Alan Kyerematen: Stop your demons now!

I write this piece with a warning to dubious media persons and others not to misconstrue my submission and merge its contents with their bankruptcy of civility. Wasteful arguments have been raging since Hon Alan Kyerematen declared his unworkable intention to contest the flagbearership of the NPP (New Patriotic Party).

Subsequently, his camp has descended into the gutters of bigotry in all its ugly nuances! Try as they have to throw dust in people’s eyes, the handlers of Alan Kyerematen have been deficient in honesty however you look at the unravelling scenarios. For example, the walk that took place in Accra, starting at the Obra

spot, was hyped as a success with over 400,000 (four hundred thousand) participants.

That to me was a real shame because if you looked at the picture, it did not depict such a great number, and even though I would be charitable enough to allow them four hundred (400), the idea that they were dishonest about it was repulsive! They did something smart, albeit, by collaging one photo from different angles into one frame to deceive people that, truly, the

throng was massive.

The “Walk for Bawumia” at Kwahu was many folds bigger than Alan’s Kumasi and Accra put together, but noise was not made and no rented press agencies with twisted mouths were hired to tout the popularity of Dr Bawumia. It is almost like a reckoning of the tsunami that is about to cause a second “Noah’s flood” that will sweep Alan and his demons into the whirlpool to hell!!

It saddens me that the almost obvious status quo is that a Muslim Northerner seems to be a necessary armchair leg for my beautiful and fantastic party to stand on.

However, this scenario has drastically changed with the ascension of the bright star we call Dr. Bawumia! Ghanaians have understood that he is not an ordinary man in politics, but a rare gem in the extraordinary journey in making Ghana great! He has been the most active, vociferous, and innovative Vice-President Ghana has had thus far, and Ghanaians are all too ready to declare for him no matter the walks any other aspirant would spend millions on to create the mirage

that continues to shift with the sands of time! I am told that the recent Accra walk for Alan cost him some three million Ghana Cedis.

People were actually paid to participate? ɛda hɔ plain!

Why rent temporary popularity, which is like coca cola that becomes flat after its gas fizzles away?

The statements of Alan’s pundits have been distasteful and in bad faith. Their acerbic tongues have not found space behind their half kilo lips. In fact, submissions of Yaw Buabeng Asamoah and Samuel Ayeh-paye have spun me around like a yoyo! I totally disagree with their malicious bigotry, and to make my disgust more profound, I can safely say that these are people who can easily start a civil war in this country and not bat an eye! Heartless, senseless, and criminal are words that best describe their bigotry! Then again it is, also, my inalienable right to voice my peaceful opinion! E no be so?

I would have thought that in this era of enlightenment, when people from all walks of life burn the bonfire in this global village to discuss important issues relative to the amelioration of our general circumstances, we are, rather, busily exhibiting our shame and reading inferences into matters that are nothing more than a side-attraction, forgetting the main event that we must remain focused on!

I am a Muslim, and Mahmoud Bawumia is my brother! Yes, he is, but I would rather focus on issues and what the various candidates have to offer Ghanaians who go to the polls just because they must in the exercise of their democratic rights!! And if you ask me, I will hold the Dr. Bawumia trump card close to my bosom and run off with it because it is a winner!

We must hasten slowly when speaking to issues that have a direct correlation with our political fortunes as a fraternity that believes in Ghana and Ghanaians! Yes, a Muslim Northerner can be a President, and a very fine President at that, too, but if the Voltarian, or the Ga, or the Wala, or the Gruci, or the Bono, or the Goan comes with a better message and a more meaningful portfolio, I will certainly go for the latter! It is about making Ghana greatest!

Would there be a problem if a Fante, for example, participated in the

Flagbearership race, too? The Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition lives on and embraces all Ghanaians from all walks of life, and the names of the three great leaders do not, remotely, suggest that an NPP President should only be from the peoples of the North, Akyem, or Ashanti, although the powerful figures in the race seem to be of that relevance!

I am appalled at the manner with which the Alan camp attack and play victim, a stark reflection of the characters in Shakespeare’s, “The Mechant of Venice”; “the Christians victimising Shylock yet running to borrow from him”, more like killing a person and attending their funeral! Their bigotry is truly infuriating, but the shenanigans of these people looking for attention that they do not seem to be getting from the stables of the steeds are shot down

right before they soar!

I wrote an article with the title, “Alan Kyerematen, Drop Yaw Buabeng Asamoah Like You would Your Tatty pioto”!

Soon my WhatsApp was deluged with retortive messages from his PA, Nana Yaw Adutwum!

So, who gave them the right to badmouth Northerners and Muslims as if the latter were enemies of civilisation?

To the extent that some appointees rasp like vultures with a bad cough, trying, feverishly, to be relevant after their disastrous stewardship of the positions that they were appointed to makes it all the more disgusting. These despicable characters seem to be toying with the idea of failure more than being serious with the matter of maintaining our hold onto power!

How many times have they badmouthed Akyems, Ewes, and others even as they wined and dined with them? Were the filthy insinuations and utterances they made not tribalistic and distastefully ethnocentric? Who made them superior anyway? They draw the line of hatred and enmity if one refuses to follow suit! Well, if you can pelt people with stones, be ready to receive rocks, too! People who speak their minds are not to be feared, but those that scream hatred when they find the opportunity are as the dangerous black mambas buried in a thicket of bushes that will only strike to kill you with their deadly serum.

The pronouncements of some flagbearers, especially Alan Kyerematen, do not sit well with me because of my sentiments which, really, are in line with the Danquah-Dombo-Busia traditions of fairness to all and disenfranchisement to none! I will focus on choosing a flagbearer for my Party, the NPP, and, eventually, a President for all Ghanaians whether he is from the North, South, East, or West!

But, YES, a Muslim Northerner, Dr. Mahmoudu Bawumia, can surely be a President, and that is what our tradition is all about!

Let’s just break the 8…...Adios!!!