The Moving Spirit Of Kennedy Ohene Agyapong (3)

“I know the responsibility, I know the expectations, I know the legacy, I know what is behind me. I know the history of this club. I know what the fans expect of me. This challenge doesn’t make me nervous because of my history over the last 10 years. It comes at the right time in my career. I feel stable and have great motivation. I am where I want to be.” – Jose Mourinho, Manager of Manchester United Football Club

The impression I had of Kennedy Ohene Agyapong during the period we worked together on the NPTB was that if his mother had not given birth to him the poor woman would have had an ectopic attack along the line. I also got the impression that like many of his kind, he is often misunderstood. One day, he came to a meeting without his car. After the meeting I offered to give him a lift in my old jalopy, a 504 Peugeot car. We got to his office and he invited me into the building. We sat down in his office for sometime talking about everything apart from petroleum business. My abhorrence for corruption matched his. He told me how on several occasions he had asked President Kufuor to use the evidence available to get the criminals within NDC to face justice. At any time he raised the issue, President Kufuor would tap his (Kennedy Ohene Agyapong) thigh and tell him to move softly.

I am making this point here because it is no secret and it also epitomises quite clearly Kennedy Ohene Agyapong's impatience with the apparent lack of visible progress on the part of Nana Akufo-Addo NPP administration to bring the criminals who have been identified in society to justice which shows in Kennedy Ohene Agyapong's speeches and apparent frustration. Perhaps if John Agyekum Kufuor NPP administration had acted swiftly on the evidence of the forensic audit reports on the divestiture of various state enterprises, many of the crooks who ripped the nation off of some of its prized assets would have been behind bars and the NPP might have retained power in 2009.

Similar events appear to be taking place today with the NDC criminals and some miscreants in society who should be facing criminal charges are currently riding the crest and have been allowed so much leeway in and outside parliament to make provocative statements on issues which they themselves should be wearing the blouses and the cover cloths of their wives and girlfriends or wearing the shirts and trousers of their husbands and boyfriends to disguise themselves from the public while at the same time seeking religious conversions on daily basis.

When the second term of John Agyekum Kufuor NPP was ushered in, the NPA Act had been passed. A new Pharaoh was in place. Albert Kan-Dappah was no longer the Minister of Energy. His position has been taken by Prof. Mike Oquaye, the current Speaker of Parliament. A new Board was constituted for the NPA. Five of us on the old NPTB Board lost our position while the rest were transferred onto the new NPA. Those who lost their positions were myself and Kennedy Ohene Agyapong while among the other five, one was made a Deputy Minister and another a member of the Council of State. The fifth person asked the President to recluse him because of his position as chairman of another state regulatory body. In effect Kennedy Ohene Agyapong and I were the two people on the NPTB who lost out when the NPA board was constituted to replace the NPTB board. The end of my term at the NPTB coincided with my nomination by the religious bodies as their representative on the Board of GETFund. Indeed the members of the two Boards, i.e. those of the NPA and the GETFund were sworn in at the same day at the Castle by President Kufuor.

Up to this day, since our last meeting as Board members of the NPTB, I have never met or establish contact with Kennedy Ohene Agyapong. Of course, I always take every opportunity offered me to listen to him on the radio. I always feel his frustration. I still remember the day a reader of this column met me and simply said: “You appear to be an angry person and I told him without baiting an eye: “No I am never angry. Rather I feel very sad very often as an African and the deplorable position I find myself as an African. Everyday when I wake up in the morning from the songs of the songbirds, I look at my skin and I ask myself, oh Lord why did you bring me here? I do so as an African because when I survey the entire African continent, I come to the realisation that if my God in His wisdom does not kill me, my own government in its foolishness will do it”. Who knows Kennedy Ohene Agyapong may be in my shoes as well.

What does Kennedy Ohene Agyapong stands for and what makes him tick so much? I can only hazard a guess and used suppositions. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong on anyday can be given lifetime achievement award for his contribution towards the victory of the NPP. He used his massive energy, clinical brains, enormous resources, grassroots connections, undoubted dedication and devotion to a well-defined course and his intimidating bellicose attitude to good effect in his almost ecclesiastic political fight to ensure that the NPP attained victory. His media network became the unofficial voice of the NPP which attracted numerous listeners to the course of the NPP. The constant searchlight he placed on the now virtually established criminal and corrupt Electoral Commission (EC) and the hopelessly disgraceful internecine dogfight, the foul counter-indictments and the stupid idiotic sit-tight stance of the commissioners of the EC, no doubt, should earn Kennedy Ohene Agyapong a national medal of honour and distinguished service to the nation.

Love him or hate him, the way and manner Kennedy Ohene Agyapong always starts a political fire, then pours a bucket of kerosene on it and enjoys dancing around the flames created by the fire makes him an iconic political figure in this country. I do not know for how long he can continue with his crusade. But there is one thing I can be certain about. As a human being, he cannot continue to hit his head against a stone wall or constantly allow himself to be pushed to the wall and continue to live in his frustration behaving like the heat-seeking missile looking for people in his political establishment to listen to him. He himself has threatened to explode on few occasions which has led some people who do not understand his frustration to condemn him in equal measure.

One day he might ask himself: “is it worth hitting my head against a stone wall? I can only break my head and I cannot break down the wall” or in reverse he may question himself; “Do I have the faith to go through the wall I have been pushed to if I do not have the fortitude to move forward off the wall to face my assailants? Your guess is as good as mine. I can only hope that like the great Jose Mourinho the challenges facing him doesn’t make him nervous but feels stable and have great motivation to continue

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By Kwame Gyasi