriously eyeing a lawsuit, preferably in the Fast-Track Court, in order to accord Mr. Apau further opportunity to reveal the source(s) of his authority regarding such flagrant assertion and affront.
One thing, though, is incontrovertibly evident, Mr. Yirenky Apau may well be a stool-pigeon planted by the top hierarchy of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC) to ensure that the latter’s most notably inveterate and ardent foe in the realm of Ghanaian jurisprudence, of course, does not gain the opportunity to condignly bring this insufferable posse of certified assassins and nation-wreckers to book. And it may, unmistakably, be for the foregoing reason that the writer makes the following assertion: “Nana Addo has told [asked?] his spokesman, Mr. Mustapha Hamid, to tell Ghanaians that he (Nana Addo) is the only one [that] the NDC is scared of. Well, if the NDC has said that[,] it could only be a ploy to fool the NPP into electing Nana Addo[,] then they (NDC) will come out with why he is a dangerous person and not fit to run the country. Of course[,] some Ghanaians will be concerned about Nana Addo leading the NPP[,] for his performance as Attorney General and Minister of Justice was rumored to be an avenue to persecute [sic] some former NDC members in a confrontational way.”
Rather interesting. Now, let Mr. Yirenky Apau look Ghanaians in the eye and tell us why Nana Akufo-Addo is, somehow, less fit to run our country than Flt.-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings. I bet Mr. Apau would be hard put to pick up this challenge, knowing fully well what the rest of us well-meaning Ghanaians know about Mr. Rawlings and his “Awuna” Dzelukope Congress of National Democrats, so-called. Likewise, it would be quite edifying for Mr. Yirenky Apau to reveal to the rest of the country, particularly supporters and sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party exactly what the contents of the purported NDC dossier on Nana Akufo-Addo are, since Mr. Apau appears to be privy to the same, thus his brazen decision to shill for the arch-butchers of the NDC. In sum, if the forked-tongued “NPP Elder” has nothing constructive to write or say about Nana Akufo-Addo, let him not disturb our public peace.
What is also unforgivably rankling about Mr. Apau’s dirt-digging at Nana Akufo-Addo is the rather scabrous fact that nearly every one of his assertions is predicated on “rumors” and innuendoes, clearly suggesting that Mr. Yirenky is out on a mission to destroy the former internationally respected Ghanaian Foreign Minister. And then again, just what makes Mr. Yirenky Apau to even half-convince himself that Ghanaians are in dire need of any moral advice or guidance from the so-called National Democratic Congress, regarding the character and personality of Ghana’s former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice?
It is also rather repugnant for the critic to suggest that President J. A. Kufuor is, somehow, complicit in the untold atrocities perpetrated against Ghanaians during the 20-year dictatorship of the Provisional National Democratic Congress (P/NDC). On the preceding score, this is what Mr. Yirenky Apau has to say: “As a matter of fact, the NDC did some horrible things in their time and rightly should always be made to account for their misdeeds. However, all prosecutions should follow due procedure and any fast[-]tracking of cases should be done fairly. Thus it is rumored, Nana Addo[’s] misjudgment of issues forced President Kufuor to re-assign him. There are decent Ghanaians who do not belong to the NPP but for the sake of National [sic] unity and cohesion[,] will never endorse Nana Addo to be president of this Nation [sic].”
Fair enough! After all, nearly one-half of the Ghanaian electorate voted against President Kufuor during the two terms that he was elected President of the Fourth Republic. In any case, Mr. Yirenky Apau, did this glaring fact prevent President Kufuor from becoming, perhaps, the greatest Ghanaian leader in the postcolonial era? Indeed, regardless of whoever is elected Presidential Candidate – or Flagbearer – of the New Patriotic Party, come December 22, 2007, not all Ghanaians would, or should, be expected to vote for that candidate. After all, did not quite a remarkable percentage of Ghanaians benefit from the ethnic-chauvinist atrocities and policies of the so-called Provisional National Democratic Congress? To be truthful to you, my dear reader, it would not even be intelligent to do so. For then, wouldn’t the country become a virtual one-party state? And wouldn’t the latter be suicidal for the salutary development of Ghana’s fledgling democracy? It is rather pathetic as well as ironic that Mr. Yirenky Apau, a self-styled “ELDER” of the ruling New Patriotic Party, should be accusing Nana Akufo-Addo of the very peccadilloes that President Kufuor was also deafeningly and thunderously and perennially accused of by the likes of Mr. Kofi Coomson and paid NDC hacks. How many Ghanaians, for instance, have forgotten the name of the Iraqi-American woman called Gisselle (or is it Gazelle?) who was reported to have mothered a set of twin-sons for President Kufuor? Thus it amounts to the very height of malarkey for Mr. Yirenky Apau to be launching the following absurdly snide and sophomorically personal attack at Nana Akufo-Addo: “Another worry about Nana Addo is the perception about him unzipping whenever he meets [a member of] the opposite sex. People’s private lives should never be discussed in public, for some of us are not angels either and that is why I will never seek public office, but when a personality such as Nana Addo wants to be President of this Nation [sic], then questions need to be asked.”
If so, then why is Mr. Yirenky Apau, instead of asking constructive and forward-looking questions of and about Nana Akufo-Addo, has decided to ignobly truck a pile of rotten tripe squarely predicated on rumors and innuendoes? One thing, though, is certain: Nana Akufo-Addo is no angel; and come December 22, 2007, should he be aptly offered the coveted Presidential Candidacy of the New Patriotic Party, would be duly succeeding another equally human albeit astute former Presidential Candidate. And then come January 2009, and Nana Akufo-Addo would be logically succeeding Ghana’s greatest postcolonial, democratic President. And yes, he is not perfect, but President Akufo-Addo would be the best follow-up act after ex-President John (Kofi Diawuo) Agyekum-Kufuor. And justice and fair-play shall continue to reign all over the land!
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
