Arthur K: Calling me names won’t gag me

Former presidential hopeful of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, Dr Arthur Kennedy, says no amount of name calling, by his own party members, will gag or cow him.

There has been no love lost between the Medical Doctor and the camp of two-time presidential candidate of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo, after the former student leader accused the former Attorney General, of dividing the party and condoning violence by his supporters against the new crop of leaders of the Dankwa-Busia-Dombo tradition.

“I have been called a traitor doing the bidding of my pay-masters by those who have not condemned those who marched to our HQ with weapons. Some contemptuously accused me of reading only American biographies when I, in fact, read broadly, in and outside politics”, US-based Kennedy wrote in a statement.

“Even though I never used drugs in my life, some have questioned my sanity. Many well-meaning friends have urged me to ‘leave the NPP people alone to do what they want to do”.

“These calls are eerily similar to those I received when, as part of the greatest generation of students Ghana has known, I risked my life and liberty to help restore democracy to Ghana, beginning in the 1980’s”, the former communication director of Akufo-Addo’s 2008 campaign added.

He bemoaned: “Unfortunately, some have even sought, for political purposes, to implicate me in a criminal case for which someone else has been convicted and is in prison. These are not the actions of democrats”.

Kennedy said concerns regarding internal violence and intolerance “are important fundamental issues that go to who we are as a party and the government we hope to form. Therefore, on these issues, I will not retreat and I will not yield. Let the word go forth from here to friend and foe alike that I will judge whoever our nominee is on these issues and make the case appropriately for or against that candidate, based on my best judgment”.