Kyerematen's Nuisance Value

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

Garden City, New York

Sept. 6, 2014

E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

The flat and desperate refusal of Alan John Kwadwo "Quitman" Kyerematen to back out of the 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primary race, following his resounding trouncing by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ought to send an unmistakable signal to party members, supporters, sympathizers and the nation at large, that this is a morbidly selfish man who envisages his own parochial ambition to be elected president over and above the dire need of the suffering masses of Ghanaians to be led by a progressive and responsible leader.

Needless to say, such a pathologically self-absorbed person scarcely has what it takes to rally his own party membership for the singular purpose of winning legitimate power, let alone rally the nation, at large, for socioeconomic, cultural and political development. Of course, Mr. Kyerematen also makes his earlier call for party unity ring both pathetically hollow and at once insolent and comical.

The preceding notwithstanding, I need to also emphatically and promptly observe herein that I don't necessarily concur with Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the Assin-Central NPP-MP, that Mr. Kyerematen's 8-percentage share of the Super-Delegates' votes is statistically insignificant. In reality, it can make quite a significant difference between the two major presidential candidates in a hotly contested general election, assuming that Mr. Kyerematen's share of the Super-Delegates' votes numerically holds on a larger national scale. Personally, I very much doubt it, although for the sake of political pragmatism, I would rather not unwisely pooh-pooh the same (See "Don't Beg Alan - Ken Agyapong" Daily Guide 9/6/14).

Still, any attempt by Alan Cash, as Mr. Kyerematen is popularly called, to use his share of electoral support to leverage for unrealistic concessions is likely to tragically backfire. To be frank, he shouldn't even try. On the other hand, I can see the other more reasonable, forward-looking and concilliatory contestants being favorably accommodated by the winner of the August 31 New Patriotic Party Super-Delegates' Pre-Presidential Primary. Indeed, what I can unabashedly vouch for, as a matter of fact, is that delegates and/or voters who staunchly back Mr. Kyerematen are far more likely to vote for President John Dramani Mahama than Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a general election; and the most progressive among the leaders of the New Patriotic Party had better come to terms with this truth and opportunely facilitate the certain exit of Mr. Kyerematen out of the NPP.

The critical issue right now, is neither one of tolerance or democratic justice, for Mr. Kyerematen's time- and resource-wasting antics have been tolerated more than long enough. And neither is it a problem of democratic protocol, for even as a Kyerematen lackey like Nana Ohene-Ntow, the former NPP General-Secretary, has publicly and ponitedly acknowledged, Alan Cash's woeful non-marketability within the New Patriotic Party is a foregone conclusion. It is decidedly irreparable.

Rather, what is at stake vis-a-vis the wisdom in scrapping the October 19 mega-delegates' congress, is the imperative need for the core party leadership and rank-and-file membership of the NPP to quickly close ranks and strategize for a viable shot at returning the Great Elephant Party to the Jubilee/Flagstaff House, come December 2016. And for the latter to be convincingly realized, the party would need all the resources that it can muster, including avoiding the needless expenditure that is the largely pro-forma October Delegates' Congress.

Unfortunately, with wantonly profligate nuisance elements like Alan Cash hell-bent on regressing the triumphal fortunes of the NPP, that is if they cannot occupy the saddle themselves, it makes perfect sense for the NPP leadership to studiously heed the prophetic call of Mr. B. J. Da Rocha by promptly and summarily expelling Mr. Kyerematen from the New Patriotic Party, while there is ample time to recover from whatever percentage of votes this clinically incurable man is apt to take along with him on his way out.

You see, in the kind of street-level political slugfest in which the New Patriotic Party is locked with the ruling National Democratic Congress, it makes a heck of great difference which party is widely perceived by the general public to be more disciplined and firmly in control of its internal affairs, and thus poised to taking effective charge and control of our greater and more significant and delicate national affairs.

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