Mr. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin M
His meanspirited and characteristically niggardly attempt to slight by conspicuously ignoring the man whose unquestionably genius diplomatic skills, finally, brought the Yendi Chieftaincy Affair to a definitive resolution, tells us more about the uncouth manners and character of Mr. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, the longest-serving National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament, than the unmistakable target of the Nadowli-Kaleo, Upper-West Region, native’s innuendo, namely, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Whether Mr. Bagbin likes it or not, Nana Akufo-Addo stands in a class by himself among the roll-call of Fourth-Republican Ghanaian Presidents in a way that the Nadowli-Kaleo legislator can scarcely fathom.
Some 20 years ago, when he amateurishly made parliamentary walkouts and boycotts his main political dietary fare, I labeled Mr. Bagbin as a man who was to intellectually and culturally retarded to be allowed to indecently hog our national limelight. I still stand by that assertion. The preceding also constitutes enough reason why Mr. Bagbin does not qualify to be described as a Presidential-Candidacy Material. Not even on the cheap and tawdry ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a party that has absolutely no enviable track-record in the crucial sector of our national development. He is a desperate man, so one can forgive him a little bit for being so envious and jealous about the heroic achievements and fortunes of Nana Akufo-Addo.
But, of course, he cannot be forgiven for pretending as if without the diplomatically astute creation of a conciliatory climate and a steely determination to see it through to the very end or rock-bottom, the definitive resolution of the Dagbon Crisis would have occurred. At any rate, the only tribute that mattered most was the one gloriously paid President Akufo-Addo by the Paramount Chief and the traditional rulers and the citizens of the Dagomba Kingdom themselves. And the people of Dagbon and their King, Ya-Naa Abukari Mahama, II, do not need the sort of jejune, jaundiced and politically and culturally divisive message disrespectfully dispatched to them by Mr. Bagbin. It is quite certain that his jowls dropped with raw envy, and his very heart – if, indeed, he has any – popped out of his chest and into the palms of his hands, when the Nadowli-Kaleo’s NDC-MP saw Nana Akufo-Addo regally and majestically outfitted in his yellow suit of Fugu, or tunic, with his solidly and magnificently handcrafted locally made boots to match.
Other than NDC’s 2020 Presidential-Candidacy Aspirant, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who demonstrated quite a remarkable modicum of decency, all the rest of the opposition politicians who butt into the historic Dagbon enskinment celebration did themselves, at best, a great disservice and, at the worst, dimmed their chances of being taken seriously in the leadup to the 2020 general election. Indeed, even as I write, I am seriously mulling a scenario whereby President Akufo-Addo and His Majesty, The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu, II, got nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Which also recalls, Nana Akufo-Addo’s recent successful negotiation with the family members and relatives of the former UN Secretary-General, to have the mortal remains of Mr. Kofi Annan interred among his fellow heroes and patriotic countrymen in the National Heroes’ Section of the new Military Cemetery near Burma Camp, Accra.
Indeed, one does not need to be a cultural and/or philosophical genius to fully appreciate the fact that under a National Democratic Congress’ sponsored regime, Mr. Annan, who viscerally resented the sort of dictatorial political culture for which the Rawlings Posse has made itself insufferably notorious, may very well have been buried in Bern, Switzerland, where the first indigenous African UN Secretary-General died last year. We must also bear in mind that it was the same Mr. Bagbin who deliriously threatened to seek a court’s injunction to stop President Akufo-Addo’s rather opportune and auspicious implementation of the universal fee-free Senior High School System, which, by the way, northern-descended Ghanaians, including the would-be plaintiff, have been enjoying since independence.
And now, we have an equally desperate former President John Dramani Mahama also threatening to “review” the Akufo-Addo-implemented fee-free Senior High School System, in the highly unlikely possibility of him being returned to power come January 2021.
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