Opinion: NPP Is a Governing Party for All Ghanaians, and… – By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong

He cannot be taken seriously, when the vociferous Assin-Central New Patriotic Party’s Member of Parliament vows to retrieve every pesewa that he has contributed towards the upkeep of the now-ruling party in the lead-up to Election 2016 (See “I Will Retrieve All My Money Invested in NPP – Kennedy Agyepong [sic]” MyNewsGh.com / Ghanaweb.com 7/7/17). Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong may be needlessly setting himself up for great distress down the pike, if he has not already done so. For starters, whatever massive financial contributions the locally renowned businessman made towards the electoral success of the New Patriotic Party would not have been enough without the equally significant financial and intellectual, professional or legal services, clerical and manual contributions of other party operatives and even non-registered or long-expelled party volunteers like yours truly. He may also have to present documentary evidence indicating his right to retrieve any monies and/or services that he might have contributed for the upkeep of the New Patriotic Party.

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It is not as if Mr. Agyapong is claiming to have paid membership dues for all the young men and women in the party whom he claims to have been given a raw deal by the 7-month-old Akufo-Addo government. His grievance to the effect that juicy contracts are being awarded Ghanaians with National Democratic Congress’ affiliation does not cut ice, in the memorable and evergreen words of world-famous British thinker, essayist and novelist Mrs. Virginia Woolf (aka Ms. Virginia Stephens). It does not cut ice because as the governing party, the New Patriotic Party has a bounden obligation to cater to the needs of all Ghanaian citizens, irrespective of political party affiliation or ideological suasion. If, indeed, lucrative contracts are being awarded to entrepreneurs with known party or ideological affiliation to the main opposition National Democratic Congress, this is perfectly in order, provided that such contractual awards have been actuated by merit or proof of competent performance record on the part of the business concerns or firms so engaged.

Merely being a card-carrying member of the New Patriotic Party ought not to be a criterion for the awarding of contracts which, by the way, involves the money of the Ghanaian taxpayer, regardless of political party affiliation and/or ideological suasion. That would unhealthily be tantamount to cronyism and nepotism, and that is not what President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo predicated his administrative agenda on. Kennedy Agyapong cannot also presume to be more important than any other NPP operatives. His monetary contributions to the party cannot in any way be compared to the brilliant and inimitable legal “footwork” of Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye and Mr. Yeboah Odame, the former’s protégé, for example. As well must be mentioned the legal legwork of the Akuffo clanswomen. Not to, of course, leave out the equally significant and yeomanly contributions of Messrs. Hopeson Adorye and Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (aka Sir John). The list is endless.

Needless to say, it would be equally instructive for Mr. Agyapong to recall all the juicy contractual deals that he received during the 8-year tenure of former President John Agyekum-Kufuor. In other words, the Assin-Central MP may owe his party at least as much as he thinks his party owes him. Indeed, he very likely would not have risen to the national star-status that he has achieved, had he not affiliated himself with the Danquah-Busia-Dombo-inspired New Patriotic Party, as well as being fabulously tolerated and afforded a wide berth to operate as a maverick by the leadership of the party. Put more poignantly, Mr. Agyapong has as many favors to call from the party’s establishment as much, or perhaps even more, as the party has on him. Also, if awarding contracts to NDC affiliates stands to strengthen the crossover and cross-party appeal of the NPP, then it is all the more worthwhile a political strategy. But if unqualified and undeserved foreign nationals resident in the country are being awarded contracts at the expense of better qualified and law-abiding Ghanaian citizens, then, of course, such an obviously inimical policy must be promptly and roundly condemned.

In all likelihood, however, Mr. Agyapong’s vitriolic calling out of the Nigerians may very well be based on sheer prejudice and envy. At any rate, the “whistleblower” has yet to offer any forensically sustainable proof indicating that, indeed, Nigerian businessfolk are being awarded juicy contracts at the expense of bona fide “Non-NDC-affiliated” Ghanaians. I bet my proverbial bottom-dollar that Mr. Agyapong would have a hard time differentiating Nigerians from his NDC political opponents from a photographic (police) lineup.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com  Ghanaffairs

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