Is Arthur Kennedy painting the true picture of Akufo-Addo?

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Monday, December 16, 2013

My good friends, it is not for nothing that anything happens. Our people say there is no smoke without fire. The current issues emerging from the camp of the NPP are threatening to assume dimensions that their originators might not have prepared themselves for.

Clearly, all is not well in the NPP cabal. No matter how some may want to colour issues, there is something terribly happening that is likely to endanger well-being if not tactfully handled.

The fire lit by Dr. Apraku against the Akufo-Addo faction is spreading. The Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong has added more fuel to it, writing off Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey (National Chairman of the NPP) and his team as thieves who should not be retained in office. We know that Obetsebi-Lamptey and his team are moving heaven and earth to be retained in office. Daggers remain drawn.

Then, comes in Dr. Arthur Kennedy, no stranger to us as far as the expression of candid opinions on goings-on in the NPP is concerned. We already know how his book (Chasing the Elephant into the Bush) revealed truths but caused much consternation in the NPP cabal. He has refused to be silenced and is abroad, making utterances that will frighten his opponents and create the impression that he is part of those vehemently kicking against the status quo in the party.

Here he comes again in an opinion piece that predicts an imminent implosion in the NPP, focusing on the intolerance of dissension that he has identified as the main bane. Beyond that, he has thrown the searchlight on Akufo-Addo, asking that his competence be properly assessed before any decision is made to be endorse him at the March 2014 delegates conference to retain him as the NPP’s flagbearer for Election 2016.

Of course, there is the general feeling that he is the most popular/preferred candidate, which is beguiling inasmuch as question marks hang around his ability to win the Presidential elections to put the NPP in power. He has been defeated twice already; and there are strong indications that he hasn’t added any value to himself to warrant any optimism that presenting him at Election 2016 will make any difference.

Thus, in his analysis of the events catalyzing an implosion in the NPP, Arthur Kennedy has drawn attention to Akufo-Addo as a make-it-or-mar-it factor to determine the NPP’s fate. Here is what he says:

“Next, no one in our party bears more responsibility for what is happening than our 2012 Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo. These attacks on Apraku and others as well as these chants of “No-Nana-No-Vote” are being done by his supporters to benefit him and his silence has been deafening.

When an elder permits young people to use his cutlass in slicing python meat, he cannot claim not to be responsible for the killing and slicing of the python.

While Nana Addo has a very strong and persuasive case for his retention as flag-bearer if he decides to contest, it is my considered opinion that his silence in the face of these attacks are denting his leadership and democratic credentials, not only in the NPP but more importantly, in the nation at large.

• How can voters believe he will tolerate criticism as President when he will not tolerate it as a candidate?

• How can voters believe he will control his Ministers when he will not stand up to his supporters now?

I urge the LEADER AND DEMOCRAT that I have known and respected, Nana Akufo-Addo, to stand up and be counted. He should dissociate himself from these attacks, call off the attacks and remove from his inner circle those who are destroying our great party in his name. One cannot destroy a party in order to lead it.”

(Source: http://elections.peacefmonline.com/pages/politics/201312/183003.php)

This is a direct challenge to Akufo-Addo to step in with the deciding element to help shape the future of the NPP. But with his own political fortunes being threatened, is Akufo-Addo willing to listen to reason?

He has already adroitly found a way to hide behind the transcendental in a vain attempt to outwit his opponents. In fact, the traumatizing experiences of the petition hearing (8 months of sitting on tenterhooks only to be humiliated) sent him on a mission to rediscover himself; hence, all these months of hibernating in the UK, hoping that he would see the face of God to be told what his political future might be.

Behind that smokescreen, though, he has been glibly making utterances that betray his real motives. He has already made up his mind to lead the NPP at Election 2016 while cunningly manipulating sentiments to suggest that God hasn’t yet revealed to him how to conduct affairs. His recent statements speak volumes. So, at this point, whom is he deceiving? The usual double-dealing—even in his own political camp?

Within this context, what Arthur Kennedy has raised cannot be dismissed as merely irritating but should be seen as part of the problems that the NPP will have to deal with to be able to claw back the credibility that it has lost.

Interestingly, the National Executive Council of the party is in the shadows, torn between facing the reality being revealed to it and pretending to be neutral. What a farce!!

No matter how they face issues, it is clear that the NPP is heading toward something that may reflect the splintering that shook the UP family before the 1979 elections. Are these people really prepared to abandon their “book politics” for their own good and that of the country? Eyes are watching.

I shall return…

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