Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.
A Rejoinder to: "Some Thoughts On Akufo-Addo's Acceptance Speech",
Feature Article of Sunday, 22 August 2010, Columnist: Okoampa-Ahoofe,
Kwame
HELLO MY DEAR GRANDSON!
You ask:
"The question now, therefore, becomes: Who is/are this/these “New
Patriot(s)”?" (See: Some Thoughts On Akufo-Addo's Acceptance Speech",
Feature Article of Sunday, 22 August 2010, Columnist: Okoampa-Ahoofe,
Kwame)
My Answer:
I do not even want to go into the merits and demerits of your
ridiculous answer to that question. You have such a back-log of
questions to answer and until you give the appropriate answers or
apologies, you are not going anywhere! Perhaps the last time I wrote
on this subject, it was too long so your attention span could be
blamed for this obvious lapse. This time, I shall try to make it short
to avoid such a situation next time! Are you trying to suggest that
you are now a patriot because Akufo Addo won the NPP primaries?
Whether you like it or not, you shall be going on earlier retirement
because your contributions extract rather than add votes to Mr. Nana
Akufo Addo.
I have already told you what a famous Roman general once said “I more
fear a stupid ally than I fear a clever enemy”. How right he was. I
have always considered Kwame Okoampa as the weakest chain in the NPP
propaganda machine as a result of his special skills in writing
prodigiously without thinking about the import of what he writes. If
you are not being haunted by your own unpatriotic and evil-meaning
writings, then you have probably changed tact just to pretend to be a
good Ghanaian for the sake of your cousin! But it is too late! We know
who you are!
OKOAMPA, PATRIOTISM AND OUR PRECIOUS OIL!
I shall continue to raise this issue until you come out to retract
those unguarded and extremely revealing comments! Okoampa begins an
article surreptitiously titled "Who Are These “Parliamentarian
Drivers”? with a shocker: "I am glad that, finally, the Ivorians are
beginning to assert their right of access and enjoyment of Ghana’s
purportedly new-found oil wealth... It also didn’t quite make a lot of
sense to me that an oil find that lay so dangerously close to Ghana’s
border with Côte d’Ivoire would also have been so [godlessly]
uncharitable as to neatly parcel itself out for the exclusive benefit
and enjoyment of Ghanaians while the war-seasoned Ivorians continued
to languish in penury." - "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March
2010.
Okoampa continues:
"What is also wickedly fascinating is the sudden fit of alarm that
seems to have gripped the hitherto light-headed Ghanaians. All of an
auspicious sudden, it is beginning to home-in to these soft-headed,
happy-go-lucky and good-natured “Niggers” that premature gloating over
a pure gift of nature may yet turn out to be too good to be true. It
was also rather fitfully amusing that some Ghanaians should already
begin to be angrily chary of the Ivorians; and, indeed, the irony of
it all is that these “Angernistas” are largely what one may aptly term
as diehard “Nkrumacrats,” the fanatical disciples of modern Ghana’s
first postcolonial premier. Dear reader, by now, it ought to be
obvious to you what “Sremu Sei Nana” (The King of the Savannah’s
Grandson) is getting at. And, of course, it is the stark fact that
where “Black Gold” is concerned, pan-Africanism is only the dream of a
hopeless lunatic."
As I wrote in a previous article, "Okoampa continues by making
demeaning remarks about his fellow countrymen. To use such language
indicates comtempt for Ghanaian men and women. Why would any Ghanaian
who consider his country's vital interests so dispensable, still
present himself as a member of a "Think Tank" and expect respect from
his fellow Ghanaians? What does it mean if this man presents Nana
Akufo Addo as his favourite candidate, and Akufo Addo approves of this
association with him? Is Akuffo Addo telling us that the Danquah
Institute "think tank" is fast becoming nothing but a nest of
politically virulent and toxic ideas contempt for the Ghanaian
people?" (See: Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From
The Danquah Institute Altogether?).
OKOAMPA, PATRIOTISM, AND THE US AFRICOM
It is very important that Ghanaians do not forget so soon the kind of
role played by people like Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., vis-a-vis the
establishment of US military bases in Ghana, and judge for themselves
whether or not such a guy is a Ghanaian patriot or an American
patriot! "Kwesi Pratt was one of the first to raise the alarm about
oil and US military bases in Africa." Crossedcrocodiles writes in
"Ghanaians Discuss AFRICOM & Obama’s Visit." He continues:
"In a 2007 interview he said:
*Kwesi Pratt: I am very alarmed after reading what is called the
Cheney Report. When Bush came to power, he set up a committee chaired
by Dick Cheney his Vice President to assess America’s energy
requirements up to the year 2015. TheCheney Report actually says that
by the year 2015, twenty percent of American oil requirements will be
supplied by West Africa and therefore it is important to maintain a
foothold in West Africa in order to ensure that oil supplies from West
Africa to the United States of America will not be interr**upted*."
(See: Ghanaians Discuss AFRICOM & Obama’s Visit, by xcroc, June 3,
2009, crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com)
It must be noted that even though Mr Kwesi Pratt, Jnr., was the first
to raise the alarm in Ghana, the US desire to capture the control and
use of the hydrocarbon materials from particularly our sub-region, if
need be, by the means of military action, has been beyond dispute:
'*In May 2001 the Cheney report warned that the U.S. would grow
increasingly dependent upon foreign oil in the years to come and
recommended that as a matter of policy the Bush Administration work to
increase production and export of oil from regions other than
theMiddle East, noting that Latin America and West Africa were likely
to be the fastest growing sources of future U.S. oil imports. ...
Three months later, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Walter Kansteiner declared that African oil "has become a national
strategic interest." This statement is particularly noteworthy in that
it uses the language of the Carter Doctrine in the Middle East, in
which President Carter went on to declare that the U.S. would
intervene by any means necessary to protect its national interest in
Middle Eastern oil. In April 2002, Donald Norland, former U.S.
Ambassador to Chad told a Congressional subcommittee: "It's been
reliably reported that, for the first time, the two concepts --
'Africa' and 'U.S. national security' have been used in the same
sentence in Pentagon documents.*" ('Understanding AFRICOM: A
Contextual Reading of Empire’s New Combatant Command, b real, February
2007,.moonofalabama.org,
Thus, not only were the denials by the US Embassy in Accra very
cynical, but sinister. It would not have bothered me too much if any
other person within the NPP had responded to Quashigah, other than
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.! After all, are we not talking about
patriotism now? If so, then what is the basis of the repugnant
histrionics by this famous political sell-out before he is allowed to
further throw dust into our very vigilant eyes? If the NPP really
needs someone to defend it from the unassailable truth of being a
neocolonialism entity, and by definition, an unpatriotic and
pro-Imperialist party established to see to the business interests of
their imperialist owners, Okoampa should be the last person to do so!
The very fact that none other than Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., should
respond to this issue of patriotism is not only significant, it is
also a sign that he requires an immediate psychiatric treatment for
thinking he can take Ghanaians for fools! If he does not get a
psychiatric examination, he shall continue to pile trouble after
trouble on his favourite candidate, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.
Mr. Kwesi Pratt's patriotism in the interview is clear:
Kwesi Pratt *: *Consequently, the United States is planning to
establish military bases across West Africa including Ghana. And I am
very worried that at a time when we are celebrating our national
independence we are going to tolerate the establishment of foreign
military bases, especially American military bases on our soil. The
great Osageyfo Dr. Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and all of them
emphasized that Africa ought to be free from foreign military bases
and weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow that dream to die.
That is why, it is important for us to resist all attempts to
establish foreign military bases on African soil especially forces of
the United States, must be prevented from establishing on African
soil. Clearly because they are not on African soil to protect our
interests, they are on African soil to facilitate the exploitation of
our resources for the benefit of the tiny minority that controls the
wealth of the American people and who are sitting on top of this world
exploiting the Chicanos, exploiting the African Americans and
exploiting all of the other independent and healthy forces in the
Un**ited States of America. We have to resist all attempts to build
U.S. military bases in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.*" (See: Ron
Wilkins' Interview With Kwesi Pratt on the 50th Anniversary of Ghana
Independence,Pan-African News Wire, May 07, 2007,
panafricannews.blogspot.com.)
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., on the contrary, enters into this debate
like the goat recently nominated by Nana Akufo Addo to represent him
in the Upper East Region. Even the planners of US Africom have since
acknowledged that the initial approach was a mistake!Okoampa did not
mind whatever the Americans were willing to ram down our throats!
There he goes:
*In the lead-up to President George W. Bush's five-nation African
tour-of-duty," Okoampa laments, "the Director of Public Affairs at the
United States' Embassy in Accra was prompted to vehemently deny
widespread rumors and allegations regarding Mr. Bush's official visit
to Ghana, from February 19-21, climaxing with the bilateral
ratification of an agreement between the American leader and Ghana's
President John Agyekum-Kufuor allowing the establishment of an
American military base in the country.*" (See: U. S. Embassy has
Absolutely Nothing to Deny!!!, by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.,
Feature Article | Mon, 18 Feb 2008)
It must carefully be noted that even though Okoampa himself accepts
and welcomes "Mr. Bush's official visit to Ghana, from February
19-21", as "climaxing with the bilateral ratification of an agreement
between the American leader and Ghana's President John Agyekum-Kufuor
allowing the establishment of an American military base in the
country," for some very strange reasons he still manages to refer to
the opposition to these bases as being based upon "vicious rumors and
allegations"! "Allegations" that are more or less his own! In U. S.
Embassy has Absolutely Nothing to Deny!!!, he writes:
"Indeed, one does not have to look far to conclude that such political
mischief is the incontrovertible brainchild of the so-called National
Democratic Congress (NDC), the pseudo-political party that militarily
occupied Ghana for nearly twenty years. Then also, this is not the
first time that the bugbear, or specter, of the establishment of a U.
S. military base is being bandied about. It is also significant to
observe that the NDC's ideological twin-sister, the so-called
Convention People's Party (CPP), has been in the thick of such vicious
rumors and allegations.*" (See: U. S. Embassy has Absolutely Nothing
to Deny!!!, by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article |
Mon, 18 Feb 2008)
Okoampa concludes that nothing could be dumber than patriotism when
the USwants to be your master! For Okoampa, our country is not even
worth anything to die for! We can only develop in freedom when there
are US guns pointed on our heads! Listen to him:
*And so pretending to play dumb, in the dubious name of patriotism, is
absolutely no perspicuous demonstration of Ideological advancement as
these political nincompoops and outright charlatans would have
unsuspecting compatriots believe. And if these charlatans and
cognitively challenged rumor-mongers cared to know, they would have
since long discovered to their rude awakening, the fact that the
hitherto self-proclaimed inveterate enemy of U. S. “imperialism,”
Chairman Rawlings, educated all his three officially known children
right here in the United States, and not Cuba, Libya or
Russia."**...Indeed, it comes as great news to learn of the United
States having emplaced heavy military equipment in the country in
apparent, and auspicious, readiness for any barbaric, or troglodytic,
attempt by the enemies of constitutional democracy to reverse the
onward march of Ghana towards the Danquahist ideal of “Development in
Freedom.*” (See: U. S. Embassy has Absolutely Nothing to Deny!!!, by
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article | Mon, 18 Feb 2008)
In the concluding paragraph to a recent article, "Okoampa Requires
Immediate Psychiatric Examination!*, Feature Article | By Nana Akyea
Mensah, The Odikro. A rejoinder to: "Quashigah Requires Immediate
Psychiatric I wrote:
"The reason why my grandson needs to see a psychiatrist is therefore,
also because it is very important for the Akufo-Addo busy-bodies like
him not to give the game away so soon! If he does not see a
psychiatrist, Okoampa would open the eyes of Ghanaians so wide to what
the Akufo Addo camp has been up to, ever since Bush said "Baloney!" to
the US Africom Headquarters rumour in Accra. Right now, my own real
fear in all this, is that considering the unprecedented leverage that
the Danquah Institute now wields within the the NPP, particularly the
current Akufo Addo-led National Executive Committee, as exemplified
with the speed by which the NPP has proved to be effectively and
extremely susceptible to the very negative influence of the Danquah
Institute, the question that every concerned Ghanaian ought to be
asking must be: "Are we safe?" Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. and Gabriel
Asare Ochere-Darko and co, are just a tip of the iceberg! My real
worry is now about Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, and why he has chosen
to be surrounded by the birds of the same feathers! These are clearly
people with doubtful intentions and abilities. Thanks for opening my
eyes to what Mr. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo really represents! Is it
by accident or just a co-incidence that these two of the Danquah
Institute happen to be the only known Ghanaians campaigning for the
establishment of US military bases on our soil? The New Patriotic
Party seems to have a new concept of patriotism which is surely
bizarre!
Give me the old time patriotism any time, anywhere, any day!"
That's good enough for me! So good enough for me!
Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
Cheers!
–
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro
Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro,
Blogs: Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com,
Comments: theodikro.blogspot.com)
*(The original version of this and all other articles by me often
contain important links to the references made within. For further
information and follow-ups, I invite the interested reader to my blog.
I tweet some of my comments on facebookand on twitter. I am interested
in the political grammar of Pan-Africanism and its manners of
articulation. If you agree or disagree with me, you may follow my
thinking and reactions in a more comprehensive manner by coming to
theodikro.blogspot.com. I keep most of my comments in one place. You
may give me a follow on Twitter if you want to know "where I am coming
from": /twitter.com/TheOdikro, or check out my blogs: 1. Feature
Articles nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com, 2. Comments:
theodikro.blogspot.com) Thanks!
