By Margaret Jackson
It is not easy or funny to find your back suddenly glued to the wall in a helpless situation. When you hit situations like these you either pray silently for God to remove the thorn in your flesh or simply turn the tide in your favour. There is this famous saying that desperate situations call for desperate tactics. That is why the NPP folks who have been reeling under severe pressure (How I wish Ras Kimono were around to help out the NPP) for the past three weeks, which has led them to have relentless bad press have been looking for any possible loophole to help them change their sinking political fortunes.
First, their vociferous “hitman”, Kennedy Agyapong, who has saved the NPP from serious doldrums in the past, has been forced off the political turf to contend with his own problems concerning drug charges leading him to abandon the defense of the derailing NPP train. As a result, the NPP which had been riding the political waves unchallenged since the Mills administration took power, but has suddenly seen a rejuvenated NDC folks taking the game right to their backyard with their incessant dismantling of the character trait of their flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo and the real intensions and overall goal of the NPP, have become totally disorganized. If you ask me, I would better qualify it by saying that the NPP is in total disarray or in tatters.
The NPP’s communication team has been searching for answers for the past three weeks to save the party from the severe beatings and uppercuts from the NDC folks. They have tried everything to help them salvage their political kismet which is being swept off their feet, but they have not been able to come out with any workable solution yet. That is why the NPP communication team headed by Nana Akomea suddenly devised a dubious means to slam dunk the NDC and change the political surge which is fast going in favour of the NDC.
Ladies and gentlemen, the terms “Kenkey Politics” and “Kenkey Politician” have suddenly found themselves into the country’s political fray or dictionary. How it happened can best be explained by Nana Akomea. This man who has been having it extremely tough these days to push the lies of the NPP into the throats of voters, went on Radio Gold and told listeners that due to the severe economic strains engineered by the Mills administration, a small ball of kenkey is now selling on the market for ¢1.00.
This blatant lie by Nana Akomea who has been labeled by the Daily Post as the Miscommunication Director for misleading the public, did not go down well for many listeners as well as journalists who immediately went round to interview kenkey sellers in certain parts of Accra and found out that a ball of kenkey was in fact selling around 30Gp, 40Gp and 50Gp. But to make sure that they have a well rounded kind of information, certain journalists even went to Nana Akufo-Addo’s own backyard or hometown in Kyebi and found out that a ball of kenkey was selling for 50Gp. Even a resident of Cape Coast who identified himself as a sympathizer of the NPP expressed anger on Radio Gold at the “kenkey politicization” lies churned out by Nana Akomea saying that such barefaced lies do not help the cause of the NPP at all.
Just as the kenkey politics was heating up there was a news flash that President Mills, has paid an unannounced visit to the Nima, Maamobi and Mallam Atta Markets to ascertain the actual prices of basic goods, especially that of a ball of kenkey which Nana Akomea has been politicizing. And to the surprise of Ghanaians it turned out that Nana Akomea simply doubled the price of kenkey to enormously throw lies into the eyes of the voting public and also divert attention from the severe strains that the NPP is currently going through.
You should have heard how pathetic Nana Akomea sounded and how he struggled for words to explain how he came by that price for a ball of kenkey when he was interviewed on air after President Mills had paid the visits to the three markets. I would never want to be in such a situation. Ever! Akomea’s lies flatly fell in his face and the NPP looked very little and humiliated whilst President Mills looked taller and dignified.
It is true that Ghana experienced some inconsistency in its rainfall patterns last year leading farmers to lose out on most of their agricultural products. But the Ministry of Food & Agriculture under Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi seems to have the foresight which was missing during the eight years that the NPP was in power.
Readers would recall that the Ministry of Food & Agriculture has established the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to ensure the security of farmers and insulate them against loses which results from increases in food production. The NAFCO which has been mopping up excess produce from farmers to reduce post harvest loses has been purchasing food and preserving them against lean seasons. It takes a wise government under a wise leadership backed by wise brains to do this kind of thing. If this is not a visionary thought, then I do not know what it is. I
I am happy to say that part of the excess food purchased and stored by the NAFCO was released into the system which has ensured the relative stability in the prices of maize and other farm produce. That is why the price of a ball of kenkey is still selling for 50Gp and not ¢1.00 as being falsely claimed by Nana Akomea and his NPP folks. When you stick your neck out and make a big claim which turns out to be a big time lie you make a mockery of yourself, which is why Nana Akomea today qualifies as the Kenkey Politician.
Nana Akomea’s reprehensible behaviour has resulted in many people shaking their heads in disbelief, and the NPP is still struggling to make damage control out of the fallout. Indeed this is the party whose flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo continues to claim that President Mills is visionless and lack ideas. If somebody who is visionless and lack ideas is able to cause the establishment of NAFCO to help stabilize the prices of food products all year round, then what would you call the NPP leadership which for eight years turned the country into just a buying and selling point without any help to the farmers of the country?
http://majjacks80.blogspot.com
[email protected]