Mr. Jake Otanka Obestebi-Lamptey, the immediate past national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) may be missing inaction.
Apart from a very brief appearance on national television in all white attire casting his vote in the NPP Presidential primaries, very little has been seen or heard of him. Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey has become the opposite of his general Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, (Sir John) who is still swimming in controversies and is a loud as ever on radio and television.
Some say that Jake has still not recovered from the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of the incumbent national chairperson, Paul Afoko and he may still be nursing his wounds. Jake has grown to become an enthusiastic supporter of the Akufo-Addo for President Project in spite of the rivalry that existed between him and the NPP candidate.
He has also overcome a family problem with the Akufo-Addo�s dating back to the 1960s when Sir Edward Akufo-Addo as part of a judicial panel convicted Jake�s father for terrorism.
Some in the Obetsebi-Lamptey family have always seen this conviction as a betrayal of their own by a comrade�in-arms who should have defended the Al-Qaeeda type activities carried out by the opposition to Nkrumah. Jake has claimed that he was the architect of Presidential Kufour�s victory in the 2000 election as his Campaign Manager.
Indeed that was the very first free and fair election to have been won by the Danquah-Busia tradition in Ghana�s history and if the claim is true then Nana Akufo-Addo would need Jake in his corner.
This is in spite of the fact that as National Chairman, Jake could not secure victory for the NPP in the 2012 elections.
Jake is acknowledged as a public relations expert and in a difficult campaign such as the one for 2016 his skills may come in handy.
He is also known to have excellent relations with former President John Agyekum Kufour and his inclusion in the Akufo-Addo campaign effort could serve as a bridge between the two. For now, Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey does not appear to be deeply involved in the campaign effort of Nana Akufo-Addo.
<<Print>>