Firebrand politician joins NPP race

The race for top leadership positions in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has moved into high gear with the dramatic return of a political dynamo to the country. He left some 20 years ago as a political refugee.

The name does not sound it, but the Chronicle gathered that Francis Kojo-Smith, the Human Rights lawyer and notary public, is a thorough-bred Ga boy, born in the alleys of James Town, Accra.

He is to contest for the post of National Organizer, in a race in which 32 persons are taking part including two women. Both women are eyeing the post of vice-chairman

When Chronicle met this ebullient character last week Thursday at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) where he had disembarked, he was wearing his characteristic broad smiles and patting shoulders of friends as the usual Ghanaian compliments soothed the air.

Said by friends to be a very good listener, Kojo Smith is said to be among the few lawyers who openly defended victims in the PNDC regime till an attempt was made to arrest him together with some eight other high profile lawyers.

The Chronicle learnt that one of the landmark cases he stoutly defended and won to the chagrin of the notorious PNDC was the one involving a young man of the Agbado (Heward Mills) family. The client was alleged to have mouthed obscenities at the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings.

In exile in London, he served as an executive member of the Ghana Democratic Movement along with Mr. J. H. Mensah, Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister of Government Business.

He is also said to have helped revive the Ghana Movement for Freedom and Justice in the United Kingdom to mobilize local and international support against the PNDC regime.

In 1986-92, Kojo Smith was the publisher and Editor of "The African Crusader" in the U.K., a paper set up to expose the barbaric acts of the PNDC and degrading treatment meted out to political opponents. Besides supporting democratic movements in Ghana the paper also actually campaigned for the lifting of the ban on politics in Ghana, bringing international pressure to bear on the Rawlings regime.

Punch for punch, the suave Kojo-Smith believes he is the best candidate for the very hot National Organizer's seat, last occupied by the NPP ranger and karate kid, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd.).

Asked why he would not campaign for the position of National Chairman of the party, the candidate revealed that he loves going where the battle is toughest. "I am a man of action, ready to stand toe to toe with the NDC machine." The Ga boys in the party captured the Chairmanship for 1996 and 2000 elections.

Drawing support from the gurus of the party, including J. H. Mensah, Safo Adu, R. R. Amponsah and B. J. da Rocha, the strong and athletic Ga hopeful, hopes to appeal to the youthful electorate in the countryside and lead the campaign to secure another term for the Kufour Government. The Chronicle learnt that the man who was a source of refuge to most political refugees in the U. K., also has the wherewithal to run a fierce campaign.

Known for his bravado and no nonsense attitude, Kojo Smith, is reputed to have confronted former President Rawlings over the Capt. Okai Koi Koda, and other jailbreak affair in the first year of the PNDC era, an action which drew the frustrations of the then Chairman Rawlings forcing him to thumb his fist hand against the wall spraining his wrist in the process.

Francis Kojo Smith will be running for the position against equally politically astute younger politicians in the NPP who have all hit the campaign trail in earnest.