Is My Uncle on a Political Suicide Mission?

If it is true that a Commission of Enquiry headed by the late Justice Nicholas Yaw Boafo Adade, the former Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and Attorney-General in Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia’s Progress Party (PP) government, investigated and recommended the summary dismissal of the recently suspended Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Agency (PPA), Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei, as far back as 2001, when Mr. John Agyekum-Kufuor held the reins of democratic governance, as the country’s Second President of our Fourth-Republican dispensation, then it bears asking of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo what was his motivation for, once again, putting the proverbial cat in charge of the mice? (See “Open Letter to Prez Nana Addo Over Suspension of Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei” Modernghana.com 8/23/19).

The Dear Reader ought to perfectly know by now that I am not in the morally unhealthy habit of referencing documents produced by rump-Convention People’s Party (CPP) operatives, for whatever they may be worth on the paper or computer screen or hard drive on which they are composed. In this particular instance, the document in reference is the afore-referenced one above which was written by one Nana Ama Amamoo – I am assuming that the writer, who identifies herself as Vice-Chair of the UK Chapter of the CPP, is the daughter of the late Mr. Kwame Amamoo, later Rev. Kwame Amamoo, the legendary pet newscaster of President Kwame Nkrumah.

You see, I am not the least bit surprised that Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei had, reportedly, worked in the same capacity or portfolio as that from which he was suspended a couple of days ago. Not the least bit surprised because former President Agyekum-Kufuor had gained a self-inflicted notoriety by smugly telling a BBC-TV reporter that “corruption is natural” and “as old as Adam and Eve.” It is also on record, or at least common knowledge among staunch members and supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that a significant part of the reasons why Mr. Agyekum-Kufuor had not been enthusiastic about the presidential ambition and candidacy of the now-President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was primarily because of the vehement public promise by the latter that the anti-corruption machine of his presidency would relentlessly and indiscriminately pursue persons found to have fleeced the Ghanaian taxpayer and our national coffers, whether such crooks or culprits had served under a National Democratic Congress’ regime or a New Patriotic Party-sponsored Administration, including his own.

If this much-cited Agyekum-Kufuor concern has validity – and I have actually been told the same by a Kufuor relative right here in New York City – then the least punishment that President Akufo-Addo ought to have meted Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei ought to have been outright dismissal, while CHRAJ and the Office of the Attorney-General and the Office of the Special Prosecutor investigated the PPA CEO’s alleged contractual-sales scam, pending possible indictment and rigorous prosecution and a stiff prison term (See “Akufo-Addo ‘Fires’ PPA Boss after Manasseh’s Exposé; Launches Investigations” Ghanaweb.com 8/22/19).

I also partially concur with Mr. Sulley Sambian, the well-known lawyer and North-East Regional Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, that Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei has “cruelly sabotaged” Nana Akufo-Addo, except that in this particular instance, I also just happen to shockingly believe that My Dear Good, Old Uncle Kwaku Addo-Dankwa may very well be hell-bent on committing political suicide, or he may be on a political suicide mission, with a heavy dose of helping from his factional detractors among the very ranks of the ruling New Patriotic Party (See “You’ve Shamefully and Cruelly Sabotaged Akufo-Addo – NPP Scribe to Procurement Boss” MyNewsGh.com 8/22/19).

Or, perhaps, Nana Akufo-Addo may have reached a “gentlemen’s agreement” with former President John Dramani Mahama behind closed doors that the rest of us, his staunch and unsalaried supporters, have yet to learn or be let in on? At any rate, could somebody pass me a bottle of acetaminophen?

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

English Department, SUNY-Nassau

Garden City, New York

August 23, 2019

E-mail: [email protected]