Boakye Agyarko : A Hero In A Post-Heroic Era?

The poetry of politics is usually not as difficult as the prose of governance. And like life, politics is also a drama, often employing the elements of a typical dramatic action, seasoned with heroic moments, ironic downfalls and all the intrigues that we enjoy. On poetry, there are many politicians who are able to string together words and imagery to form a political rhythm-the manifesto. So we have many heroes of rhetoric. How this rhythm translates into action, in the way that a narrative flows in a good prose, is often the problem. That is why we have very few true heroes on the political plane, especially in our part of the world.

In this post-heroic dispensation, the heroic breed is often difficult to spot. It has become too easy to write manifestos, because there are a lot of problems to talk about. What is lacking is how to provide pragmatic solutions to solve the problems. This is where usually the problem lies. And it is exactly where Boakye Agyarko has found the answer. When you present a problem to him, he diagnoses and analyses it in layers of possible remedies. He tells you how far each layer will address the problem. He is quick to distinguish between possibilities and probabilities. He proceeds to tell you exactly how he would solve the problem. Then he tells you how to avoid the problem. Finally, he impresses on you that solving the problem is a collective effort. That is why he is called Mr Issues. This is the winning philosophy that pragmatists advocate.

The Ghanaian Chronicle was unequivocal and spot on when they described Boakye Agyarko as the King David of the NPP. An earlier report in the same paper had described him as the NPP’s hidden gem. When you hear him speak, you are not drowned in the beautiful poetry of empty rhetoric; you are confronted with something that doesn’t sound like anything you have heard before. The marriage between the ideas he espouses and the problems you are used to, gives you reason to think of something heroic. And he has a good way of making you believe in heroism, because he promises something different from what we have had on the menu for so long.

At his recent press conference in Accra, where it rained heavily, the media were happy to kiss and tell their story through the rain. But they couldn’t just kiss (Keep It Simple and Short-KISS), as journalistic writing usually recommends, because Agyarko gave them reason to think above the offerings of a politician seeking public office. He discussed issues and advanced solutions in a language that avoided the sweet boastings of officialise and the gobbledegook of journalese. Before the conference will end, talk had started filling the air that democracy will be a bitch to see the NPP prefer any other presidential aspirant to Agyarko for the flagbearership position. He is all that you want in a leader in these times: the kind who has the answers in his pocket but wants you to be part of the solution; the kind who has not made a fetish of his politics, because he places virtue above political tradition.

Perhaps when Boakye Agyarko asked the multitude of the NPP presidential aspirants: ‘what is it that you want to do that you don’t have the opportunity to do now’, he was referring to the ‘politics of motion’ that the minister-aspirants have been used to for so long: the kind of politics that see politicians apply the same strategy to changing problems. It appears we have the opportunity to move from this gripping lethargy to a new era of solution politics.

When we say democracy is sometimes a bitch, we mean to say that when we have too many to choose from, the process of election also becomes a bastard. This is because, often, and especially in our kind of politics, competence is confused with popularity. Agyarko is not as popular as the other aspirants who have held portfolios in the Kufour administration. He is neither a minister-aspirant nor an ex minister of state; he hasn’t commissioned public projects or led powerful official delegations. But he had held international portfolios elsewhere. Perhaps he is unpopular only in the sense that he is different from the usual breed we are used to. And it is this quality that would appeal to those who want to see something different this time.

It is not his remarkable achievement as the vice president of America’s oldest bank that makes him ideal for the job; Agyarko himself does not see it as an achievement; he wants it to remain a service. That attitude of service is at the heart of his presidential campaign: an attitude born out of humility and a natural commitment to serve. This ambitious selflessness is what has been lacking in most African leaders.

If Agyarko is a rare quality, so is his preparation for the NNP top job. At 51, and at the height of an illustrious career that has sold the Agyarko brand internationally, he had the courage to resign his position as vice president of the Bank of New York, to contest for the leadership position. This sacrifice, which has seen him turn down very financially rewarding posts in international banking, was only the final act in a long history of sacrifices towards the building of the NPP and the consolidation of the Banquah-Busia tradition. That is what selfless politicians do: they put their eggs in one basket, because they place the welfare of the basket-the people-above the fertilization of their selfish eggs: their personal agendas. Politicians who are not sure of their politics sometimes turn their eggs into a fine Spio-Garbrah and put them back into the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation in London.

For Boakye Agyarko, the presidential ambition is a well thought through development than a mere testing of the Ghanaian political waters, as if the presidency is a natural destination of any ministerial portfolio. His’ is like a machine that has been oiled since time began: the least little turn sets it in motion, and when it moves, it is without friction. It is just like listening to Agyarko speak, he doesn’t make a salty grammatical soup of complex adverbs and adjectives; he delivers facts and solutions with the coherence of a symphony orchestra. He leaves a cathartic effect on you, because you can’t digest the bulk of his potential in an instant; you have to carry him on your mind and think about how he said what he said. That is charisma, call it impression.

Political leadership requires a range of qualities and attributes that are difficult to describe, but quite easy to experience. Good leaders carry a dream and they have a way of making a mirror out of the dream, so that their followers would see themselves in that dream. Effective leaders leave their people with an experience, in the same way that a good speech leaves listeners with a memorable quote. Boakye Agyarko affects you when he speaks; he presents the dream that the average man is dreaming. He makes you think what he is thinking, so you know you can think together.

As a politician he believes in tradition and ideology, but he does not wear that conviction on his sleeves. His’ is a vision subsumed in pragmatic leadership. And the vision is clear: making luxury affordable to the average Ghanaian. This is the political statement that Agyarko stands for. He wants to be president to move Ghanaian politics into a different stratosphere, where those living in decrepit chalets near public toilets in shanty suburbs will have reason to aspire to a better life. That is what participatory democracy is all about.

The NNP flagbearership election is a serious process. And this year’s is perhaps the most important, because an NPP victory for the third time will banish the last surviving vestiges of the NDC’s hopes of a comeback. In the same way, an NDC victory will be a pain that would take a very long time to heal. So whoever is elected president in 2008 carries the destinies of two political traditions on his shoulders. If an NPP win is certain, it is because the political temperature in the country hasn’t heated up to a level where people are prepared to take a desperate plunge into the old NDC misty weather, where the Ghanaian couldn’t be sure what governance was all about. But this time, Ghanaians may be choosing between a misty weather and darkness. And there doesn’t seem to be a middle way, because the CPP is still anaemic.

So the person of the candidate the NPP congress decides on, is perhaps more important than the constituency that he commands within party. There are about 20 gentlemen seeking to contest for the high office. Predictably, about half the number will bury their presidential dreams forever before the December congress. Even so, choosing one good talent from ten people is still a terrible task. The aspirants who made their intentions known earlier have paid their dues to their lovers. And loyalty, even the kind bought in the open, counts in many things, even in the church. But will congress this time think above loyalty and consider virtue?

There appears to be three types of presidential aspirants in the NPP flagbearership elections: those who want to enter the history books willy-nilly, those who are following through as a traditional obligation, and the well-intentioned who promise something missing in the earlier two. It is refreshing to know that we have one or two aspirants who represent this last group. If Ghanaian politics is to experience any dynamism in a globalised world, congress must have an obligation in electing the right candidate for the leadership position.

The process of choosing the right leader in participatory democracy could be daunting. Many of the prospects we have appear right, at least judging by their potential and their record. They all appear to be pregnant, and we know they will deliver something. But what are they likely to give birth to, to continue the good work of the Kufour administration?

A typical pregnancy takes nine months to mature. With the NPP congress scheduled to hold in December, we have about six months to go the labour ward, unless there is a miscarriage or a premature birth. As we know, the NPP’s is a very mature tradition. And mature traditions grow by sourcing their strength from successful and promising legacies. Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko is holding on to something promising and refreshingly different. He would deliver great leadership if the NPP would pave the way for a new dawn.