RE: I am disappointed in Akufo-Addo & NPP USA Houston

I usually do not respond to online articles; however I feel compelled to respond to an article by one B.B. Nkrumah.

After reading Mr. Nkrumah's description of the town hall meeting hosting Nana Akufo-Addo in Houston, TX; I wonder if we were at the same meeting. I find Mr. Nkrumah's attack on the character of Nana Akufo-Addo and the Houston Chapter of the NPP as uncalled for, in bad taste, unfortunate, biased, despicable and, probably, premeditated.

First of all, Nana Akufo-Addo arrived at the program at the time that the program organisers got him there and he performed, without any complaint whatsoever, according to the very hectic program the organisers presented to him. It is not strange in the least for a presidential candidate to arrive after an advertised start time for an event. This is because sometimes the organisers have very little choice but to wait for people to show up, whilst filling the gap with other meetings. Nana Akufo-Addo’s visit to Houston has excited Ghanaians here so much that people come from near and afar to shake hands, take pictures and share a concern or offer advice. And, he did not disappoint them. He gave audience to all of them. That to me, is the mark of a leader.

Also, I know personally, that Nana Akufo-Addo had spent the whole night, morning and afternoon preceding the town hall meeting, attending to and speaking with throngs of people who mobbed his hotel in downtown Houston. Nana being the man of the people he is, tried his best to juggle attending to these unscheduled visitors and getting to the town hall meeting, that was also gradually filling up. Even with all this, Nana Akufo-Addo’s first statement was an apology for his tardiness and a short explanation of the tasking nature of the schedule that had been put together for him. His apology was met with a loud applause. That should have been enough to put this matter to rest. I find it rather petty that Mr. Nkrumah would make an issue out of such a simple matter.

Why would Mr. Nkrumah criticize Nana Akufo-Addo for not shaking hands immediately upon entering into the meeting? Mr. Nkrumah, were you not there or were you blind, and did not see Nana Akufo-Addo go around shaking hands and taking pictures at the conclusion of the meeting? Did you not see the fervour with which people mobbed Nana and rushed to be close to him at the end of the meeting when he was going around the room? Mr. Nkrumah, with all his analytic wisdom, did not think for a second that had Nana gone around the room at the beginning of the meeting, the somewhat chaotic scenario that occurred at the end of the meeting would have ruined the start of the event? Once again, you cannot satisfy someone who is determined to be dissatisfied no matter what.

Only a man up to mischief would take anybody's life and summarize it in the singular context such as "arrogant", because he claims they did not apologize for being late (please note that Nana did apologize) to an event. Mr. Nkrumah would you like for anyone to ignore your whole life’s work, achievements, toils and sacrifices and summarize them in a single term as "ignorant", "uninformed", "unintelligent", "biased", "judgmental", etc.? We in the NPP are better than that so we will not treat you with the same unkindness and veiled disrespect that you meted out to our Presidential Candidate in your article.

Let's move on to the issue of the gentleman who interrupted the speech. For someone who seemed upset that the meeting was running behind schedule, I am surprised, by Mr. Nkrumah’s eagerness to permit someone to just get up and hijack more time to teach a song. What about if all the people dressed in NPP colors felt the need to teach their favorite song at the town hall meeting? Did you think about that, Mr. Nkrumah? That aside, Nana did not say a word or stop the gentleman from singing, he actually gestured for the man to be allowed to continue, which the gentleman did. We all joined him in chanting NPP slogans and the gentleman did sing his song. Mr. Nkrumah, I cannot help but laugh at your assertions. It is factually incorrect and very unfortunate indeed. The man was not harassed. He was simply persuaded to allow the event to continue. Upon which he obliged and stayed for the whole meeting.

I am not sure what ears you used to listen to Nana's speech, but it was very civil, classy and very politically mature. Thankfully, Nana Akufo-Addo read from a prepared speech, which has since been posted on his campaign website ( www.akufoaddo2012.com). Nana Akufo-Addo did the two things every presidential challenger would do: he laid out his vision and criticised the performance of the incumbent. He focused on issues and outlined his vision and approach to move Ghana forward. Nana Akufo-Addo remained steadfastly focused on issues throughout the entire speech.

Mr. Nkrumah goes on and on about how only one of his questions were answered, how the moderator did not allow him to provide his ideas, how Nana did not come to his defence, etc. to name but a few of his complaints. It is selfish to think that you alone should be able to monopolize the Q&A time with the four points you wanted to make. How would you have felt if you were one of the people waiting and everyone before you felt the need to demand they be allowed to make four points? Once again, this does not warrant the name calling from Mr. Nkrumah. Nana Akufo-Addo cannot be all things to all people, so I am sorry you were not made to feel important and your Napoleonic ego was bruised, because you were not allowed to consume as much of the Q & A time as you wanted.

You failed to mention any of the good things Nana talked about. Such as the role he hoped the Diaspora would play in his administration, free education, better health care, restoring Ghanaian pride, infrastructure improvement, financing the industrialization of Ghana, improving the business climate in Ghana, duties at the Port and fighting corruption. Rather in what has become the norm for many half knowledgeable Ghanaian political wannabe pundits, we tend to focus heavily on criticizing and pulling each other down, instead of encouraging and lifting each other up. Mr. Nkrumah, a wise and enterprising man instead of calling Nana and the Houston Chapter of the NPP USA names, would have reached out to the very young executives of the chapter (who by the way did a great job) and said let me sign up for membership and use my expertise to help host an even better event next time. But no, you chose to criticize and malign.

You see, Mr. Nkrumah, you are the perfect example of what is wrong with Ghana and is holding our progress back. You are all talk to tear other people down and no action to help others move forward. Thank God you are part of the old Ghana and not part of the New Ghana that Nana Akufo-Addo will build. People like yourself will be left behind on the trash heap of our failed past while under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo we will build a new future. So keep talking, while we keep working for a new Ghana.

By K.N. Asamoah, NPP USA