Ofosu-Ampofo Should Advise President Mahama to Respect Himself

Ofosu-Ampofo

Somebody should tell Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the former National Democratic Congress' Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, that respect is earned, it is not extorted. And that if his boss, President John Dramani Mahama, does not seem to be commanding the modicum and level of respect that he desires, the problem may very well have something to do with the President himself, in particular his apparently adamant refusal to conduct him respectably (See "Ofosu-Ampofo Tells NPP to Respect President Mahama" Peacefmonline.com 12/2/14).

For instance, in either condoning or conniving with his younger brother, Ibrahim, to engage in patently unethical banking activities, and then intervening on the latter's behalf when things go awry does not endear the President to intelligent, patriotic and forward-looking Ghanaians. Then also, allowing close associates of either himself or family members, friends and acquaintances to cavalierly abuse our national security apparatus, as recently came to light in the Nayele Ametefe Cocaine Scandal, does very little to advance the image and reputation of the former Rawlings communications minister, but also the standing of Ghana among the global comity of nations.

You see, the Rawlings lackeys spent a long time sitting on the backs and necks of Ghanaians and literally got away with murder that they are finding it extremely hard to deal with our fledgling, albeit robust, Fourth-Repblican democratic dispensation. It is also rather preposterous for Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo to claim that card-carrying members, supporters and sympathizers of the so-called National Democratic Congress accorded former President John Agyekum-Kufuor the utmost level of respect, while the latter held the national reins of governance. If he had so soon forgotten the same, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo may want to jog himself out of his conveniently cultivated memory lapse by scouring the opposition media fare throughout the 8 years that Mr. Kufuor managed the affairs of the country.

Who, for instance, has so soon forgotten the comparison of our proverbial Gentle Giant to Ataa Ayi, Ghana's most notorious armed robber at the time, by Chairman Jerry John Rawlings? And then also, has Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo so conveniently forgotten Mr. Koku Anyidoho's description of President Kufuor as facially the most unprepossessing personality to occupy the highest office of the land? It is also rather childish for the former Eastern Regional Minister, if memory serves yours truly accurately, to suppose that every group of diaspora-resident Ghanaians that demonstrates against the bad policies and practices of the Mahama regime, perforce, belongs to the country's main opposition New Patriotic Party.

To be certain, there is quite a remarkable percentage of non-party affiliated Ghanaians who need absolutely no marching orders to vehemently demonstrate against the abjectly gross incompetence of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress. I am also amused by Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo's rather lame attempt to imply that, somehow, Chairman Rawlings, the Father of Political Disrespect in Ghana, deserves respect from anybody. Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo would do himself much better to spare the rest of us his arrantly nonsensical talk of NPP disrespect for NDC leaders, by concentrating on his scandalous bid for the national vice-chairmanship of the National Democratic Congress.

And just why would Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo suppose that whenever any group of progressive-minded Ghanaians in the diaspora calling themselves Concerned Ghanaians in the United Kingdom publicly puts President Mahama's insufferably defective leadership on notice, the membership of the aforesaid group ought to necessarily be New Patriotic Party-oriented? Are no Ghanaians capable of thinking for themselves well enough to demonstrate against the inexcusably flagrant economic policies of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress? Come on, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, concede Ghanaians a modicum of common sense and a remarkable sense of dignity and justice.

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
Dec. 2, 2014
E-mail: [email protected]