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Baba Jamal – A timorous soul in search of identity and redemption.

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 Source: Damptey, Daniel Danquah

In fact, I was shocked to the marrow when I read the tantrums and illogical idiosyncrasies of the timorous and political atavist called Baba Jamal about Nana Akufo-Addo’s call for visionary leaders who think big, act big and do big things to develop the country.

In fact, one part of me told not to take on this unmitigating disaster whose stock in trade is to resort to derogatory words to describe his betters when he realizes that the odds are stacked heavily against him. But the real me gained the upper hand by asking me to go all out to unmask this notorious “kaakamotobi” who has lost all traces of his Ghanaian heritage and is in dire need of redemption.

Redemption for what, one may ask? For his very soul and identity! I have stated on many occasions that I have been taught to put up my best face in public. And that if I don’t encounter such miserable unmitigating characters of the likes of Baba Jamal, whose daily mantras is to pander to the needs of those in authority, I might not have missed anything of value. This explains the disdain and utter contempt I hold for this lost soul.

We should not overlook the fact that Baba Jamal is trapped in the cage of indoctrination where he is so deceived to become a willing accomplice in his own exploitation. I have come to the conclusion that he has more mortal fear of those who undermine the poor with vulgar arrogance. Needless to say, Baba Jamal walked into the harem of the oppressed on his own free will because of “noko fio” and has been so debased that he has lost all traces of humanity.

Now hear Baba. He says that between the President and Nana Akufo-Addo, the President is much more intelligent and visionary than Akufo Addo. But on that, I beg to differ and to state in black and white without any fear of contradiction that Akufo-Addo is more of a visionary leader and more intelligent than the President.

If President Mills were to be more intelligent, he wouldn’t have appointed himself leader of a Team B when Team A exists. And the President himself took pride in announcing himself as leader of such an uninspiring Team B!

If the President were to be a man of vision as Baba Jamal would have us believe, would he have appointed such an uninspiring, blockheaded and educated illiterate like Baba Jamal into his Government? He was first appointed Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, a position we are told, he used to undermine the then Regional Minister, Ofosu Ampofo.

If the President had a vision which could move the country forward, he would have dispensed with the services of hangers-on like Baba Jamal who publicly told employees of Information Services if they saw a goat, they should say they had seen a cow and that if something was black, they should say it is white. Where else in the civilized world, apart from visionless Mills Ghana can we have any such things?

If the President was competent, he would have sacked the Mayor of Accra a long time ago for coming out publicly to say the President had apologized to him during the decongestion exercise in Accra. The statement by the Accra Mayor portrays President Mills as being fickle-minded.

What is the wisdom in remarking that he would not have anything to do with the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah, unless he is gazette by the National House of Chief but went ahead to grace the Hotsotsotso Festival of the Anlo people? The Anlo Overlord, Togbe Sri III has also not been gazetted. Such action by the President and his numerous advisers does not portray the President in any good light. And the Ga Mantse was right in pointing out the illogical contradictions in the President’s action.

Does thinking big have to do with spending over Ghc1.6.00 billion on Tea for members of the NDC Transition Team? Does it have to do with spending moneys meant for families of Ghanaian killed in the Gambia on unnecessary things like the Media, drinks, carpets, pall bearers, dancers etc? The money was compensation for the bereaved families. And unless, they want to tell me that compensation has to do with some of the items I have listed above, I will never agree that those who authorized such payments should be given any award for commonsense. Even in this simple test, the President failed miserably. So why compare the intelligence level of the two? What is the meaning of compensation? Baba Jamal should tell me. So, reader, you see, Baba Jamal’s argument does not hold water. The President and his numerous advisers could not fathom the meaning of a simple word like compensation and you say he is better than Akufo Addo. Baba should bow down his head in shame for coming out with such analogy.

Is the President a man of vision? Definitely, no! We have not forgotten his remark in exonerating Muntaka Mubarak with his infamous mantra that he Muntaka is not the first Minister to travel out with his girlfriend. Which other Minister has travelled out of the country with his girlfriend? He should tell us. Do we expect such an expression from the President whose devotees tout him as the best legal brain in the country? And the best legal brain called a grave act of corruption an act of indiscretion and you tell me he is the best thing that ever happened in this dear country of ours! May God have mercy on us!

Does the President have foresight? Absolutely, no! If he had, he would not have pursued his “di wo fie asem” policy to the letter. He and members of his visionless team, after signing the ECOWAS Communiqué which backed the use of force as the last resort to break the impasse in the Cote d’Ivoire’s political quack mire, came to Ghana to repudiate the very agreement he had appended his signature to and which had been publicly commended by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After the hawks in the Nefarious Contraption have descended on Akufo Addo for supporting the stance of ECOWAS, they had to eat humble pie when the use of legitimate force became the instrument which resolved the Ivorian crisis. How would you rate the intelligence level of such leadership? And you want to compare him to Akufo-Addo!

If Baba Jamal is a man worth his sauce, he should have given the true fact about Mills academic credentials. A Deputy Misinformation Minister who professes to know everything about his Boss was found not to know anything about him. A little learning is a dangerous thing, we all know. It is either we drink deep or taste not. But isn’t it a shame that Baba Jamal, the Mister know all, the hatchet man in the NDC does not even know the Class of Degree his boss, President Mills got? And that is why I say he is a miserable creature fighting for his identity. He told Ghanaians that the President had First Class. It turned out that it wasn’t so. Do we have to believe anything this misadventure in politics says? Obviously, not! But that is being his normal self. After all is he not the one who tells us that anytime we see a goat, we should say it is a cow? No wonder this kaakamotobi of a political misadventure is entrapped in the body cavity of Mephistopheles whom he has sold his soul to.

If indeed, our President is a man of vision and Asomdwehene as his devotees would like to portray him, he would have rebuked Baba Jamal for creating the impression that President Mills is a demi-god. ”The President lifted his face to the skies, fondled his juju ring and said, ‘Nananom, hu yen mmobo’. In less than 24 hours, the waters had receded, thanks to the juju ring. That was Baba Jamal. Baba by this assertion which was corroborated by Nii Lante Vanderpuye revealed to Ghanaians and the entire world that the President, Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, alias Professor do little, aka Baba Go Slow is a magician of the first order.

What about capricious and whimsical Koku Anyidoho’s admission that the building from Regi-Manuelle was a gift to the President? What about John Abu Jinapors’ assertion that Ghana no longer receives anything from HIPC Funds and that Government had received grants for the reconstruction of three road projects in the country? Does the appointment of Professor Kofi Awoonor who has written a book in which he made very crude and disparaging remarks about one particular ethnic group in Ghana as Chairman of Council of State a wise decision? What about the treatment being given to the Founder of his own Contraption, ex-President Rawlings who unilaterally brought him from obscurity into limelight?

We are engaged in a bitter struggle between the forces of good and that of good – brain power and the use of brute force. Destiny is on the side of truth. The Past cannot be changed. But we must work through the Present in order to shape the future.

The President is no match for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Daniel Danquah Damptey (damptey_daniel@yahoo.com) 0243715297

Columnist: Damptey, Daniel Danquah