Set aside for the moment Mr. Mahama’s quest to be the flagbearer of the NDC and rule or misrule Ghana one more time. Forget about whosoever will be the chairman of the NDC because it will have no bearing on the election in 2020. Instead focus on who becomes the General Secretary of the NDC when delegates go to the polls to elect one.
In every political party, the General Secretary is the Chief Executive Officer of the party and the success or failure of the party in every election lies on the shoulders of the scribe. So far, we have two contestants vying for the position and they are in the lead. The NDC delegates who will go to congress in November to elect a general secretary are in a dilemma and they will carry that tag to the congress. Delegates are torn between the blue sea and the devil. If they choose to go to the devil, they will be consumed by hellfire and if they choose to run to the blue sea, they will be devoured by the sea. Choosing between Koku Anyidoho and Asiedu Nketia is like choosing between two desert rats that are at war. The best that you can do is to choose the lesser of two evils.
Everybody in this country knows Koku Anyidoho to be a boorish and inane character who steps on the toes of anyone who is not a member of the NDC. It was this careless guy who referred to Dr. Bawumia as “Mutum Banza” which means useless person in Hausa when he went to Asawase in the Ashanti Region to campaign in the run-up to the 2016 general elections. He incurred the displeasure of people in the Zongo communities, especially Muslims who did not take the remarks so lightly. Irrespective of one’s political affiliation, a Muslim doesn’t take lightly any insult heaped on a fellow Muslim, especially if you refer to the person as “Mutum Banza”. When Koku Anyidoho made that stupid comment, it took the NDC parliamentary candidate in the person of Alhaji Mubarack Muntaka hectic time to convince the people there that the NDC hierarchy did not support Koku Anyidoho. In fact, some Alhajis at Asawase who were staunch supporters of the NDC threatened to resign from the party because of the comments made by this reckless politician who did not understand what he said.
If you remember very well, I wrote in this column sometime ago that it is very unfortunate that this guy comes from a prominent family but because of politics he has reduced himself to a laughing stock. Mention names like the late Professor Kofi Awoonor; retired Brigadier Anyidoho, the father of Koku Anyidoho; Professor Kofi Anyidoho etc. and you will agree with me that Koku Anyidoho is wayward and a disgrace to the family. Professor Kofi Anyidoho the Dean of Department of English for example is my mentor and former lecturer. He is a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ who will not hurt a fly. Have you ever read his poetry book titled “The Harvest Of Our Dreams”? You would love it. Like Professor Awoonor, this gentleman is a weaver of words. He is loved by everybody who meets him but sadly there is this Koku boy who continues to drag the name of this revered family into disrepute.
As for Asiedu Nketia, he cannot boast of a family that one can be proud of. That is why he continues to go down the gutters, thinking that wise men would follow him to the gutters. Go to Seikwa in the Brong Ahafo Region and ask of his family tree and you will know the person who is insulting elderly persons in this country. When seventeen candidates did run for the flagbearership position of the NPP in 2008, this ‘uncultured village bully’ referred to the candidates as seventeen thieves contesting to elect a ‘master thief’. And when he was asked to retract, he said anyone who wanted him to retract could bring a bulldozer and drag him to court. Today, about thirteen aspirants are contesting to be flagbearers of the NDC and one may ask if the thirteen candidates are thieves. You see, that is why the sages say if you throw a ball at a wall it comes back to you. If the NDC delegates make a mistake and vote for any of the two ‘desert rats’, I can bet with my last cedi that they will suffer the most humiliating defeat in the history of the party. What happened to the party in 2016 when they were in power will be a child’s play. Mark my words!
A Fake Politician Called Akamba
It is an undeniable fact that those of us with the northern blood running through our veins are cultured. From our infancy, we are taught how to respect our elders. That is why you always see Dr. Bawumia kneeling down before chiefs and their elders anytime he pays homage to the palaces or attends gatherings. If you see our women kneeling down before elders, it is not a fashion but it is our culture and the way we respect elders. If a child insults an elderly person, he or she is punished severely by any bystander. To us respect is always the guard post.
Joshua Akamba has his roots in the north and should have known better. For him to stand before schoolchildren and insult an elderly person like the president is unacceptable in the north. Because of politics, this puffy-face guy with a protruding stomach had the audacity to encourage schoolchildren to hoot at our president. If the same schoolchildren throw caution to the dogs and hoot at his father, will he be happy and encourage them to do more? I want to believe this Akamba guy did not have any parental upbringing. That is if even he has good parents at all. But come to think of this: the children are not delegates who will decide the fate of Akamba in November when the NDC delegates go to the polls to elect their national officers. What really fuelled this silly character to play the buffoonery in front of these innocent children? If he did that to gain popularity, then someone out there should tell him that he rather earned insults from the good people of Ghana.
It is because of the action of people like this Akamba guy who makes people say politics is a dirty game. No wonder we have fine ladies and gentlemen in this country who could impart their rich knowledge to help the country’s democracy grow but they have decided to stay away from politics. If Akamba thinks he is ready to throw in the gauntlet let him try one more time. Some of us are ready to pick the gauntlet and do battle with him. Akamba has woken up too early in the morning and surely the dew of dawn will soak him. Sometimes you can’t blame Akamba so much because as the Akans say the person at the back learns how the one in front walks. If you have a leader like Mr. John Mahama who is enamoured with insults, you don’t expect his followers to do anything new. But notice is hereby served that if the insults and rubbish continue, people must learn to run into rat holes. The NDC apparatchiks are on the warpath against free SHS. Led by their defeated and disgraced leader (Mr. Mahama), they are out there to throw dust into the eyes of the good people of Ghana. In one breath, they do not hesitate to say they too support the free SHS and in another breath they criticise the programme.
By Eric Bawah