This article seeks to expose and examine the hypocrisy and intellectual deficiency in the likes Kwesi Prat Jr, Kuku Anyidohu and other mouth-watering guys in the National Disappointed Congress (NDC) who are bent on taking our beloved country to the dark ages.
According to Abbie Hoffman; the idea that media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that is about tenth or eleventh on their list. In using the above to examine the recent chattering and vituperations by the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Prat Jr and the so-called Communications Director at the presidency � Koku Anyidohu, I will not hesitate to describe these two guys as buffoons.
In fact, when I read Auberon Waugh�s assertion that; the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shits into law, I was nearly swayed by his statement until I did a critical analysis on Kwesi Prat where my findings proved me otherwise. Kwesi, to me is not only hypocrite but has proven to be a stomach journalist and a sycophant. As for Koku Anyidohu, the least said about him, the better.
Who at all do these guys think they are? The lips of the righteous, according to Prophet Bob Marley, teach many but fools die for want of wisdom. To contextualise this quote, Marley advises mankind to be circumspect in making public statements because once an irresponsible statement is made, it becomes difficult to retract it as the damage might be irreparable. �Mpanin se, de3 ntoa duru no nsan nuru ho�.
Kwesi Prat thinks by virtue of practising journalism for a long time he has a repository of knowledge. He has arrogated to himself the spokesman of the 22 million Ghanaians and thus assumes that he is the only one who is expected to take the mediocre NDC government to the cleaners. Kwesi Prat should know that in this modern world, it is not how long you live that matters but how you have lived.
In other words, it is not the number of years that Kwesi Prat has practised journalism that matters but how he has managed to use his experience in job to the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian that counts. What is Kwesi Prat�s track record in journalism? That he, together with other colleagues in the media was jailed by Rawlings; that he once stood on the ticket of the CPP as a parliamentary candidate and lost miserably; that he is a leading member of the useless Committee for Joint Action (CJA); that he wakes up every morning and most of the time misinforms the public through other media network; that he is the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper which is read only by his cronies in Accra; that he is an Nkrumaist? Is that all, Kwesi?
In fact, Napoleon Bonaparte should be highly commended for stating that �in politics, stupidity is not a handicap�. This assertion is true because this is where the strength of the NDC lies. Indeed, if stupidity was a handicap, what would have been the worth of empty-headed and mouth-watering people like Sebgefia, Anyidohu, Kwetey, Ablakwa, Jamal, Asiedu Nketia, Gbevlo Lartey, Victor Smith, Benyiwa-Doe, Hanna Bisiw and the rest of the �greedy bastards�? Who would have also known Kwesi Prat � the chatterbox? One could make it clear that people like Kwesi Prat and Koku Anyidohu should never mistake knowledge for wisdom because one helps you make a living and the other helps you make a life. As Albert Einstein puts it; wisdom is not the product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a Ghanaian, I am not enthused about the way Kwesi Prat and Koku Anyidohu use the media and their positions to launch scathing attacks on our elders, especially His Excellency J. A. Kufuor, the Minority Leader � Hon Osei Kyei Mensah as well as Hon. Opare Ansah.
What has ex-President Kufuor done to warrant these abuses from Kwesi Prat and Koku Anyidohu? The man who served the country with love, humility, patriotism and competence; the man whose administration discovered oil in commercial quantities. Well, let me take this opportunity to enlighten these people about a few of the developmental successes of the Kufuor-led NPP administration.
Although, I expounded many of such achievements in my first article entitled �Kufuor�s Legacy of Development, Second to None�, I must repeat a few here to substantiate my argument. Politically, apart from being the only president in the annals of Ghana�s history of coming into office and leaving office through democratic means, Kufuor featured regularly in all the G8 Summits, abolished the Criminal Libel Law that sent Kwesi Prat and some of his colleagues to jail, stopped the serial killings of women and instituted the People�s Assembly Concept. In addition, Ghana was the first country in Africa to subject herself to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and to achieve the Millennium Challenge Goal 1 where poverty in Ghana was reduced significantly (50.1% in 1999 to 28.7% in 2008).
Again, under his distinguished leadership, every right-thinking Ghanaian saw a number of FM Radio Stations, the National Reconciliation, the promotion of rule of law and press freedom, the implementation of pro-poor policies � NHIS, school feeding programme, free maternal care, capitation grant, LEAP, metro mass transit, single spine salary structure, ROPAA, the 3-tier Pension Scheme, among others. Can�t Kwesi and co. try give credit to where it is due? A nation that does not honour her citizens is not worth-dying for.
Kwesi, if you could be honest to yourself, just provide answers to the following questions using Kufuor�s eleven month in office as a reference.
� How many teachers were stripped naked and made to parade in the principal streets of Bawku?
� How many journalists were beaten up in the course of their duties?
� How many high profile court cases did Kufuor-led NPP government lose?
� How much money was spent on the renovation of seven ministerial bungalows?
� How much Ghana cedis was blown by the transitional team?
� How many ministers bought pampers and �kyinkyinka� for their girl friends?
� What was the price of a gallon of petrol in 2001?
� How many ministries, departments and markets were completely burned down?
� How many army recruits were dismissed?
� How many people were arrested and detained for several days without trial for allegedly killing somebody?
� How many government vehicles were seized from civilians and distributed to party serial-callers?
� How many directives were issued by President Kufuor to political appointees to consider the plight of party foot soldiers to the neglect of other Ghanaians?
� How many government imported tractors were stolen by Kufuor�s spokesman and the then Majority Leader?
� How much money was given to Members of Parliament as car loans, $20,000 or $50,000?
� How many leading members of the NPP including the party�s Members of Parliament openly criticized President Kufuor�s style of governance as slow-paced?
� How many �greedy bastards� bootlickers, sycophants or Team B ministers surrounded Kufour?
� How many leading members of the party were involved in an international bribery scandal (M & J)?
� How many queues were formed as a result of frequent fuel shortages?
� How many professional bodies � NAGRAT, GNAT, TEWU, etc threatened to go on strike as a result of poor conditions of service and the inability of the government to address their concerns?
� How many public toilets, car parks and markets were seized by party foot soldiers?
� How many economic refugees masqueraded themselves as physically challenged sportsmen to participate in a sporting event meant for the handicapped?
So Kwesi Prat, what is the rational of preferring Mills� administration to Kufuor�s? In fact, common sense tells us that the above-mentioned ugly things never raised their ugly heads in the first eleven months of Kufuor�s leadership. Indeed, it is an undeniable fact that common sense is common but it is not common to common people like Kwesi Prat and Koku Anyidohu. I personally do not have any qualms with Kwesi with regard to his stance that he prefers Mills� mediocre administration to Kufuor�s enduring legacy. That is his choice. Opinions, they say are like noses, everybody has got one. �Obi nso akonode3 ne dompe nsono�. �3na de3 odwan p3 na ode ne kaka kohy3�.
But I strongly put it to you, Kwesi that I, like any other objective-minded and sensible Ghanaian will forever disagree with you anywhere, any day and at any time should you back your stance with such ridiculous and childish remarks that; Mills� administration had done better than Kufuor all because you were given only $500 as per diem for the six days that you spent in South Africa. You also showered praises on the NDC government for the award of contract for the construction of �200,000 houses� to cut back on housing deficit, the expansion of the school feeding programme, a stable cedi over the last five months, a drop in inflation, the New Pension Scheme and the Right to Information programme. And Kwesi Prat, who wrongly thinks he knows it all admits that based on the above, the NDC is on course. I hope Kwesi has not lost his sense of judgment, sense of sight, sense of hearing and more importantly his common sense that could make him analyse things critically and objectively.
Is that all that Ghanaians could benefit from your so-called experience in journalism? If you distant yourself from ignorance, mischief and hypocrisy, then I challenge you to retire from your profession because you have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that you are not a patriotic citizen. You claim to be a social democrat � Nkrumaist - communist or whatever you call yourself and thus believe in state intervention in the economy to improve the lot of the hoi polloi. Why did you collect per diem of $500 for spending only six days in South Africa for a �national cause�? How much could you have earned over the period if you were not among the delegates? I hope you are aware that over 45,000 pupils still study under trees whilst several others write on their stomachs due to inadequate classrooms and furniture.
On the issue of the Affordable Housing, are you aware that the NPP initially invested 30 million Ghana cedis (300 million old cedis) in the project with the aim of building 1000 houses for Ghanaians? Go to Borteyman and Kpone (Greater Accra), Asokore-Mampong (Ashanti Region), Koforidua (Eastern Region), Sekondi (Western Region) and you will see these flats which are near completion. Plans were also underway to expand the project to Sunyani, Cape Coast, Wa, Bolgatanga and Ho in 2009 until Ghanaians mistakenly decided otherwise in the general elections.
Again, a Rural Housing Scheme for cocoa farmers was started in the Western Region. So what is the hullabaloo about a mere promise of construction of houses? After all that was not the first time that the president was making a promise. Kwesi, gye wo ahome, na yeate abr3. What happened to the free school uniforms? What happened to the fuel prices which were to be reduced drastically? What happened to the restoration of peace in Bawku to the extent that the people of Bawku had to use only three hours a day for their economic activities?
What about the filth in our cities which was to be cleared within 100 days of Mills� assumption of office? May I also ask Kwesi how �expanded� the school feeding programme has been expanded? Does it cover every basic school in the country? Did Prat also talk about stable cedi and a drop in inflation? What does that mean? Does it mean our pockets have been filled with the money then candidate Mills promised us? Never mention the New Pension Scheme or the Right to Information act at all because they are all NPP policies which Nana Akuffo-Addo promised to bring into fruition in 2009.
In conclusion, I would advise Kwesi Prat and Koku Anyidohu to leave President Kufuor alone. The countless achievements of this noble citizen of Ghana will are visible for those who have eyes to see. We hold ex-President Kufuor in high esteem and we will forever do so. The fact that the NPP unfortunately �lost� the 2008 general elections does not mean that the party cannot come back to power again. In the United States, Bill Clinton�s Democratic Party lost the 2000 general elections regardless of the remarkable successes his party chalked between 1992 and 2000. That is the beauty of democracy. A political position should not be seen as a possession.
We of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) do believe that though we are down, we are not dead yet. We take consolation from Confucius that; our greatest glory lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. We shall definitely be back in 2012. Kwesi should expend his energy on rebuilding the CPP which boasts of only one Parliamentarian out of the 230 and 118,000 votes out of a voter population of 12 million. Again, he should emulate the shining example of Mr. Anas Ameyaw Anas, the young journalist who has swept over 14 domestic and international awards.
Ghanaians have already seen the deceit, lies and the true colours of the National Disaster Congress (NDC). They have also recognised their error of judgment in giving their mandate to this oppressive P/NDC administration. It is therefore hoped that come 2012, such a terrible mistake will never be repeated. Ghanaians have seen the light.
God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!
Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang (a.k.a. Paulucious)
Member of Communication Directorate, NPP � UK & Ireland
[email protected] 07944309859
�Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success�
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