Wereko-Brobby
He spent most of the past eight years scheming and maligning President Akufo-Addo, in a bid to scuttling the latter’s presidential ambitions. And for quite a while, he had some backing among some political heavyweights in the vanguard ranks of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), although he personally claims to be a diehard leftist, a faux-socialist, who was corralled into the Danquah-Busia-Dombo camp by his admittedly distinguished uncle and quite respectable politician, Mr. Victor Owusu, late, of Popular-Front Party (PFP) fame.
This is where he publicly claims his beef with Nana Akufo-Addo stems from. To wit, the 1979 split of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo camp into the Owusu-led PFP and the William “Paa Willie” Ofori-Atta-led United National Convention (UNC).
Those of our readers who are familiar with this decidedly jaded neoliberal political narrative are well aware of the fact of Nana Akufo-Addo’s being the maternal nephew of Paa Willie. Mr. Owusu, who headed the larger faction of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo group would sail past the first round of the 1979 presidential election, full of the sort of confidence and, some of his most ardent critics have insisted, the insufferable arrogance that had become his political trademark.
But one thing ought to be said in favor of Mr. Owusu; and it is the fact that he unarguably exuded an air of charm and pulchritude in ways that make the former CEO of the Volta River Authority (VRA) look like a Chihuahua. But, of course, that is not the point of this column, which aims to essentially tell this political equivalent of poison ivy to keep his jaundiced thoughts to himself, especially where it borders on the efficient management of the country’s energy resources (See “Don’t Blame NDC If ‘Dumsor’ Returns – Wereko-Brobby” Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 1/3/17).
Even as President John Agyekum-Kufuor’s point man at the VRA, the man never really demonstrated any remarkable modicum of competence and had to be promptly fired. We must also highlight the fact that so highly does the man think of himself that he even once took a shot at the presidency, more than fully convinced that he could readily make mincemeat of the man who would eventually charitably offer Tarzan, as Dr. Wereko-Brobby is popularly known, the boondoggle post of co-managing the Ghana@50 Racket.
The good news here is that Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, this time around, is highly unlikely to be offered another prime opportunity to rip off the Ghanaian taxpayer, with the fast-approaching festivities of Ghana@60. Very likely, a high-powered committee of astute investigators will soon be established to look into the entire conduct of Ghana@50, not with a view to going after or “getting” anybody, but simply to learn some lessons on how to cost-effectively celebrate a bit of our proud postcolonial history and cultural heritage.
On the latter score, I see Dr. Richard Amoako-Baah being invited by President Akufo-Addo, along with some heavy-hitters in the discipline to help the nation better plan and execute the Diamond Anniversary Celebration of our renaissance as a people. It also ought to be clear to Tarzan by now that Nana Akufo-Addo has a far better and a more progressive energy program package for the country than he could imagine in the wildest of his dreams. Of course, Tarzan has every right under the sun to rant and rave and kibitz about a sector of the country’s economy that he has scandalously proven himself to be grossly unequal to managing.
In other words, where President Akufo-Addo is concerned, grossly incompetent managerial candidates need not apply!