Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

My attention has been drawn to a statement from the ICGC which states that the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr Mensa Otabil has denied making comments criticising the free Senior High School policy of the opposition NPP. In a statement signed by a Senior Associate Minister, Rev. Kofi Okyere, the church claims the tape was nothing but a "collection of thoughts edited from a message shared by Pastor Otabil several years ago and pieced together to create the impression that he is taking a stand on the current political debate on the issue of education.

The news story was accompanied with the commentary that “a plethora of media reports, triggered by a tape recording this week suggested that the respected religious teacher is against the policy proposition which has become a major political issue.” What it failed to point out is the expiring date of the veracity of the stand we see him take on free education at the time he uttered those words. It is my contention that the reverend is being a more honest and sincere advocate of the “property owning democracy that the NPP represents in Ghana.

Thus the church is flip-flopping under pressure from the NPP, just like the Akufo-Addo campaign is itself flip-flopping out of desperation, as this amounts to no denial whatsoever! If someone says today that, "your mother is an idiot!", it does mean she is not considered to be intelligent. If the same person comes out to say, I did not say it today, I said it yesterday, what difference does that make? Does that make a claim that the poor woman intelligent? What we are interested in is not when it was said, but what was said, because the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church is not suggesting that his thoughts have an expiring date attached to them!

We do not agree with his reflections on free education, but he shows a better understanding of the philosophy of the Danquah-Busia tradition than the NPP flag-bearer, and highlights the fact that Akufo-Addo is not sincere about the promise of free education, because it has no place in the neo-liberal agenda that the party represents! The problem of the NPP is not the feasibility of the free education policy. The problem is one of flip-flopping and making U-turns about fundamental tenets of the "mate meho philosophy" which opposed free education policy of the Nkrumah regime and tirelessly campaigned for the removal of state sponsorship of free education in the Northern parts of Ghana.

What accounts for this sudden change of heart? That is the question Akufo-Addo must be made to answer for the opportunistic flip-flopping! How can we trust a person who has been opposed to free education all his life coming to tell us at the twilight of his political career, when he is so desperate to win a race that might well see him into political retirement? One thing the Ghanaian voter must NEVER forget is the fact that Nana Akufo-Addo has made it clear himself that he wants to be President "at all cost". This simply means he is willing to kill or say anything, including lies to achieve that objective!

The Akufo-Addo campaign has even shown a certain fondness in the past even to use the hot-pepper of Nkrumah's radical statements for the independence of Ghana, to sell their rotten political kenkey of allowing our country to be controlled by the US Africa Command! When Obama was about to pay Ghana a visit, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, opportunistically tried to promote the US Africa Command or Africom as the best thing that could happen to Ghana, even though it was clear Africom is all about our subjugation into a neocolonial state and the control of our resources by an occupying army!

The most outrageous and opportunistic flip-flop was when quoting Nkrumah's famous speech on the eve of Ghana's independence, Otchere-Darko wrote:

"Obama’s chief policy adviser assured Africans two months before the 2008 presidential race, “Barack Obama understands Africa, and understands its importance to the United States. Today, in this new century, he understands that to strengthen our common security, we must invest in our common humanity and, in this way, restore American leadership in the world.” Now is the chance for him to seek and effect the real change that will finally show the world that Africans are capable of more than managing their own affairs – but, crucially, Ghana must take up the opportunity provided by the state visit and the U.S.’s burgeoning strategic interest in us, to be the nation that demonstrates this." [See: Obama’s Visit – What’s In It For Us And U.S.? | Feature Article 2009-05-25 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=162541]

What Nkrumah actually said was:

“And as I pointed out, I made it quite clear that from now on, today, we must change our attitudes, our minds! We must realize that from now on, we are no more a colonial people but a free and independent people! But also, as I pointed out, that also entails hard work! That new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs! We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation! Our own African identity!”

This is why we need to keep a close eye, not only on people like Gabriel Asare Ochere-Darko but also the man he represents, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo. This is why it is important not to trust the destiny of this nation in hands such as these! This is why it is important to expose these agents of imperialism who think that the only way "the black man can prove to the whole world that he is capable of managing his own affairs" is by allowing a foreign military occupation of our territories!

These are people ready to say anything from Adam Smith to Karl Marx, just to win power. I think that is the main issue. It is one of a shameless political opportunism and deception of the Ghanaian electorate by notorious liars! Whilst I do not agree with Rev. Dr. Mensah Otabil, it has to be said that he is being true to the Busia-Danquah tradition than the charlatans at the helm of that party! What the reverend failed to understand is that even though the NPP fully appreciates where he is coming from, he failed to see that the entire policy of free education is just a 419 to win votes!

They don't mean it at all! It is crucial for the well-being of Ghanaians to retire this elitist, arrogant, and politically bankrupt dinosaur! We no go sit down make them cheat us every day! Walahi!

Forward Ever! Backwards Never! Long live Ghana!

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro. Give me a follow on twitter: twitter.com/TheOdikro