"Alan Cash" Sobriquet Was Not Imposed!

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Garden City, New York

July 26, 2014

I keep reminding Mr. Alan John Kwadwo "Quitman" Kyerematen that it is only the truth that will set him free, and then legitimately prepare him to wisely and more constructively contest the flagbearership of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the foreseeable future. You see, Ghanaians are not as forgetful and politically naive as the Edweso/Ejisu native would have the nation and the rest of the world believe. They have studiously watched him throw tantrums, like a spoiled child, and then rudely walk out on the most respectable leaders of the New Patriotic Party like pieces of turd-stained rugs.

Where I come from in Ghana, this sort of attitude is called rude and uncouth behavior; and it does not take anybody professing to be a serious politician anywhere. You see, politics is squarely about the business of the people. And if you don't respect the very people who have the greatest, and surest, chance of putting you into the nation's seat of governance, then nobody needs to admonish you that you are only embarked on a wild goose chase. Alan cannot fool anybody, including those of us who have been sedulously watching the political affairs of both the NPP and the nation from afar for some three decades and more now.

Well, Mr. Kyerematen's latest lie is that his nickname of "Alan Cash" was, somehow, imposed on him by people who did not understand his political manifesto of "Jobs for the People, Cash for your Pocket" (See " 'Alan Cash' Was Imposed on Me - Alan K" Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 7/18/14). He further says that "My value proposition as a politician was that I will [sic] make a difference in this country by, particularly, helping businessmen to succeed."

Now, I don't want to engage in semantic squabble over whether, indeed, his proposition of "particularly helping 'businessmen' to succeed," also includes businesswomen. What we, however, need to quickly point out is that Mr. Kyerematen's brand of economic proposition, or agenda, is absolutely nothing new or especially progressive. It is called "Trickle-Down Economics"; and it was first globally tried on the most massive scale by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan. To hear the latter's own economic advisor, Mr. David Stockman, tell about the same, "Trickle-Down" was an absolute and an abject economic policy flop.

Those of our readers who care to learn about the true colors of Alan, the politician, may want to read Mr. Stockman's book of the same title. In short, the sort of economic agenda that Mr. Kyerematen is shamelessly espousing for Ghana has long been tried and tested; and the authoritative conclusion is that "Trickle-Down" is an epic failure. Do Ghanaians want anybody to impose on them a jaded - "Oburoni W'awu" - theory that has been an epic failure even in the most economically conducive environment to be tested?

For those of our readers who may not know this, these days "Trickle-Down Economics" is risibly called "Crony Capitalism." The latter terminology is a coded rhetorical shorthand for "Gangster Capitalism." Under the latter regime, the prime beneficiaries are a small elite coterie of the most filthy rich and powerful. After all, whoever heard of any businessman, or woman, for that matter, who has made it their objective of making their emmployees as financially wealthy or rich as themselves? This is the lie that Mr. Kyerematen has been peddling and preaching to those whom he considers to be the most "indescribably gullible Ghanaians" for the past umpteen years.

And with this most outrageous lie, "the handsome giant" hopes he has done quite enough of a good job in having the Ghanaian electorate facilely propel him into the Flagstaff House - Fat chance! I say. Actually, what earned Mr. Kyerematen the nickname of "Alan Cash" is the fact that he is widely known to have embarked on electioneering campaigns by "generously" handing out five-, ten- and twenty-dollar notes to his campaign-trail admirers in cynical hopes of being able to buy enough votes to put himself in the Flagstaff House.

This decidedly cheap and tawdry gimmickry has, obviously, not worked; for Ghanaian voters, by and large, are sophisticated enough to realize that they need far more than petty and evanescent handouts to be remarkably successful in the long haul. And now, at last, having belatedly realized the failure of his scandalously myopic electioneering campaign strategy, Mr. Kyerematen would have his audiences believe that the nickname of "Alan Cash" was, somehow, deviously imposed on him by his detractors and political opponents.

Could have fooled me, Braa Kwadwo/ Fante Kojo. Ebei! Bompata Kyerematen!

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