When I presented a rejoinder to Professor Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe’s recent Article appearing on the Ghanaweb.com Website with the title: “This Cancerous Ghanaian Obsession with Political Personalities”, the “honorable” Professor responded in the comments section with his characteristic showering of invectives, demeaning name-calling and fallacious accusations.
Ordinarily, I would have just let that pass as one of his typical immature, puerile epileptic tantrums he throws, drewling at the corners of his mouth when he feels threatened. But on a second thought, I realized the seriousness of his accusations and decided to return to the forum with this piece to clear my reputation and assure the readership that if the Professor impressed upon them that he certainly knew me and that I am tainted with any form of corruption he sadly imputes to the Kufuor's Administration , he lied. I have never met this guy. I would, therefore, like to firmly and categorically deny his insane allegations some of which I list below.
1). The Professor accused me of corruption with statements like the following: “...he is one of those corrupt NPP summer-time pretenders who envisage Ghana as a trophy to be won with bribery and criminal sycophancy.”
2). The Professor further made the following assertion: " The fact is that people like Mr. Berko have more to gain from the Kufuor-esque nepotism that the New Hempshire "realtor" takes for unalloyed patriotism than anything that an independent-minded and self-motivated Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe could ever expect from an Akufo-Addo presidency.
I do not want to be drawn into any wasteful misuse of this forum that many of us have been advocating against by prolonging any personal disputes with the disgruntled Professor. However, I believe he should not be allowed to get away with such insidious mudslinging, and unwarranted disparaging attacks on folks for exposing his ludicrous fictitious claims or opposing his divisive campaign.
I challenge the Professor to publish anything he knows about me that links me, even remotely, to any malfeasance he claims to know under the Kufuor Regime. I would not even invoke my right to legally hold him accountable. So, let him feel free and unafraid to produce his provable allegations for the Public to see. That might confirm his unmatched patriotism he is touting amidst his segregationist, Ethnic divisiveness.
The most interesting thing that the Public should take note of is the fact this is the very Professor had on numerous occasions, before and after the Ghanaian Presidential Elections of 2008 attempted to shut people up for saying anything negative about the NPP. Here he is, now, claiming the NPP under Kufuor was corrupt? What a betrayal? How does the dear Professor then justify his blinding rage with which he poured excoriating, vitriolic insults on all who dared mention the slightest negative comment about the Party? If was aware of any such problems in the Kufuor Administration or the Party in general, did he ever offer to point that out for redress? Some self-cleansing exercise within the Party could have helped NPP correct the ills he now claims were associated with the Party.
How dare the Professor attributes any nepotism to the former President Kufuor, ( his words: "Kufuor-esque nepotism" ) and has the temerity to sing endless rhapsodies in promoting his "Uncle" Akuffo Addo for the Presidency, and shattering all opposition to his "Uncle"? I stand vindicated that the Professor has now shown he has always been a heinous bigot, double-crosser, who would not stop at anything to coerce people do his wishes. I do not think I am even adequately qualified to defend the NPP or the former President from such vicious, scandalous betrayal. So, I'd leave it to those that are more eloquent and more intimately affected to take this up with the Professor. But, in the very least, all fair-minded Ghanaians should see this evil Professor for what he really is.
The Public should not take lightly such unproven, wild allegations like the following by the Professor: "...Mr. Kufuor was fully in lock-step with Mr. Rawlings on both the eve and wake of the assassination of the Supreme Court judges."
Where is the Professor's proof of any complicity of President Kufuor's that he is claiming, regarding the above crime? Why doesn't the "august" don go to the Courts with his evidence to level a formal charge against the people he is implicating? I challenge the Professor to prove President Kufuor is any more culpable for the deaths of the Judges than his kin, J. B. Danquah, was believed to be for the murder of Nana Akyea Mensah of the Professor's own backyard and I guarantee the Public would give him all his backing he might need to seek justice.
It is also interesting that not knowing me in person, the Professor could claim to have a much closer relationship to the Ashanti Royalty than I may have. But that is even irrelevant to the matter at stake. However, I should remind the Professor that history is replete with people that share the same family and turn on each other for selfish reasons. So, even if the Professor can claim the Ashanti throne to be his, the next time around, God forbid! , he has proven his penchant for "stabbing" the Royalty in the back with the type of comments he made about the Otumfuor in his piece without any reasonable justification. Again, I entreat the Public to indulge me with their patience, since this is not about an internal NPP or Ashanti feud but rather the exposure a real dangerous, even treasonous individual that is hellbent to rip Ghana asunder and has no scrupples to reach far and wide and smear filth on all who he even imagines could be in his way.
It is this kind of Academicians that led the Genocidal campaign in Bosnia. It is the kind of Professor Okoampa-Ahoofes that gave vibrant scholarstic, bureaucratic and technological support for Hitler to slaughter the Jews and other millions of innocent people around the World. So, this Professor is not just some exclusive NPP or Ashanti problem but a terribly dangerous Nation wrecker that all should be aware of and deal with appropriately. It is most shocking how the Professor shamelessly claim to uphold democracy, and seem to be enjoying his right to freedom of speech but employs the tactics he is so well-known of to divide, silence and villify people with such level of venom. Only two words come to mind when I think of it: A Facist!!!
I also took note of his apparent dismissal of my personal attribute that I had only used in my piece to identify myself, a REALTOR, which I am. I noticed his scorn for that occupational description. That is not a problem. I can easily live with that. I am mature and stoic enough to repel such attitudes. But it goes to show the incorrigible arrogance of the Professor which permeates almost all his deeds and words. I didn’t have to parade my Educational credentials, as he always does, to seek any acclamation. In fact, I do not have much of any Academic laurels at all to brag about and I am not about pandering to any constituency, or soliciting the public for recognition to bolster any egoistical self-aggrandizement. The purpose of this forum, I believe, is not for people to display their Academic laurels, for exceptional acceptance. I don’t think many Ghanaians, like me, envy his PH.D at all. We might just respect it. But if he uses it inappropriately, all have the right to denounce him.
More importantly, as most Ghanaians would agree, speaking the truth, debunking the falsities of others, or denouncing socially inappropriate behaviors that only recklessly incite one group against another, including false accusations, does not need any proof of eligibility with an endless list of all one’s life-time achievements. Just because Folks might not have University Degrees or PH. D’s does not preclude them from expressing their concerns and pointing out unwarranted, baseless accusations of others. We all do not need to march the Professor’s academic laurels to be eligible for exposing people’s diatribe and unjustifiable acrimony and bigotry. Folks do not have to zip up their lips, and remain mute and forever uncomplaining, while ills are perpetrated in their name and against them, just because they have no elitist branding to their identities. The only qualification that matters in contributing an opinion about Ghana is being a Ghanaian. Period! Any other additional credential is only an icing on the cake. Futhermore, it is the quality of the content of people's contributions, the essence of the issue at stake, and the comprehensibility of their rendition of what they are offering that naturally follow for consideration in any attempt to respond to them.
People should not feel intimidated by the likes of this dangerous Professor of Fiction Writing, who has, for quite a while, now been about the business of banging our heads around and against each other’s. We have a Nation to rebuild. Yes, some of our leaders have made serious mistakes along the way. But the way to correcting our vectors and setting them on the right compass is not via the deepening of our faults. We need to evaluate the mistakes of others in the proper context in order for us to figure out the best way forward. It is only immature and sheer waste of scanty but invaluable resources to keep blaming everyone for all that went wrong without mentioning our own shortfalls.
It is not my academic or occupatioonal background that should be in focus here. And, in fact, I would be glad to share it with others if necessarily required, especially if I need to submit an opinion or some information relating to my background for further clarification. Nevertheless, I would like to submit to the “honorable” don and his cohorts that I have what it takes, academically, to prove my point and make my case succinctly understandable to any willing audience or readership. If the dear Professor thinks because of his social or Academic status he is beyond criticism, he is wildly traversing some hallucinatory galaxy and he better come down to Earth. That is where the rest of us really live. If he finds his overblown ego bruised by the genuine inquiry of ordinary Ghanaians into his insensitive manner of relating to us, maybe a sober reflection of his modus operandi regarding how treats the rest of us, Ghanaians, might help him recover. I would, out of courtesy, though, like to apologize to him in principle that my intention was not just to deflate or prick his ego. It was precisely to expose his blind-sided bigotry. He could speculate all he wants about my presumed status in NPP. That is totally beside the point. The rush with which the “honorable” Professor reached a conclusion on my Party status, given his professorial background defies logic. Did he have any plausible basis for such deduction? Naaaaa!!!!!!! I don’t think so.
I do not want to make my presence here on this forum a protracted duel between me and the Professor. But I must say that now that he has gotten me wondering about his real motive in taunting all that even used to be close to his “Uncle” Akuffo Addo, we would have to share this space on this forum for a little longer. Hmmm…, Adanko wants to know!!!! Curiosity kills the Cat, some say. But in this case, I believe, the end of prying for his real motives is worth the death of the Cat. He should not forget, however, that it has been said: the Cat has nine lives!!!! So, I’ve got a few more lives to risk in knowing the truth.
Fianlly, Ghana deserves her most learned utilizing their knowledge in consolidating the gains of the past, not dismantling them. The broad coalitions built within Parties in making our young democratic journey possible and effective must not be sacrificed for parochial gains.
Long Live Ghana!
By: G. K. Berko.
Email: marjorpres@gmail.com
(The Author is a Ghanaian and a Realtor based in New Hampshire, USA).
