Kwaku Baako
About a year ago, it would have been unthinkable and inconceivable that Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, would dwarf and outperform Kojo Oppong Nkrumah as he did to Mustapha Abdul Hamid.
When he embarked on his self imposed leave, a vacuum was created as far information dissemination and the defence of government was concern.
Many people saw the huge gap created and had called, begged and pray for his return and like Lionel Messi or Cristiana Ronaldo, recovering from injury, he is now more fired up than ever.
Kweku Baako, was on the tail of the former minister of Information, Mustapha Abdul Hamid, exposing him to public ridicule, as if he was not fit for the job, many even saw him as a square peg in a round hole.
At the time, Mustapha Hamid was on the radar, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who was one of his deputies, was seen as batter option.
So it came as no surprise when president, Akufo-Addo, reshuffled him for a more robust, articulate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
It didn’t take long, for the chickens to come home to roost. When Kweku Baako, embarked upon his self imposed leave, you could tell that, something was not right, as far as the government communication, was concerned.
A vacuum was created in the absence of Kweku Baako, and try as Kojo did, he simply could not fill it.
The Defender-In-Chief, has sometime last month, made a triumphant entry, once again taking the centre stage with his spirited defence, of an administration that has eroded the goodwill it had.
The result of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary election, is one that will be told for a very long time. Ghanaians, have never in the history of this country, shown such a disdain and open dislike for a sitting government than happened in 2016.
I have not lived through many elections, but I was around in 2000, when president John Agyekum Kufuor, leading the New Patriotic Party (NPP), defeated an incumbent party and a sitting vice president.
Although, the wind of change blew across the country in 2000, at the end of an election that had a run-off, John Agyekum Kufuor, did not defeat Prof. John Evans Atta Mills by a wide margin.
In 2008, candidate Akufo-Addo, who led in the first round of voting, needed less than ten thousand valid votes cast to have carried the day. Prof. Mills and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also won that election at the end of the second round of voting with a little over 28,000 votes.
History was made in 2016, when a sitting president, unlike the previous elections that saw transfer of power from one political party to another, where the sitting presidents were not contesting, this time around the sitting president was contesting for a second term.
Nana Akufo-Addo, won by a landslide, the biggest margin ever, as I stated earlier the margin of victory, indicates the groundswell of support and goodwill.
It is said that, there is a thin line between love and hurt. President Akufo-Addo, has abused the goodwill he enjoyed on his pilgrimage to power.
His number one defender, who has perfected the art of equalization, has taken the centre stage and is all over defending the indefensible.
Kweku Baako, is gradually losing his credibility, this is one who had me glued to my radio every Saturday, in the run of the 2000 election.
My love for the media and the desire to work in the media, was borne out of the love and admiration, I had for Mr Baako.
How easy the mighty has fallen, Mr Baako, has thrown that credibility to the dogs.
These days, he is always quick to tell people, who disagree with certain decisions the government has taken or intends to take as having premature ejaculation.
He has suddenly become like a proverbial monkey, which sees no evil, speaks no evil, hear no evil.
The government has never done anything wrong in the eyes of Kweku Baako, everything they do, even if it flies in the face of common sense, it will be defended to the hilt by Mr Baako.
His defence makes mince meat of Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, he exposes his incompetence and on a daily basis, Kojo is no longer the new kid on the block, we all thought he will be when Mustapha Hamid was reshuffle.
The shoes left behind by Mustapha Hamid are too big for Kojo Oppong. Every man, is always large when he is walking in the shadow of another, he is seen as he is, when the shadow that protects him is no longer there.
If anyone had told me, Kojo Oppong, will perform this abysmally, when he was elevated, I would have said it was borne out of envy and sour grapes.
I admire Kweku Baako for one thing, he is unapologetic about his unbridled support for this government, even at the time the government machinery was unleashed on his protégée, Anas Armeyaw Anas, and the threat by the Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong to expose him.
Kweku Baako, has not himself been spared either, but hey, man must eat.
