You can call me names and say I am not patriotic. But if you will have patience and follow my logic and argument, you will understand my concerns, which is of national character rather than a personal and parochial one as we have seen being exhibited by Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2012 Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Why would any African with full functioning faculties, celebrate the exit of two of its own vying for the top job at World Trade Organisation (WTO)? But like the late legendary literary scholar Chinua Achebe said, �until the lion starts to tell its own stories, the story of the hunt will continue to glorify the hunter�. Africans need to learn the act of looking after their own collective interests.
I know you will be wondering and saying �what the heck is this guy talking about�. It is said that man proposes but God disposes. It was the wish and prayers of every well-meaning Ghanaian that Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng got the nod to lead the WTO.
The President John Dramani Mahama rallied most of his colleagues to throw their support and present Alan Kyeremanteng as the sole representative from Africa. But as typical with the African, the fragmented block of East, West, South and North Africa came to play and eventually Africa is edged out of the job.
This was the same betrayal our founder and first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah suffered when he tried relentlessly to bring Africa together liberated; his efforts were to the chagrin and disappointment of many Ghanaians who thought he was wasting our money on his dream of African liberation. History just repeated itself.
Ghanaians and indeed Africa received the sad news of the two representatives from Africa for the top job at WTO.
Our own Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng and a woman from Kenya were not shortlisted after the first round of vetting.
It broke my heart when I heard the news, not because of the exit of our country man but primarily because there was no African candidate left in the contention. United we stand divided we fall. The dream of the founding fathers of Africa will forever remain a dream and perhaps be with them in their graves, because we have never spoken as a voice in any International engagement. We are fragmented and thus, nothing good can ever come to us.
As I brood over the sad news, I snapped out of my trance and said to myself this is good news for the country after all.
The NPP is In need of leadership and direction. The party since 2007, when it elected Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo at a National Delegate Congress in the University of Ghana, Legon has lost focus and credibility, this unfortunate state of affairs in the NPP does not only end in their staples but there is a trickledown effect on the country.
This is because as the biggest opposition party, what affect them, affect the country, and so it is in the interest of all of us to ensure that that party is not fragmented, they are a government in waiting.
The party has unfortunately being inflicting wounds on itself and the nation by voting for Nana Addo on two occasions to lead them into the 2008 and 2012 elections.
Nana Addo was a hero, who gradually and consistently vitiated the goodwill and love of his own people. Today, he is virulently detested by many people both in his party and people who do not share their political persuasion and seen across the board as a pathological egomaniac with little or no etiquette.
How does someone who helps to build a house, supervise its destruction. Nana Addo spent his life in fighting for the restoration of multi-party democracy. He fought most despots and defended the defenseless in this country.
All those demonstrations were an ego trip for Nana Addo to become President at all cost. He summed it up nicely when said �all-die-be-die� that is to say power at all cost.
The NPP need a savior and the best person to save it is Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, so you now understand when I said I was happy he did not make the five shortlisted for the WTO job.
It takes a man with a criminal mind to catch a criminal. The same way it takes a good man to see one. When our late President John Evans Atta Mills, may his soul rest in perfect peace, attended the 100th anniversary celebration of the Adisadel College in Cape Coast, he told Alan Kyeremanteng that he was looking forward to a healthy contest between the two of them. This was before the NPP�s National Delegate Congress.
Unfortunately, the two of them never got the opportunity to slug it out as Alan was not given the nod and President Mills had died before the 2012 elections.
The biggest mistake and perhaps a crime committed against humanity by the NPP is electing Nana Addo, what wrong have we done to them to dump somebody like Nana Addo on us, Ghanaians deserve better than this.
His attempt to remain relevant and perhaps get another shot at the Presidency is what has taken him to the Supreme Court to challenge the results of the 2012 elections. Defeat is hard to accept. It takes you away from reality, you become insane for a moment, but Nana Addo�s insanity is costing this country so much.
His unbridled ambition had led to the mushrooming of many pressure groups, from Let My Vote Count, to now Justice and Peace Foundation, when shall it end and where shall it lead us. Demonstrations and rallies both in Ghana and abroad just so one person could become President is sickening and nauseating.
Dear Alan,
There is never a better time to save your party than now. This is a defining moment. Your party and country is calling on you. Although it is going to be extremely difficult to beat President Mahama in the 2016 elections, your party needs a new sense of direction and leadership. You have lost out of the WTO job, for a reason. A bigger role and responsibility awaits you in your country. The NPP is counting on you.
I know the efforts you made in 2007 to lead your party, but the opposition machinations were so strong, you were defeated. I know it is a story you will live to tell one day.
Like a gentleman that you are, you let go and continue with your life. This is the time to come back and claim your price and your place in our body politics.
If wise men like you stay away for too long, Nana Addo and his apologists will destroy your party and by extension the country.
The governments need a strong and responsible opposition, what we are currently having is a weak and indecisive opposition. One person�s voice is the law in the party. It is going to affect the fortunes of the party, if nothing is done about it and immediately.
Everything happens for a reason. Your inability to get the nod was God�s design; he was preparing you to take over the NPP, don�t disappoint him. The boat is waiting for you, get onboard.
I live you with this words of Martin Luther King Jr. �One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of the status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.�
<<Print>>