Who says Akufo-Addo can quit politics?

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Those of us who have been ahead of the curb regarding Akufo-Addo have outsmarted him all this while to predict his political manouevres. We have exposed him for what he is. We have been smart enough to say that he is not going to succeed in Ghanaian politics by choosing to be ahead of himself.

We have confidently told him and his followers that all that he has been saying and doing ever since the Supreme Court confirmed his sorry fate at Election 2012—through a porous petition designed only to save his face by sending him on a mission of self-discovery—will bounce back to hit him hard in the face as the murkiness thickens in the NPP circles!!

And as the arm-twisting tactics continue being implemented by those doing the hatchet man’s job against prospective opponents within the NPP. From the daily head-butting going on in the party, he should have known by now that the happenings foreshadow more trouble in his own backyard that won’t make the going easy for him as he might have had it before Elections 2008 and 2012.

Still not satisfied with his sorry Fate, he has pulled strings here and there while pretending to be on vacation in London, hands clasped in some kind of prayer, waiting for the “face of God” to know his future political direction even though he had already made up his mind to be the NPP’s flagbearer for Election 2016.

Playing a hide-and-seek game with himself and double-dealing with the NPP followers, he hasn't ceased amazing us about his lopsided approach to Ghanaian politics. His bubble has already burst.

And now, by just a slight testing of his pulse, he has unleashed his horn-blowers to tell Ghanaians what we have long been hammering on about his stance but which he and his lackeys have denied.

In a deafening cry of protestation, he says that he hasn't quit Ghanaian politics as reported by Alhaji Bature’s newspaper (Al Hajj) on Friday. That report had it that Akufo-Addo “has finally thrown in the towel due to his age and poor health”.

In a quick rebuttal, his office rebuffed that report and other speculations that he has relinquished plans of contesting the NPP’s presidential primaries ahead of the 2016 general elections.

A statement signed by Kow Essuman (an Akufo-Addo aide and posted on his Facebook wall) stressed: “Nana Akufo-Addo has made no such decision. As indicated before his departure to London last September, he will make known his future in Ghanaian politics on his return to Ghana, which will be very shortly”.

It described the report as “blatant falsehood” adding that “this alleged news item only exemplifies the unacceptable face of creative journalism which seems to be the specialty of the Al Hajj newspaper”.

(Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=301434)

If he has no intention to remain in active politics, what is wrong about the news report? Or is it because publishing the report amounts to taking the wind out of Akufo-Addo’s sail? Or that he stands to gain anything if he announces it himself? If he has nothing to hide, why should he be bothered about the report?

And to undermine his own integrity and confirm that he is invoking the name of God in vain, his office has given us the true picture to confirm duplicity and double-dealing as his trump-card. He has played that trump-card all these years and turned out to bite his fingers in exasperation. Playing it now and evermore will worsen his plight.

Here is why: Does Akufo-Addo really know how to do politics to sell himself to the electorate? I wonder; I really wonder. If he does, he won't deceive himself that duplicity is what will win him the day.

Has God spoken to Akufo-Addo yet to tell him his future political direction to warrant the defence being put up for him by Essuman and Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, the NPP’s General Secretary?

Now, I wonder if Akufo-Addo won’t have a hard time reconciling himself to the God whose arms he has been trying desperately to twist all this while. Is he really waiting to see God’s “face” before making up his mind or he has already made up that mind but is only hiding behind that smokescreen? Truly, God cannot be mocked without dire consequences for the mocker.

We recall that he left his petition against President Mahama and the NDC at Election 2012 in the hands of God (with the annoying buzz claim of “The battle is in the hands of the Lord”) even though he looked up more to human beings portraying themselves as friends of the NPP on the Bench (Justice Dotse and Co., are you listening?).

When God finally spoke, he couldn’t withstand the pressure and vanished from the local scene, seeking solace in London, from where he would continue to pull strings for his puppets to dance to the tune being called by him.

But calling the tune alone doesn’t ensure electoral success. Now that his office has come out to dent the report carried by the Al-Hajj newspaper, what else do we need to know about his hidden agenda?

Interestingly, while his political house BOILS and his so-called management and problem-solving skills are direly needed to calm nerves for the party to regain its composure, he has found it better to stay away till the dust settles only for him to emerge with public posturing as a force to reckon with.

This kind of duplicity won’t win him any political favour. Neither will it yield anything good as the tail wags the dog in his political stables!!

When an entrenched political ambition dominates a person’s political make-up and the pursuit of political office takes precedence over everything, nothing but death the leveler can stop that person in his stride. No amount of sound reasoning, bitter personal experiences at electoral loss, or anything else can open that person’s eyes to reality.

The desire to be in power is pursued with unprecedented alacrity, vigour, determination, and violence until doomsday. History has a tall list of such egoistic pursuits; and the NPP’s twice-defeated Presidential Candidate, Akufo-Addo, is likely to add himself to that list.

I shall return…

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