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Opinions of Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Columnist: Adofo, Rockson

Has the wanton hater of Nana Akufo-Addo now changed?

One Mr Kwaku Agyei “Onyansanim”, a Ghanaian resident in Paris for about four decades, once said the following in late 1980s, when I met him in my brother’s house in France. Mr. Kwaku Agyei lived in the same area in France as my younger brother. When offering a word of admonition when I called on my brother with my mum, who was visiting from Ghana, he said, “No human being should be a person to be pointed at. If it does happen that you are being pointed at, it should be that a good thing is being said about you. If you are pointed at in relation to a bad thing being said about you, then it requires a very serious re-examination of your attitudes for the better”.

Good memories of this meeting have just flashed across my mind. However, feeling very oxymoronic, I regret that my mum has passed away almost ten years ago, with my inability to attend Mr. Agyei’s beloved wife’s funeral in France in late 1990s.

The above statement is a prelude to what I have to say about the recent change in attitude of one Mr. Kwame Katakyie Opoku Agyemang, a diehard supporter of Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyeremateng, alias “Alan Cash”, an NPP flag bearer aspirant.

Mr. Agyemang has for reasons best known to him only, taken Nana Akufo Addo, a competitor for the same NPP flag bearer’s position, to the cleaners since January 2014. He has done so for all absurd reasons, lies and pure malevolence that cross his mind, an independent or a neutral observer after reading his publications may remark.

After treating Nana Addo with all the animus disrespect that came into his mind, hoping to scupper Nana’s chances of winning the NPP flag bearership and in effect, the presidency; hoping to cause NPP’s defeat in Election 2016 were Nana elected the NPP flag bearer on 18 October 2014, he is now coming back, apologetically a reformed person.

According to those who heard him grant an interview to DJ Sources on Sources radio UK a few days ago, he said, “I am now abandoning Mr. Alan Kyeremateng to become a full-fledged member of the NPP Communication Team to help NPP win election 2016”. There is the no-doubt probability that Nana Akufo Addo, the modern day biblical David or Joseph of our time, will win the NPP flag bearership to contest for the national presidency on the ticket of the NPP. Will Katakyie be happy to assist Nana win the presidency or he will only help NPP win majority seats in Parliament with Nana losing the presidency to whoever NDC may select to contest the presidential election on their ticket?

It is good that he has come back to his senses. Even though he has not openly declared his support for Nana Akufo Addo, knowing that Nana will surely win the 18 October 2014 NPP internal election, he indirectly supports Nana whether he likes it or not.

However, his actions and personality remain suspect in the eyes of many a discerning Ghanaian. For, if an animal will not harm you, given the chance, it will not bare its teeth at you, so a saying goes. This reminds me of one Mr. Ntim, formerly a teaching staff member at Orile/Agege Secondary School in Lagos, Nigeria. He said, “When one insults me, I can forgive the person but I shall never forget it. The pain of an insult is like a scar, it never disappears. A scar leaves a permanent blemish on the body, so is an insult. It leaves a permanent pain on one’s mind when you remember it”.

From what Mr. Ntim said, how can Katakyie persuade Nana Addo and all those discerning Ghanaians who felt insulted by his behavior, to get over the pain and the damage that he has caused to them by his momentary greediness?

Is he not pretending to have turned a new leaf in order to gain access to NPP’s internal operations or secrets if there are any, to divulge them to NDC at a later date? To prove to me, the known Defender of the Poor, the Lone Ranger, and the Self-styled NPP Scribe in London, as some people teasingly address me, Katakyie should do as following.

• He must publish an apologetic article denouncing all the falsehoods he has published about, or perpetrated against, the NPP and Nana Akufo Addo.

• He must cause the retraction of all his slanderous publications from all the websites where they were published

• He must thence live a life that everyone who sees him will say, this person has really changed. He is now a true NPP member

• He must no longer walk with his stomach (stomach politician) but his head and not his heart.

If he does retract all his defamatory publications about Nana Addo as suggested, how will future generations know how Katakyie was once a dangerous hater of Nana Addo? The publications must stay to show how mischievous, narrow-minded and “stomach-politician” he was. For when Saul became Apostle Paul (“Paul a wama ntem oseni adikanfo”), he was probably worse than Katakyie but his bad records are still there for all to see. They are needed for comparisons, assessments and admonitions.

Saul was pardoned; forgiven his sins, and transformed to become a good person called Paul. He never went back into sin until his death. We have the history of the biblical prodigal son. He did not insult his father but compelled the dad to cede his portion of his father’s wealth (the son’s future inheritance on the death of his father) to him well in advance. After living a life of extravagance abroad, with all the money wasted; engulfed in penury, he decided to go back to his father, plead to be accepted back as a laborer but not as a son.

Is Katakyie playing the card of the “Prodigal Son?” May his wishes be granted if he is doing so honestly as Apostle Paul or the Prodigal son did? He must sin against Nana Addo, the NPP and all the suffering Ghanaians no more.

The final decision lies in the hands of the great NPP family. However, I will advise that he is monitored for some time without any rush to embrace him into the family for once bitten, twice shy. A mad person is never healed of their madness; there is always a bit of madness in them to frighten off people.

I pray God to grant Nana Akufo Addo many more years, increase his wisdom abundantly and continue to bless him, seeing him through to becoming the President of Ghana to do unto Ghanaians what He, God, has purposed for him and for Ghanaians. AMEN!

I dedicate this write-up to one Nana Okumani Adu Gyamfi, once my work colleague from 1980 to mid-1982.

Rockson Adofo