The Presidential Booing Effects on K.T. Hammond: An Open Letter to Adansi- Asokwa MP- Episode 1

Uncle Kobina Tahir Hammond or K.T, as I will refer to you as this piece unfolds, Greetings. I have hesitated enough in writing this open letter to you because I thought that unlike your unpleasant words to the people of Ketu South that they are Togolese and not Ghanaians, you would for once apologize to the youth of Ghana for insulting them recently. What was their crime, they booed Nana Addo, President of the Republic on September 24, 2022. The booing happened at the recent Global Citizens Festival celebrated in Accra.

K.T., in your insults to the Ghanaian youth, you said, “their heads are like coconut. Elders are consulted for decisions; nobody consults the youth when a matter comes up because the elders are wiser. The youth can’t and they don’t know how to manage the country. The youth galivant in the town with long beard and empty heads.”

It seems to me that the presidential booing had some cascading effects on your emotions, K.T., hence you reacted with those derogatory words to the youth. Regardless of the presidential booing effects on you, the youth also expect your usual exhibit of erudition to run simultaneously with civility in speech, which is required of an elderly especially when the elderly are wiser than the youth.

Questions

K.T, before I proceed, it is important that I ask you 22 rhetorical questions enumerated for ease of understanding and reference since you have spent close to 22 years in Parliament. Ponder over these questions objectively and soberly.

These questions may remind you of political history in Ghana and perhaps elsewhere as well as certain current happenings in our neck of the woods. The questions alone constitute episode 1 of the open letter to you.

1. Why do you often react to issues with vituperations and kneejerk approaches as well as vilification instead of allowing cool heads to prevail?
2. Can you make President Kufuor your role model and learn some tolerance from him since he is a statesman from within your party?
3. Was the August 1, 1962, failed Kulungugu bombing attack on President Nkrumah less dangerous than booing a President in the Fourth Republic or not?
4. Was Constable Amatewee's 1964 killing of a presidential guard (Police Supt. Salifu Dargati) in his attempt to kill President Nkrumah less life-threatening than booing a president in the 4th Republic?
5. Was the incessant attacks on President Nkrumah by members of the National Liberation Movement (NLM), the forebears of your political party less important than booing a President in the 4th Republic?
6. Nana Addo’s all -die -be -die assertion which was not apologized for. Has it become the chickens that come home to roost in the form of booing?
7. Are you aware that the President was equally booed in Kumasi and even though he is an Akyem, some residents of Akyem-Akroso also booed him for plying a dilapidated road in that town?
8. If all is well with the current Administration, why are 80 MPs of the ruling party calling for the resignation of the Finance Minister who is their fellow party member?
9. Have you been watching video clips of the South African Parliament to at least learn some tolerance therefrom? If not, can you begin doing so with focus on Julius Malema and his EFF colleagues?
10. Is booing the President more dangerous than a court judge and a city mayor being molested physically in Kumasi by your party boys?
11. Don't you think that a physical attack on a judge further solidifies the widespread assertion that your political tradition disrespects the courts especially since the infamous "no court, no court" assertion by Prime Minister Busia as his immediate reaction to the declaratory judgment given E.K. Sallah in the 1970 case of Republic v. Sallah, following the apollo 568 summary dismissal of public servants under the 1969 Constitution?
12. Is the booing of the President more hurtful than the abject economic hardship your Administration has brought onto the nation especially the youth?
13. Why are you often intolerant of opposing views?
14. In your over two decade stay in Parliament as MP for Adansi- Asokwa, did the youth vote for you or only your geriatric folks voted for you?
15. Did your party deceptively use the incompetence tag on President Mahama in 2016 and is the incompetence tag placed on one President less humiliating than booing another President in the 4th Republic?
16. Does the importation of a certain holy rock from Israel for national cathedral project make the old folks more reasonable and decisive than the youth as you comparatively put it?
17. Have you followed the Kwasi Kwarteng dismissal and Liz Truss resignation in a more mature democracy than ours and if yes, any lessons for you the old folks in political leadership in Ghana?
18. Were you in Ghana when your colleague, Ursula Owusu cursed President Mahama any time the lights went off? Is cursing not more dangerous than booing?
19. Which group introduced the politics of insults in Ghana, the youth or the old folks?
20. Have the ruling old folks failed Ghana or the youth did?
21. Can you focus on important issues and brush aside the trivial ones like booing?
22. Is the President higher than Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God who was booed, spat upon, pelted stone, and above all, crucified?

Enough of the questions to you, K.T. I will in due course address the real concerns in episodes 2 & 3 of this my open letter to you.

~Asante Sana~

Philip Afeti Korto

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