By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D. Garden City, New York Sept. 30, 2014 E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net
I have never heard of this Albert Opare guy who claims to be a New Patriotic Party (NPP) analyst. But one thing is certain: Mr. Opare does not half know what he is talking about, when the Kyerematen propagandist likens his candidate for the party's presidential nomination to the historical and political equivalent of Dr. Hilla (Babini) Limann, vis-a-vis the latter's 1979 epic contest with Mr. Victor Owusu of the erstwhile Popular-Front Party (PFP) - (See "Akufo-Addo In For Shocker" The Republic 9/30/14).
In this instance, Mr. Opare would have his audience believe that Nana Akufo-Addo is cast in the same mold as Mr. Victor Owusu. Needless to say, no comparison could be more invidiously off-tangent. For starters, in 1979, Mr. Owusu was definitely well-known nationally but, of course, nowhere nearly as popular as Mr. Kyerematen's partisans would have Ghanaians too young to remember to believe.
Indeed, it was his significant lack of popularity among the top-echelon membership of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo camp that effectively caused the latter to split into the Owusu-led PFP and the William Ofori-Atta-led United National Convention (UNC). In the present instance, there is no such serious and/or significant rift as occurred in 1979; what we have here are only a handful of diehard loser megalomaniacs militantly agitating for the unearned trust, confidence and support of the core members, supporters and sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party.
Then, also, there is this myth that, somehow, Mr. Kyerematen appeals more to non-core NPP members and supporters than Nana Akufo-Addo. But, of course, even as at least three elections at the party's presidential primary level have eloquently indicated, Alan Cash, as Mr. Kyerematen is popularly known, is a candidate without any recognizable constituency, never having served in any significant elective capacity. Rather, all the national polling numbers clearly indicate Nana Akufo-Addo to be, hands down, the most formidable candidate and best hope and chance to returning the New Patriotic Party to power.
It is also significant to observe that even at 60, or 58, depending on who is doing the counting and on what basis, Mr. Kyerematen's stature significantly pales in comparison to that of the 48-year-old Candidate Limann in 1979, both in terms of intellectual depth and professional preparation for the job. As a young man, the future erudite and distinguished diplomat had served as an elected District Chief Executive in Tumu. And then as a constitutional scholar and political scientist of remarkable genius, having studied at both the Sorbonne, France, and the University of London, Dr. Limann understood governance and democratic leadership in ways that Mr. Kyerematen could scarcely fathom.
Limann also understood the Ghanaian economy in a far better manner than could be said of even Mr. Victor Owusu. You see, the closest and most accurate comparison that one gets, vis-a-vis the standout stature of Dr. Limann, in our time, is Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and not Alan Cash. And, of course, politically speaking, every studious Ghanaian observer of our national affairs knows exactly where the heart and mind of Dr. Bawumia are, when it comes to choosing between the leadership capacity and qualities of Nana Akufo-Addo and Mr. Kyerematen.
_____________________________________________________________