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A great tide in history flows, and as it
flows, it brings back great memories; -
memories of the contradictory sides to a
great man who can dance to different
tunes of music at different times. I am
referring to the Great Man of Destiny,
an icon, a polyglot and a man, who many
believe can pull the country out of its
present doldrums and comatose state. The
person I am referring to is none other
than Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He is
such a practical politician who can take
one step backwards in order to move two
steps forward. Nana is the man who
adopted a confrontational and head-on
collision posture against Acheampong's
UNIGOV and the PNDC repressive regime,
but shifted his stance when it came to
the passage of the National
Reconciliation Act.
A combination of the personalities of
Diego Maradonna, Nelson Mandela, Boris
Yeltsin and Indira Gandhi, Nana
Akufo-Addo is an international statesman
who can dribble a little to the left and
a little to the right to create
opportunities for his team to score
great goals f. Unfortunately, Nana is
one such politician who has greatly been
misunderstood and maligned by others for
no apparent reason but ignorance.
For the sake of party cohesion and the
rumbling and character assassination
going on in the NPP , I decided not to
engage in what I know best - that of
stating the positive credentials of Nana
Akufo-Addo. But now that the impediment
has been taken care of with the holding
of the Ashanti Regional Congress of the
party, I feel emboldened to do so.
We shall cross the bridge when we get
there.
I would like to use this opportunity to
encourage our teeming supporters to have
confidence in the conflict resolution
mechanism of our great tradition. A lot
of party supporters are making a
mountain out of a molehill in the
supposedly dichotomy between supporters
of Nana Akufo-Addo and that of Allan
Kyeremanteng. Let me state that as long
as we have a competition to choose the
best flag-bearer of our party, people
are bound to take sides. It is how best
we are able to resolve the issues that
come after the congress that maters. I
am very optimistic that as soon as the
flag-bearer ship issue is concluded, the
situation will return to normalcy. In
all contests there is bound to be
acrimony, intense rivalry, scheming and
under-current tactics. Call it what you
like. We were all witnesses to events
that preceded the selection of the U.S.
Democratic Party Candidate for the
Presidential Election. Clinton and Obama
said some imprintable words to each
other. But as soon as the issue was
settled, Hilary came on board the
campaign train of the party and helped
Obama to clinch the coveted trophy,
which was the Presidency. Obama too
never forgot the contributions of Hilary
and reciprocated her gesture by awarding
her the plush portfolio of Secretary of
State.
I know definitely for sure that in the
unlikely event of the NDC winning the
presidency the second time in succession
(everything points out to the contrary)
the party will embark on the vengeance
mission of arresting many NPP top men
and women. And so if supporters of
various contestants on the ticket of the
NPP will not shelve their sheath, we
will have ourselves to blame. But as I
have already stated, the NDC too has had
its own share of bickering, in fighting
and what have you in the run-up to their
congress to select its presidential
candidates. And as I speak, the intense
rivalry still persists. But the party
swept this issue under the carpet to
fight the elections as one strong united
party. But the issue has resurfaced
after the party won the presidency. It
also happened within the CPP. So, this
is not peculiar to the NPP alone. And
that is why I have stated that we shall
cross the bridge when we get there. This
is the assurance I am giving to party
men and women.
Nana Kofi Amankwaa of New York:
Of late, I have been reading stories and
comments almost on weekly basis by
someone who styles himself as Nana Kofi
Amankwaah (NY). And in all his write-ups
he makes disparaging comments about Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and those he
perceives to be supporting his
presidential ambition. The most
astounding thing about the whole issue
are the words he uses on top gurus of
our party. He refers to distinguished
members of our tradition like Jake
Okanka Obetsebi Lamptey, Yaw Osafo Marfo,
Sheik I.C.Quaye, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, Mr.
Akenteng Appiah Menkah,and quite
recently, Dr Amoako- Tuffuor as old
crooks. And he always plays the ethnic
card. He tries to deepen the so-called
non-existing dichotomy (espoused by Ben
Ephson) between Ashantis and Akims. Such
a thing, I repeat is non-existing. It is
a figment of imagination of detractors
or our great tradition. For any thorough
bred NPP member to accuse Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo of cementing this non
existing ethnic rivalry between these
Akan tribes calls to question the
loyalty and allegiance of such a person
to our noble tradition.
The Asantehene, the Overlord of the
Asante Kingdom is married to an Akim. So
shame unto perpetrators of this vicious
rumour. Nana's support base cuts across
all tribes. I have been associated with
him for a long time . Not once has he
shown an inclination of favouring one
tribe over another. His marriage also
speaks volume of how detribalized he is.
I am sounding a note of caution and
warning to the so-called Nana Kofi
Amankwaa that he will no longer be
allowed to insult the man Ghanaians look
up to as an Apostle of Peace and Love
and whi is an inspiration to all who
come in contact with and get away with
it. I will take him on, boot for boot on
every nasty thing he writes about Nana
and his support base. Is this man a
genuine member of the NPP? Or is he
somebody else using that name and
masquerading as an NPP activist? This is
a challenge to the US Chapter of the NPP.
Is he a registered member of the party?
If he is, he should let the whole world
know which of the branches he holds his
membership? Nana Kofi Amankwaa, if you
are what you claim to be, reveal your
identity by showing up at any of the
party’s branches or meetings in the U.S.
.
Yaw Amankwaa, ex- Ashanti Regional
Chairman:
I was also deeply disturbed and much
surprised to hear a damning, strange,
bizarre, malicious and unsubstantiated
allegations coming from the ex-chairman
of Ashanti Region that Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo had said he could not and
would not work with him(Yaw Amankwaa) if
he was re-elected Regional Chairman.
Is Nana so naive that he would make
such a public statement which has the
potential of affecting his electoral
fortunes? Nana, as an individual might
have his preference in the Regional
Chairmanship race. He is human and we
must concede him that right. It happens
in all cases where there elections. But
it will be politically suicidal to make
that public statement that he would not
work with Yaw Amankwaa if the people in
the region decided that he was the best
man for the job. I have cited the issue
of Obama and Hilary, the bitterest of
foes and need not dwell much on that
The Mantra of Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo:
At every point in time and in numerous
interactive sessions I have had with him
since he first made his intentions to
contest the flagbearership of the NPP
known, Nana has always indicated his
resolve to unify the party and
everything he does points out to that
fact. His mantra has always been:" I
cannot destroy something I have helped
to nurture or build". What other thing
do detractors of Nana Akufo-Addo want to
hear from him again?
What Nana said at Alisa Hotel on
Tuesday, August 28, 2007.
"If I am given the nod as the party's
flag-bearer, all party members will be
treated alike, whether or not they voted
for me. If the NPP is to be the party of
national development, it has to be the
party of national unity, with the unity
coming out of itself and it must eschew
religious, ethnic or regional divisions.
If the NPP is to promote national
reconciliation, it has to promote
reconciliation within itself. We must
guard against factionalism".
Those were the exact words of Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo. And true to his
words, as soon as he became the party's
flag bearer, he put in place measures to
bring about reconciliation within the
party. He brought on board all those who
contested the flag-bearer ship race with
him against strong advice from some
concerned members of the party that it
would be suicidal to do so. But Nana
brushed aside all those misgivings. The
unity of the party was what was
paramount on his mind. After the end of
the first round of voting, Nana put the
man who had been his main challenger
during the party’s Congress, Allan
Kyeremanteng in charge of the campaign
teams in both Ashanti and Volta Regions.
Does this action of Nana portray him as
somebody who cannot work with somebody
who is not on his side? A resounding no!
Evil and Falsehood cannot triumph over
Virtue and Truth:
I wish to state that all that have been
going on are the evil machinations of a
few members within our noble tradition
who are hell-bent on derailing the
forward movement process of our Great
Party. We all have our preferences, no
doubts about that. But that does now
mean we show put forth falsehood in
order to derail the chances of those we
do not support.
What do these people, particularly the
so-called Nana Kofi Amankwaa of New York
and Yaw Amankwaa hope to gain by
spreading such falsehood against the
person of Nana Akufo-Addo? And what
happens if Nana eventually is given the
nod to lead the party in the 2012
Presidential Elections? Are they going
to take back those ugly and vicious
campaigns they launched against Nana
Akufo Addo? How do they hope to go about
that?Wouldn't they have provided enough
fuel and ammunition to our political
rivals to take on our candidate?
Davis Opoku:
As if that was enough,Davis Opoku who
styled himself as spokesperson for a non
existing concerned youth group within
the party echoed the allegations made by
Yaw Amankwaa, the then Ashanti Regional
Chairman of the party. He ended his
statement with the warning that, they
the concerned youth of the party will
not sit down unconcerned for
self-seeking individuals to destroy the
party in the pursuit of their parochial
and selfish interests. That, I felt was
uncalled for and hitting below the belt.
On thing people refuse or deliberately
refuse to understand is that in modern
day politics, a lot of strategies go
into it. There are allignments and re-allignment
of forces and political permutations.
The political terrain is not static as a
lot of uninformed people believe. In
most cases, a group of party supporters
would make a request to meet one
aspirant. Any candidate worth his sauce
will not deny them that opportunity. In
such a situation, the candidate will
find time out of busy schedule to meet
the people. And in the case of the issue
referred to by the 'destooled' regional
chairman, Nana had attended a funeral
and on his way back decided to grant the
15 Constituency Chairmen audience. What
was Dr Amoako Tufuor's crime if as the
facilitator, the meeting was held in his
house?s. There is no big deal about
that. This was not the first time Nana
has held meetings with Constituency
Chairmen in the Region. He has been
holding consultations and will continue
to hold consultations with Regional
Chairmen all over the Coiuntry in his
efferts at building concensus in the
party.
"Se wo amma wo yonko antwa annko a,
wonso wontwa nkodu".
Translated literally, it means if you
prevent your colleague from having a
smooth sail to his/her destination, you
will as well, never reach your own
destination. I would like to state that
in our desperate attempts to achieve our
personal ambitions of ensuring that our
preferred candidates become our party's
flag bearer, we must as individuals, not
sidetrack the moral aspects that go with
our campaign. We must not malign the
name of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. We,
as politicians owe the electorate that.
Nana, yenim wo firi tete: Nana has done
a lot for the party.
If we are not going to praise him, we
should not denigrate his good name. Talk
of party officials who visited and
assisted NPP members who were arrested
and tried for the disturbances that
occurred at Gushiegu and its environs,
and Nana's name quickly comes to mind. I
speak on authority that Nana played a
yeoman's role in getting our members
acquitted and discharged on the various
counts. Go and ask Nana Obiri Boahene,
the lawyer who took up the case and he
will tell you what Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo Addo did for the boys in those
difficult times.
A dogged fighter and a man of
principles, there is always a feeling of
deja vu whenever Nana makes appearance
at any gathering. His chemistry is
infectious and there is always a sense
of oneness and uniformity of purpose
with his presence.
A poser for you:
Isn’t it intriguing that the avowed
critic, Nana Kofi Amankwaa of New York,
who has thrown caution and decency to
the wind and also uses vulgar and
imprintable names on Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo Addo and those he perceives
supporters bears the same surname with
Yaw Amankwaa, the destooled chairman of
Ashanti Region who was moving from one
radio station to another to launch a
campaign of calumny against the person
(Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo), who by
the Grace of God, Insha Allah will be
elected the Presidential Candidate of
the New Patriotic Party?
I mean no mischief. I am only curious!
And these two, Nana Kofi Amankwaa of New
York and Yaw Amankwaa are strongly
resolved in their desperate and devilish
campaign to derail the forward moving
campaign train of Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo. But the race is neither for
the swift nor the strong. When the
people speak, no amount of words can
prevent the crossing of the Rubicon.
Nana will surely win. Want to contradict
me?
Daniel Danquah Damptey
E-mail address : - danieldanquah_damptey@yahoo.com
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