Kobby Acheampong to be Sacked from the NDC Government

To start with, Mr. Kobby Acheampong, the NDC Deputy Minister for Tourism is a disgrace to President Mills, his office, the womb that conceived him, and the entire nation. I have listened to the replay of his recorded statements made in response to a statement made by the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr. Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John, over the Ghana airwaves. I have also taken time to critically analyse his statements and have arrived at a conclusion which may not be palatable to him nor his ardent NDC supporters.

It may be better to define and differentiate between the words INSULTS and CRITICISM prior to proceeding any further with my discussion or argument in favour of sacking Kobby Acheampong. INSULT implies such insolence of speech or manner as deeply humiliates or wounds one's feelings and arouses to anger. CRITICISM is the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.

According to Kobby Acheampong, Sir John had said the AfricanWatch Magazine's award of mark B to President Mills for his performance in foreign policy was unmeritable. He had said they had better give him A+ for doing nothing or for bad performance in foreign policy. As Sir John's statement stands, it is seen by any discerning but unbiased Ghanaian as a criticism of the President's performance. It is nowhere near an insult directed at the President's personality according by the definitions as stated above. But Kobby Acheampong in haste to exhibit his ignorance had thought he was doing the President a big favour by slighting not only Sir John but the entire people of the community in which he had lived and grown up. He said and I quote, "Owusu Afriyie for the fact of having stayed in Kumasi longer behaves like "Kookooase kuraseni".

Deducing from his blunt statement, two conclusions can be drawn. 1) Those living in Kumasi are "nkurasefo" (uncivilized lots). If those residing in the regional capital could be said to be uncivilized, then only God knows how worse uncultured those in the District capitals and the townships and villages within Ashanti Region are. This conclusion is without doubt complete because he had outspokenly insinuated that Owusu Afriyie for the fact of living in Kumasi almost all his years has turned him into "Kookooase kuraseni". Does this not go to tell that those entire still living in Kumasi are "Kookooase nkuraasefo" and that Kumasi is "Kookooase?"

2) All those living on cocoa farms are uncivilized (nkuraasefo). This, he has categorically stated without exemption by saying, "Kookooase Kuraseni" How many of our Ghanaian cocoa farmers are not living on their farms? Does the fact of living on the farm make them bush people (nkuraasefo)? Does cultivating cocoa make one Okuraaseni? By the understanding of supposed Honourable Kobby Acheampong, yes it is. What an insult without precedence?

Comparing both statements made by Sir John and Kobby Acheampong, which of them is an insult and which is a criticism? Kobby Acheampong shamelessly went further to declare that he would not hesitate to take on anyone who insults a President, whether sitting or former. My question to this gentleman who by luck of having a slimy running mouth has been appointed a Deputy Minister in President Mills' government is how many times has he castigated Former President Rawlings for insulting or criticising President Mills? Has Rawlings not insinuated that President Mills is "Atta Mortuary man, a dog etc.?" How often than not has he criticized the performance of President Mills? Has the wife of Former President Rawlings not criticised President Mills for being like a "Konongo Kaya?" Has Kobby Acheampong ever dreamt of criticising this former 1st Couple let alone insulting them? What a double-standard coward Kobby is?

"Konongo kaya" simply implies a person incapable of performing a task satisfactorily but he/she would not allow a more capable person to step in to do the job. He/She will rather keep limping on at the duty incompetently as he/she is. All said and done, Mrs. Rawlings Agyemang Konadu is not insulting President Mills but criticising him same as did Sir John. Why has Kobby not lambasted her but chosen to insult not only Sir John but a whole group of people of which Sir John belongs?

Cocoa until now has been the backbone of Ghana. It has brought Ghana this far in terms of our economic emancipation. It has helped many people among who is the diarrheic mouth Kobby Acheampong to attain various levels of Western education through the award of CMB (Cocoa Marketing Board) and Government Scholarships. Instead of thanking the very cocoa farmers most of whom live in slums, cottages, mud huts etc. on their farms with neither the provision of pipe borne water nor electricity, he rather decides to vilify them. Is this the recompense for our cocoa farmers of whom my family is?

Kobby Acheampong thinks he has stayed and had some education in the USA, lives in Accra and is now a Deputy Minister so he is better than any other person. I assure this guy that he will lose his job. Any apology from him will just be superficial. It is like beauty which is only skin deep. In his mind anyone not living in Accra or has not been to the Whiteman's land is uncivilized. He should understand that it is not where one resides that makes one okuraaseni but ones reactions and actions as exhibited both in private and in public. He who reacts before he thinks about the repercussions of his reaction is a fool. Now is Kobby Acheampong a fool? It is up to him to tell. He will live to regret for insulting cocoa farmers and the people of Kumasi.

Kobby should be sacked before he does a lot of damage to the image of the President himself and the NDC as a party. I will state the reasons why Kobby must resign in the part II of this article. He either jumps or he is pushed. Kobby must go, and go he must. He has crossed the Rubicon and he has to be sacked, period!

Rockson