Is Kufuor the bugbear for Akufo-Addo? (Part I)

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Folks, there is a conundrum for the NPP and its Akufo-Addo—whether to rely on ex-President Kufuor as the prime-mover for their political campaigns toward Election 2016 or to sideline him and go their own way. Much exists to prove that sidelining Kufuor will be disastrous to Akufo-Addo. Much also exists to suggest that giving Kufuor such a prominent role is like plunging a double-edged sword into the NPP’s camp. Don’t ask me why if you know what the internal crisis in the NPP is all about. There is a Kufuor faction and an Akufo-Addo faction. What for, I don’t know; but I know it for a fact that all is not well in the NPP as such. Will Akufo-Addo rely on Kufuor to work for him? With what consequences?

I am poised to dissect happenings at the NPP front to hit hard on plain facts that will hurt Akufo-Addo but which, if properly understood, appreciated and factored into the political manouevres of the NPP, can help Akufo-Addo and his NPP redeem themselves, even if that redemption doesn’t win Election 2016 for them. I can’t be the first or only Ghanaian to not want to see an Akufo-Addo Presidency in Ghana in my lifetime. Phew!!

But I have the blended gift of hindsight and foresight to say what I have to say, based on my experiences, serving Ghana in many capacities before moving on into other departments of life, and now seeing things from afar to know how the tide flows and to stick my neck out for whatever I stand.

I want to say upfront that a tide bearing an Akufo-Addo leadership of Ghana will not flow well for the country. I have said so in all my opinion pieces dealing with Ghana’s challenges of development in contemporary times and will continue to say so till I drop down dead!! Simply put, then, what I want to do here is to put the ball in Akufo-Addo’s camp to challenge him to know why Akufo-Addo hasn’t cut butter all this while and won’t do so at age 72.

Once he comes across as the one destroying his own political house, there is no way anybody will waste efforts trying to build that house for him to become Ghana’s President “at all costs” or buying into his vile cry to be “tried” as Ghana’s leader. The days of trial-and-error are long gone and won’t return. Governance in the 21st century demands better than Akufo-Addo’s kind of blindfolding politics entails.

In stating my stance, I will be blunt and toughen myself for the fallouts, especially the usual insults and empty threats from his benighted buffs. If they had monitored their sacred cow’s “lorgorligi-logarithms” all these years, they would have known better not to tread where he himself fears to go. The reputable Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in London that enrolled him for law studies in 1973 but that didn’t follow him up to the point where he left the shores of Britain for France to end up being enrolled surreptitiously by the General Legal Council of Ghana without certification knows why. Hard balls here!!

There is a lot more that posterity will probe into. By putting Akufo-Addo on the spot, we are only seeking to set the stage for that probe, even as his disastrous leadership of the NPP poses a terrible challenge to Ghana’s future in democracy. We saw how he failed in 2008 and 2012 and why failing again at 2016 poses a terrible threat to Ghana’s stability, granted that he has amplified his disgruntled political aspirations in all spheres, locally and internationally, even if not heeded to. All the stale demonstrations and arm-twisting manouevres (including recruiting South African ex-combatants to establish a private security institution of the NPP) have bounced back to hurt his reputation. What a sore but unrepentant looser!!

We are poised to go the whole hog to prove why Akufo-Addo’s quest for political power is not in the best interest of Ghana. Clearly, he is even not accepted wholeheartedly in his own political family. Why, then, does he think that he is better than everybody else? We will examine it all.

Here we go, then. The NPP’s main challenge under Akufo-Addo, especially in its desperate attempt at wresting political power from the NDC administration, lies more within than without. This loaded claim will be unpacked soon; but for now, suffice it for me to say that the NPP and its Akufo-Addo are still groping about, unsure of how to reach out to the electorate for goodwill. Many instances confirm my claim that the real challenges facing Akufo-Addo are within his own party ranks. Will he be smart enough to see things as some of us do? I wonder.

First, let us turn to the desperation for funding to suggest that the coffers of the party are virtually dry, indicating that something terrible must be happening to discourage financiers from putting their pecuniary weight behind the party being led by Akufo-Addo to Election 2016. They must have genuine reservations, misgivings, or apprehensions that their contributions aren’t being judiciously used to advance the party’s agenda. In other words, they must be concerned that something other than the party’s interests is being pursued at their expense.

In that sense—and given the clear evidence of how Freddie Blay, Abankwa and others in the team have been playing “chaskele” with the party’s funds without being held accountable as such—will they be willing to pump money into the NPP’s coffers? Already, the party’s MP’s have broken ranks and aren’t willing to continue contributing funds. They must know why. Others too are following suit, which speaks volumes.

We woke up yesterday to be confronted with the news report headlined as “NPP not broke, but not very wealthy” (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Blay-NPP-not-broke-but-not-very-wealthy-430763). Another report was about a fund-raising ceremony to be addressed by Akufo-Addo at which the NPP would appeal to Ghanaians to contribute funds for the party’s electioneering campaigns. A long haul, indeed!!

Meantime, we have already been informed that the party’s MP’s have vowed not to contribute a pesewa to the electioneering campaign efforts (for reasons best known to them), all coming against the background of malfeasance by those placed in charge of managing the party’s finances (How about the secret re-opening of accounts at Ecobank that would pit Afoko and Agyepong against the Akufo-Addo camp for which they would be maligned and emaciated politically? We won’t lose sight of the fact that Afoko and Agyepong were so maltreated because they were accused of belonging to the Kufuor camp and also for being bought to do the bidding of President Mahama. What a complicated load of nonsense!!)

As we write, the complications aren’t even being untangled by the court hearing Afoko’s suit against the NPP leaders over his suspension, although it has emerged that attempts by the Akufo-Addo camp to gag him have been damned by the court. So, can’t the Akufo-Addo camp see things as they are so they can look for better ways to deal with their self-created internal crisis?

I shall return…

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