Opinions of Saturday, 11 November 2023

Columnist: Rockson Adofo

Is Kennedy Agyapong in a dilemma after the NPP flag bearer election?

Kennedy Agyapong Kennedy Agyapong

May the proud, fearless, and no-nonsense son of Kumawu/Asiampa soil, the thorn in the flesh of corrupt traditional leaders and politicians, dare ask if Kennedy Agyapong (Hon.) is losing sleep over the thought of his real political future in Ghana.

Is he not oscillating between taking a major role in the campaign, and position in the future government, of Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia?

Is he wedged between a rock and a hard surface, thus, in a dilemma, if I may ask?

There are many in the NPP leadership with their supporters who not long ago were mocking and threatening him with the exposure of his ten sins if he continued with his campaign to become the flag bearer of NPP, I heard. They were attacking his personality and doing whatever they possibly could think of to rubbish his energetically mounted campaign to win the NPP flagbearership.

As man proposes and God disposes of, the evil attacks against him by his own NPP colleagues supporting his momentary political rival did not materialise in the magnitude they had imagined.

The very people who were soiling his reputation and treating him worse than the dirt on their sandals that could easily be cleared with a whiff of air, are now cajoling him into joining them to campaign to elect Dr. Bawumia the president of Ghana come the general election 2024.

The stone that the builder rejected has become the cornerstone. Not long ago, they were calling for his crucifixion on the political altar but now, they are hailing him and see him as the possible saviour of NPP from election defeat in 2024.

Anyway, the supporters of Kennedy are thinking differently. Left to them alone, Kennedy had better pursue his political career away from the NPP.

Do they expect him to go independent, forming a formidable political party to rival the two mainstream parties, NPP and NDC that are seen by many discerning Ghanaians to have lost their relevance in the contemporary governance of Ghana?

Kennedy risks endangering his vision of Patriotism, Honesty, and Discipline (Ph.D.) for Ghana if he makes an appointment of any sort in the future government of Dr. Bawumia. Once his principles for liberating Ghana from official corruption, lawlessness, etc. are defeated, the Ghanaian public that endeared themselves to him during his campaign will turn against him to bury his presidential ambitions, if not bury his political career, forever.

Unless Dr. Bawumia will give him unrestricted authority to carry out his vision within his government, sacking defaulting ministers, lazy and corrupt workers, stopping the destructive illegal small-scale and alluvial mining to save the nation’s water bodies, arable/fertile lands, and forests, creating jobs through the siting of industries in areas where they are economically viable, enforcing the respect of the laws of the country, etc., Kennedy is advised to cogitate about the political steps he takes from today forward.

NPP needs him. His supporters need him. What should he do?

Over to him!

However, if I were Kennedy, I would listen to my supporters, and meet them to discuss the way forward. Should he walk over them, ignoring their concerns, I am afraid his political career could be greatly dented for many years to come.

Do not throw stones into the well that supplies thee with water. Kennedy should not see the feelings of his supporters as irrelevant at the moment that all the NPP leaders are praising him, running to him for his support.

Once bitten, twice shy. Kennedy must give preference to his supporters. They were those who rallied around him in his great moment of need to let Ghanaians see how important he is in the politics of Ghana.

A word to the wise is sufficient!