By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
Jan. 5, 2016
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

He has been decidedly disengaged from the day-to-day operations of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the issuance of a suspension order that took effect some three years ago, and has been steadily holding; and so I really don’t see why anybody should feel disturbed that Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey (aka Tarzan) would be making disparaging remarks about the decision by the Electoral Commission not to accede to the quite reasonable request, in hind sight, of the leadership of the New Patriotic Party to have the current voters’ register scrapped and replaced with a totally new one (See “NPP Descends on ‘Mysterious’ Wereko-Brobby” MyJoyOnline.com / Modernghana.com 1/5/16).

I have personally disagreed with the NPP’s stance on the voters’ register in the recent past for reasons that were partly echoed by Commissioner Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei, when the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) noted that preserving the integrity of our National Voters’ Register (NVR) was the collective responsibility of all the major stakeholders. Where I differ dramatically with Mrs. Osei, I have not hesitated to vehemently express the same. Presently, however, the patently disingenuous and logically incongruous reasons offered by the EC for rejecting the need for the establishment of a new NVR has actually made me more sympathetic towards the stance of the New Patriotic Party.

But I still stand by my original position that merely establishing a new NVR would not necessarily guarantee the perfectibility or integrity of the same. For those readers who have not yet had the chance to read it, my reaction to the EC’s decision is contained in an article captioned “On EC Decision: Let’s Wait And See.” Curiously, though, what nobody on either side of the NVR debate is talking about is the fact that contrary to what the National Democratic Congress’ agitprop touts are smugly claiming, the EC did not flatly reject the NPP’s request for a new NVR; what the EC did was to simply reply that the establishment of a new NVR would essentially present many of the same problems that pertain to the current register and have been the case for the 20-odd years that the NVR has existed, both during the pre- and post-biometric VR regimes.

Significantly, the EC has also said that it is opening up a permanent aperture for the possibility of revisiting this matter from now until the first ballot is cast at any particular moment that the EC schedules for the holding of the 2016 general election. In real terms, the EC decision not to establish a new NVR was a “split-decision” which clearly acknowledges the fact that the need to significantly improving the quality and credibility of the NVR is fluxional or a never-ending process.

Now, I don’t think that most Ghanaians take the virulently anti-NPP comments by a disconsolately wounded man, who also claims to have always been a socialist at heart, with any remarkable modicum of gravitas or seriousness. Indeed, Dr. Wereko-Brobbey has even gone on record as having categorically stated that he really has no worthwhile convictions of his own; and that it was actually his late maternal uncle, the legendary Mr. Victor Owusu, who had convinced his apparently favorite nephew to cross ideological lines in order to join cause with the Liberal-Democratic ideals of the New Patriotic Party.

What is also significant to observe is the fact that other than opportunistically using the NPP to acquire considerable fame and fortune, Tarzan does not seem to have meaningfully contributed to the growth and development of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo School of Ghanaian political culture, either in ideological or practical terms. For instance, as CEO of the country’s main energy supplier, the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Wereko-Brobbey was summarily relieved of his post after having been accused of profligacy and gross administrative incompetence. He would end up being awarded the consolation prize of co-coordinating the Ghana@50 Festivities. But here, too, Dr. Wereko-Brobbey – as well as his partner-in-coordination and former Kufuor Chief-of-Staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani – would be brought up on charges of having criminally caused financial loss to the state. We leave the legal quiddities of his case to legal mavens and future historians to broach and expose.

In sum, in a quite striking sense, Dr. Wereko-Brobbey could be aptly described as the elder twin-brother of Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, except that these two men were politically born some 8 years apart. The latter allusion is, of course, to the fact that at the most critical moments when their leadership contributions were needed, both men proved themselves to be mere pictorial cardboards from Madame Tussaud’s Museum. Indeed, if I were a key New Patriotic Party Stalwart like Nana Obiri Boahen, rather than inexpediently pretend as if Dr. Wereko-Brobbey did not exist, I would rather diplomatically reach out and heartily congratulate the latter for being such an effective political activist on such noble causes as gratuitous utility and fuel hike protestations.

You see, McNasty can also play McNice sometimes except, of course, when the man standing on the opposite side of the road is wearing the red, blue and white trademark colors closely associated with members of the Elephant Party.