Mr. Philip Addison
I suppose Mr. Philip Addison, the lead lawyer on behalf of the plaintiffs, namely, then-Candidates Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia, as well as Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, late, then National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the 2012 Presidential-Election Petition, has come to the sobering realization that he and his Klottey-Korle Constituency parliamentary election rival contenders have still not been able to get their act together, as it were, or rather it is Mr. Addison who has, perhaps, realistically arrived at the grim but truthful conclusion that he cannot defeat an easily nominally recognizable Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawling, and therefore may be better off looking for another constituency elsewhere to try his luck this second time around, that is, if he is really serious about one of those quadrennial boondoggles called “Parliamentary Gratuities” (See “Philip Addison Disqualified from Contesting Akuapem-North Seat” DailyMailGh.com / Ghanaweb.com 3/8/20).
But, of course, looking elsewhere may also mean that Mr. Addison was not as fully invested in the Klottey-Korley Constituency, to begin with, when he adamantly and catastrophically and, some would say, quixotically, embarked on his fierce but ultimately fruitless battle with a former constituency chairman of the New Patriotic Party in that Accra-Central electoral district. Otherwise, why so opportunistically take flight to contest a seat in an electoral district where you, indeed, may have some ancestral mooring but you are, nevertheless, not a very familiar or easily recognizable visage in, nor have you performed any remarkable community service for the bona fide constituents of the targeted electoral district whose parliamentary seat you so desperately itch to occupy for any set number of years?
You see, being an indigene or a native of any place goes far beyond merely having a parent who was either born or raised in that place. You see, in the scandalous case of Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, some crude and dirty arm-twisting had to be done by the Keta-Sogakope Trokosi Nationalist Goon Squad. We have written and spoken extensively about the latter act of brazen political terrorism and thus find it absolutely unnecessary to revisit the same.
Indeed, I was quite amused to learn that two male candidates vying to unseat the Akuapem North’s Constituency Incumbent, who also happens to be the Deputy Information Minister, had decided to cavalierly ride roughshod over the laid-down rules and guidelines for contesting the parliamentary primary election in the Akuapem-North’s electoral district. The other disqualified candidate reportedly goes by the name of Mr. William Agyei Twumasi, the Bursar of the Presbyterian College of Education in the Akuapem-Akropong municipality.
You see, Dear Reader, I got involved in this news story or, rather, the subject of this column because as an alumnus of the world-famous SALEM school, that is, the Presbyterian Middle Boys’ Boarding School and the Senior School Prefect for the 1975-76 Academic Year, I have some emotional and mnemonic investment in the place, being also of Kyebi descent on my Old Juaben-descended father’s side of my family, with deeper and more firmly rooted moorings in the Akyem-Asiakwa Royal Family, I have an uncannily ontological appreciation for the name “Dokua” that only an “Okoampa-Agyeman” could fully appreciate.
At any rate, any candidate for public office who mischievously breaks any of the rules of engagement in order to gain an undue advantage on or over his/her political rivals and opponents, deserves to be promptly and roundly disqualified and/or rejected. You see, sheer desperation has never been a fetching ingredient among the recipe of good and progressive political statesmanship.
I hope Messrs. Addison and Twumasi fully appreciate this all-too-glaring fact. You see, if Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah Adjei strictly and respectfully follows the rules of engagement, then, of course, it goes without saying that she is clearly the candidate to beat among the three contestants. Besides, it well appears to me that Ohemmaa Dokua has acquitted herself creditably in both her capacity as the New Patriotic Party-sponsored Parliamentary Representative for the Akuapem-North Constituency, and as a Deputy Information Minister.
Which is why I really don’t see why Messrs. Addison and Twumasi would want to risk their reputation and integrity by appealing the apparently justifiable decision by the local New Patriotic Party executives to disqualify them. Besides, I simply cannot help being radically pro-feminist.
Unbalanced patriarchy is the direct result of our present national development mess, which President Akufo-Addo has been hard at work trying to clean up. Which, of course, is not to imply that each and every one of our women leaders and politicians is/are equally worthy of our respect and attention.
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net
