Months after authoring what is considered a damming book entitled *“CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH: the Politics of complacency,”* Politician and physician Arthur Kobina Kennedy has literally eaten back his own saliva by urging New Patriotic Party delegates to elect Nana Akufo-Addo, who he had dammed in his book, their flagbearer.
In a statement issued last Wednesday, Dr. Arthur Kennedy said while any of the five candidates for the flag-bearer race would make “…a good President and certainly, a better one than President Mills”, Nana Addo, more than any other, will deliver the presidency for the party.
In his book, Dr. Arthur Kennedy heaped blame on everybody in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) but himself for the defeat of the party at the 2008 Presidential Polls. He declared Nana Addo as poor and complacent candidate who surrounded himself with what he revealed was “an Akyem Mafia” at Databank in operations in the party and in-charge of campaign funds.
Dr. Arthur Kennedy, who was the Communication Director of Nana Addo during the campaign, gave the impression Alan Kyerematen would have been a better candidate for the NPP had he emerged the winner at the 2007 NPP Legon Congress in which he (Dr. Arthur Kennedy) himself got a single vote.
He accused ex-President Kufuor of many things including his decision to build a presidential palace against popular will of Ghanaians. Some delegates also had their fair share of the criticisms. He, claim one delegate instead of monitoring the polls during the voting exercise, had left the pollen station to be with his girlfriend thus contributing to the painful defeat.
But in a rather dramatic turn of event, Arthur Kennedy in his new statement observes; “My best judgment is that our 2008 Presidential candidate, Nana Akuffo-Addo, gives us the best chance of winning in 2012. “With him, we came close, very close, the last time. It is my conviction that Nana Akufo-Addo, humbled by defeat in 2008, wiser from the experiences of the 2008 campaign, focused on the suffering visited on Ghanaians since 2009 by the NDC GOVERNMENT and leading a UNITED NPP, will take us to victory in 2012. “I have followed all the candidates closely and taken note of their strengths and weaknesses. “I have noted in particular, Alan’s VISION, Prof’s INTEGRITY, Reverend’s PIETY, Isaac’s QUIET EFFICIENCY and Nana’s ENDURANCE.”
He adds; “I have reflected carefully on how we can win the 2012 elections. I have weighed, not just our party’s history but also, our nation’s history. And I have come to a conclusion.
“More than any other candidate, he knows, from experience, that victory in 2010 will be meaningless unless it leads to victory in 2012. As a result, he will do whatever he can to improve our chances of winning in 2012.”
Arthur Kennedy, while urging his “fellow *kukrudites* to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo on Saturday”, commended all the candidates and the national leadership of the party for their hard work, observing again that more than many, he understands the resources and time commitment required to contest a leadership race, having contested but failed to win the slot for the 2008 elections, and later serving as Nana Addo’s campaign director of communications.
Nana Akufo-Addo, Alan Kyerematen, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, MP Isaac Osei and Reverend John Kwame Koduah are counting on the 113,000 electoral college to hand one of them the right as NPP presidential candidate for Election 2012 and have toured constituencies around the country canvassing for votes.
