Letter To The NPP Delegates;

Beware Of The Peter Principle

INTRODUCTION: The so-called vetting blues: Should he or should he not have gone to the party head quarters? I think, he should not have gone. Yet for reasons best known to him; he chose to go.
By the way, this did not happen to only the Vice President. Prof. Kwabena FRIMPONG-BOATENG was also affected. Yet, the Prof. was more circumspect about this. I think for someone campaigning on the ticket of experience at the Presidency; this was a serious error of judgement. The Vice President should not have gone to the party headquarters in the first place, as Kweku Baako rightly said during last Saturday’s Newsfile programme.
And nobody should play the tribal card, because it will backfire! Remember, sarcasm has two edges, and it often hurts the user!!
The NDC cohorts can please themselves; but this is no black eye for the NPP at all as one NDC sympathizer inadvertently claimed on last Saturday’s Newsfile programme. Why are they so interested in him (i.e. Vice President Aliu)?? Do they want the NPP to appoint him (hands down; without any contest) so that Prof. J. Atta Mills will defeat him in the general elections?? You bet...
The fact is; no matter how excellent the hen dances, it will never impress the hawk!! They should not worry at all. The Vice President; just like any other contestant, will have to go through the mill and may the best man win! I also read on Ghanaweb last week that: ‘the Vice President is the best man to succeed President Kufuor...by virtue of his office’. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is not as simple as that.
TALKING ABOUT THE BEST MAN; what qualities should we; or the NPP delegates, look out for in selecting the flag bearer?
In the humblest of humilities, I suggest the following:
1. INTEGRITY* & CHARACTER 2. MUST THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX 3. MUST BE CALM & DISCIPLINED 4. MUST BE A GOOD DECISION MAKER 5. MUST BE PRACTICAL & INNOVATIVE 6. MUST BE A HARD WORKER (INDUSTRIOUS) 7. MUST BE DEDICATED AND COMPASSIONATE 8. MUST HAVE A TRACK RECORD (AS AN ACHIEVER) 9. MUST APPRECIATE AND APPLY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY;
And the last, but not the least 10. MUST NOT BE A VICTIM OF THE PETER PRINCIPLE. This is the trickiest! I therefore elaborate on it below: [The Peter Principle states that "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his/her level of incompetence." Formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his 1968 book The Peter Principle, the principle pertains to the level of competence of the human resources in a hierarchical organization. Dr. Peter observed this about humans. In an organizational structure, the Peter Principle's practical application allows assessment of the potential of an employee (candidate) for a promotion based on performance in the current job, i.e. members of a hierarchical organization eventually are promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to (their) incompetence. That level is the employee's "level of incompetence" where the employee has no chance of further promotion, thus reaching his or her career's ceiling in an organization.’’] This is where the NPP Electoral College (2,300 delegates) must be careful in analyzing and assessing the aspirants. The fact that one may have excelled at, a subordinate level, does not necessarily mean one may be a good President. Indeed, not all of them will scale this particular factor; for sure! At the risk of lack of a scientific assessment, I dare project that only up to 4 or maximum 5 of them can go through this particular factor unscathed. Thus, most of the aspirants must be ‘pensioned’ (Italics mine). [In reality, creative employees may be more suited to management jobs, but, because they are unable to use their strengths in the low-level jobs they hold, they never rise to management, and the innate flexibility and innovation needed for managing is lost to the company. The end result for an organization as a whole is that the organization will collapse when incompetents in the ranks outnumber the competent, resulting in the organization's inability to produce results. (Source "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle")] We would, however, realize that anyone who does well with these ten factors will automatically be marketable and attract the largest pool of voters – i.e. the floating voters. These are non-card bearing members of the political parties, and especially, in the Presidential race; non-card bearing members of the two leading political parties (i.e. NPP & NDC) but may include card-bearing members of other smaller parties (who decide to vote skirt and blouse because they know their Presidential candidate does not stand a dog’s chance in the poll and they do not want to waste their vote, as it were). CONCLUSION
There are many arguments and theories as to who should be the flag-bearer of the NPP, but anyhow one looks at this subject, and indeed, the longer I look at it, the more convinced I am that
Prof. Kwabena FRIMPONG-BOATENG
is the man to beat! This is what 2 NOTABLE GHANAIANS think about him:
‘Prince Kofi Amoabeng, the Chief Executive Officer of Unique Trust Financial Services, another Ghanaian role model, thinks that Ghana needs a man like Prof Frimpong-Boateng to lead the nation. According to him, "We need somebody who thinks differently to be able to change our way of doing things; in fact he is not a typical Ghanaian."
The Unique Trust boss, whose financial firm is number two on the Club 100 business rankings, stated that it is important to put money into the hands of the right person. In this regard, he purchased a copy of ‘‘Deep Down My Heart’’, authored by Prof Frimpong-Boateng, for ¢50million (=GHC 5,000 today)’. (Culled from the Statesman).
’Paul Victor Obeng, a man who was once described as a "de facto Prime Minister" under the PNDC dictatorship, declared Prof. Frimpong-Boateng an achiever who therefore qualifies for the presidential job.
Speaking to The Statesman at the sidelines of a book launch by the NPP flagbearership aspirant, Mr Obeng stated that any individual who conceives a dream, uses his intellect, and is able to mobilise resources to accomplish that dream, is an achiever. "That alone makes him absolutely qualified for any position," he added. He, noted, however, that the "decision will have to be determined by the citizenry."
Mr Obeng recalled how, against all odds, Prof Frimpong-Boateng, who is the current Chief Executive of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, persevered to establish and commission a Cardiothoracic Centre in 1992. According to Mr Obeng, the World Bank had tried to frustrate the PNDC government's effort to assist Prof Frimpong-Boateng in this regard.
The World Bank argued that the project was too capital-intensive and that the money would be better used to eradicate Malaria, which remains one of the largest causes of death in Ghana.
"Today, looking back we feel satisfied because the faith we had in him and the judgment made on him was right as [Prof Boateng] has demonstrated," Mr Obeng said. The former PNDC Presidential Advisor told The Statesman that it is important for those entrusted with positions of authority to encourage ambitious Ghanaian citizens to serve as an inspiration to their compatriots. Such assistance should be offered only after a thorough assessment of the individual and granted where it is due, he said’. (Also culled from the Statesman).
Over to you – delegates – the ball is squarely in your court. You do not have to be emotional and/or sentimental at such an important exercise. Be dispassionate for our future is at stake!
Ride on the crest of this tide and remember what William Shakespeare wrote: that…’there is a tide in the affairs of men; which, taken at the flood leads to victory…’
Yes; the moment of decision is indeed the loneliest in the mind of a (wo)man…