NPP Elects Party Leader, Controversies in Setting the Agenda

Ghana's largest opposition party goes to the polls on the 7th August 2010, another milestone in the search for a decent African democratic lineage. As a final note, however, please let us sit upright and think strategically. All the five gentlemen seeking for the party's top job are all staunch members from childhood just like me. They are all qualified to lead the party to the general elections but not all of them can win the final elections for the party. We need The One, who identifies with the grassroots; down-to-earth with the masses; tested as Youth-friendly; and can smartly point at issues to solve them. The old politics of “Ebiara-Biara” is dead and gone. [Me-re-ye-de-metumi-biara; me-bere-so-a-na-meko]; meaning: I will chop as much as I can and leave when my time ends, should be buried right now. The decision remains solely in the hands of the Ghanaian Youth, who have constantly been deceived in the political process of our beloved nation.

Technically speaking, the contest is between Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng (PRO-KFB) and Honourable John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen (JAKK) because only these two gentlemen provide the best practicable implementation strategies to develop our youth. The advancement of any nation begins with smart strategies designed today to develop leaders of tomorrow. Our nation still remains poor and desperate because of the wrong choices we have made in the past. The Youth must therefore make informed decision and vote themselves into power. The Youth must take the Presidency and go further to take over the Judiciary and the Legislature. With over sixty percent (60%) decision making power, the Youth are a force to reckon with. Let us see why I disprove the remaining three.

Based on previous experiences, in the last fifteen (15) years, we know how far Akufo-Addo can go or can perform. Mr. Kwame Kodua should not have been there in the first place; and Honourable Isaac Osei should join PRO-KFB group. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (NAADAA) is a failure and a loser, who should not have considered any other contest of the nature. Why? It is because NAADAA failed in the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's office; and again in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Run up to the 2008 General Elections, a close pal of NAADAA based his analysis on these and his other common failures and told me from his London base that NAADAA will lose the presidential seat for NPP; but I doubted him. He continued that, you give anything to Akufo-Addo and he will find ways to either destroy it or lose it. It is therefore interesting to see why NPP cannot see well!

NAADAA failed terribly at the Attorney General's office. NDC's Tsatsu Tsikata disproved his legal capability. Perhaps a British-trained Tsatsu was too hard a nut to be cracked by a Makola apprentice until President Kufuor saved him the embarrassment by bringing in young and brilliant Joe Ghattey to fix the problem. Again, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the loss of so many Ghanaian diplomatic passports; and failure to discipline Yahya Jammey of Gambia to protect our lost ones, are some of the hopeless situations Ghana endured under our own Nana.

Look, just give any valuable thing, valuable position, or any impeccable, unquestionable, well-crafted and easy-to-take-home position to Akufo-Addo. And trust me, he will find ways to lose it; and turn around to point accusing finger at someone. It did not even take the young and brilliant Vice-President John Mahama months to net home success from Gambia. Now do you realize how brilliant the Ghanaian Youth of today are; regardless of the side of the political divide they may be? Old man Akufo-Addo is NOT our best option; he is a failure and a loser. And NPP will lose again with him as a leader. Once a loser, always a loser! As a teacher by profession, my twenty-year statistical analysis shows that students who failed my paper for the first time, given answer sheets to study for a second attempt, always failed dismally. And Akufo-Addo is not far from that. Why? Because he has not mastered the strategies for success. The same old time cheap talks that failed him are the same things that he is continuously embarking upon. A win for Akufo-Addo will mean a loss for NPP.

In the beginning, the general perception was that President Kufuor will hand over power to NAADAA but decided otherwise. Why? No one really knows the reasons but we can draw some cues from that anomaly. Because President Kufuor is a man of few words, who looks at issues critically before talking, we may waste valuable time trying to seek anything from him to keep on record; so let us brainstorm. The plain truth of the matter is that Akufo-Addo is a failure. As internationally respected leader, President Kufuor would not endorse a mediocre, which will embarrass him considering the embarrassment NAADAA meted on Kufuor in both Justice and Foreign Affairs ministries. Akufo-Addo as a failure who is also a loser.

Akufo-Addo is also very vindictive with his treachery extending beyond international borders to affect party branches in overseas executive elections. Akufo-Addo is not a peaceful man, who surrounds himself with violent people with exposition to corrupt electoral register. These are qualities in Akufo-Addo that drew him faraway from President Kufuor's radar. Akufo-Addo has even lost his best and closest friends from the last electoral season for one sole reason; and that is he is not and cannot be reliable and a trustworthy leader. Even a low class proletariat turned cheap journalist resident here, once a close pal who did dirty jobs for Akufo-Addo in our electoral system here, is extremely distant now and has even featured Alan as the face of modern Ghana in his newspaper. He does not have smart leadership qualities. His former Communications Director, Dr. Arthur Kennedy, has a detailed dossier penned down about Akufo-Addo and electoral crimes; can the party please release that scathing information for public record? And the simple plain answer is NO; hence Akufo-Addo is NOT the option.

Just look at the parliamentary elections in Ghana! Akufo-Addo went against popular demands and fixed his own cronies in the Constituencies [a case of Asante Akyem North Constituency] to boost his bid today. And consequently that exposition affected the NPP control of the house. Today, we hear of the same old non-performing parliamentary-experienced cacophonic banku-eating technocrats throw their support solidly behind a loser who is also a failure. The good thing is that these noisy MPs make only 107 out of more than 115,000 voters. Lawmakers who see nothing wrong with a corrupted and cheating electoral register, is a shame on our democracy! Shame-On-You NPP! Shame-On-You! You are an embarrassment to civility and global democratic credentials! Africa's most respected democratic party should behave and maintain decency. These good-for-nothing old parliamentarians want their own on top to keep their 9-to-5 God-given job. They will campaign on the FM Radio stations to deceive the voter and even use coercive methods to keep their own there; but they will fail. Look Akufo-Addo is NOT our best option. The Youth must takeover to save our land!

Youth, please pay attention to me! With all the faulty plugs in our electoral system, I sat with the best brains of our people to embark on One-Member-One-Vote [OMOV] to bring decency in our democratic dispensation; such as removal of bribery, cheating or corruption from our voting system. We faced opposition; but with the discerning and deep thoughts of our people, my campaign was partially adopted by the recent Constitution Conference. We have made some successes [although not completely successful] by removing the-fewer-the-merrier-delegate-conference system to increase the voting power machinery. I am happy because the demand I have embarked on all the way from London has borne some fruit. And that is, the Youth have been included in the decision making role. You dominate the decision making so please use this weapon to your own benefit; because failure is not the option! You will have your own selves to blame if you fail to take power through the ballot box. Open your eyes and ears widely, vote wisely, reject cheating, demand decency in Ghana because it is your time right now. The old guards have disappointed you, failed you and themselves as well; and it is your turn right now. Please takeover!

Now let us look critically at PRO-KFB and JAKK. It has always been hard for me to decide who among these two should take the leadership role. I have sat down for the last couple of months carefully studying their policy statements; sometimes very deep into the night. I must admit that JAKK is very detailed but the measurement of some parts of his industrialization of Ghana might be too cumbersome. PRO-KFB on the other hand looks more of the local brew; using the Youth to correct the economic faults prescribed by the West and pursued by our failed old governing system. One interesting thing is that the two also draw in international flavour. However, while JAKK falls foul with the resident abroad, because of his failures during his role as Ghana Ambassador to the USA, PRO-KFB appears more ambitious, realistic and practicable. Therefore vote for PRO-KFB.

Nevertheless, what JAKK did or did not do in his ambassadorial duties may be extremely debatable [and more so defensible by the honourable himself] so I would not dwell on that as strategic issue to rule him out. One thing we constantly forget is that JAKK was instrumental in the fixture of NPP-USA (previously NPP-North America including Canada); and I will be very proud to see the first NPP-USA pioneer becomes president of Ghana. However, my analysis here is purely geared towards policy issues and the individual's exposition to win or lose in the general elections. So let us talk about them! How about their own private developments? Can we talk about them? Absolutely! When names like Akufo-Addo, Alan Kyerematen, and Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng are mentioned certain things associated with them come into mind immediately. NAADAA with Ku-Me-Preko; JAKK with EMPRETEC; and PRO-KFB with Korle-Bu Hospital. Ku-Me-Preko is a mob strategy to seek instant attention that worked to oust a criminal government; hence we cannot reward a clueless old-aged mob-leader in a Youth world within a technologically advanced milieu.

Empretec, on the other hand, was a strategy of a branch in the UN body. During my PhD in Small Business and Entrepreneurship study [did not complete] at the prestigious Kingston University Business School Small Business Research Center, my supervisors Emeritus Professor James Curran and Professor Robert Blackburn charged me with the review of Ghana's Empretec. I must admit that Alan laid down brilliant strategies in the economic recovery of Ghana through entrepreneurship; but some of them were very much unrelated to Ghana's peculiar situation. Others also covered a broad spectrum including Africa and the Third World by far.

Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is the only one among the whole lot who seeks God's vision, dreams of it and puts it into practice. The Korle-Bu project is the single most ambitious and successful initiative ever, with assistance from nowhere, undertaken by a citizen of Ghana. JAKK with Government financial support failed in his Presidential Strategic Initiative (PSI) project; and Akufo-Addo also failed dismally with his bid for Ghanaian prisoners in foreign jails into Nsawam jail project.

Additionally, the PRO-KFB mantra that also shoots above JAKK in their bids for the top job is their temperament. In times of tough decision making JAKK will display temper tantrums to break the jar; much in the same way as Moses allowed his emotions precede his faith to God, dropped and broke the Ten Commandments. The two also bring peculiar morality and emotional stability into the leadership job. The two are fine gentlemen in our party right now vying for the top job. Ghanaians have pointed to a direction that favours the two. After Gun-man Jerry Rawlings' emotional instability and murderous pathways, the nation has decided never again to revisit that era. Therefore figures of John Kufuor and John Mills caliber are recommendable. Once again, on that note, JAKK falls prey to popular demands regarding temper tantrums and gives way to PRO-KFB.

In closure, the Youth must go out in their numbers on the 7th August 2010 and vote massively for Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng. His picture is on top of the list; and all thumbs are up because he is The One! He is the face of the Youth; he is the face of Ghana's technological advancement; he is the face of economic rejuvenation; and he is the pride of Ghana! I am absolutely confident in my party and the eligible voters because my people listen to my campaign. Regardless of how the time-beaten-political-renegades might consider my arguments as radical, our discernible and reasonable people in our party recognize me as absolutely a realistic analyst. Konongo Fordjour will always say it point blank and tell it as it is in “ditho-ditho”; no favours nor fears of a backlash.

After been rejected and declared a personae-non-grata by Akufo-Addo and his losing campaign cronies for being objectively critical of his faulty 2008 campaign message, he gained consciousness after losing the elections. When he attended our 2009 Congress in Denver-Colorado, I went up to greet and shake hands with him; and he smiled. His first statement, when he mounted the platform to deliver his speech, was: “only if he had paid attention and listened to NPP-USA careful advice, he would be the president of Ghana today!” and I laughed! Please put your hands together for Konongo Fordjour. You may not like my “As-a-Matter-Fact” Plain-Talk today (some call it too confrontational); but trust me, I will always tell the truth. And the Youth must tread along my line to tell the truth because we need that culture for Ghana. Please pay attention to probable electoral crimes that can easily elude you. Please do not give anything to chance! Demand to know and to see everything. Please do not give anything to chance!

Please go out and vote wisely! Vote for Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng as your winnable flag bearer. After all, shouldn't a peaceful, soft-hearted professor replace a peaceful soft-hearted professor? I have always trusted your brilliant decisions, so let us go out again and present a formidable, brilliant and absolutely imputrescible leader for our respected political party. Please vote for Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng! Thank you in advance and Good Luck!

Konongo Fordjour, Boston-USA
Email: [email protected]