Opinions of Friday, 5 May 2023

Columnist: Joel Savage

Ken Agyapong complains about intimidation and harassment by his own government

Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong

I've written several articles about Ken Agyapong, a politician and businessman who sits in parliament as the New Patriotic Party's representative for Assin Central. I questioned him about whether he was aware of his future interest in running for Ghana's top position in one of my articles. The fact that Agyapong involved himself in some criminal cases, including murder, which the majority of Ghanaians are using against him to be president, suggests that he never thought to contest this position one day.

Agyapong claims that the Ghana Revenue Authority is now keeping an eye on him to determine how much fish he sells, but he cautions that they shouldn't attempt to intimidate him with the system. He further stated that "he has never gone through harassment and intimidation as Akufo Addo's government all because he Agyapong wants to contest, therefore; they want to ruin his business."Since I've been kind and generous to the NPP, they shouldn't dare to,” he concluded.

After studying Ken Agyapong and some of his earlier videos, I concluded that he has a very quick temper and is prone to letting his emotions get the better of him. He thinks that because people are ungrateful, you should be severe with them when they cross the line. This mentality that Agyapong upholds is what ultimately led to his downfall, yet in my opinion, he stands out among other NPP politicians for being smart and intelligent, even though many people don't give him that credit.

I can provide evidence that on October 16, 2019, I published an article with the headline "The IMF And World Bank Partly Responsible For Ghana's Struggling Economy." In that specific article, I discussed how corrupt multinational corporations, supported by the International Monetary Fund, have seized all of the resources of developing nations, leaving those nations indebted and dependent on foreign capital while hypocritically trying to convince the world that corruption is the only issue.

After the article, I wasn't surprised to learn that Ken Agyapong blamed the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for undermining Akufo Addo's leadership when he decided to make Ghana self-sufficient to wean the nation off foreign aid. That may be the case sometimes, however, Akufo Addo is renowned for making pronouncements solely to give the idea that he is knowledgeable and trustworthy when in reality, the IMF is aware of his corruptible dealings affecting the country.

The IMF will not be stupid to assist Ghana with $3 billion, since they are aware of the president's corruption, for example, the money he gains from his illegal dealings in the gold and mining industries, exceeds the amount of money that the nation needs from the IMF. Akufo Addo is aware of this, and that is one of the reasons he attacked Al Jazeera to demand an apology; regrettably, the president cannot intimidate this foreign media like he can any of Ghana's media.

In another development, I discussed Ken Agyapong's warning to the NPP government, in an article written on December 16, 2022, stating that "The NPP Government's Fortunes Would Be Destroyed By High Customs Duties At The Ports." This is exactly what has taken place, causing both local and foreign investments to decline.

I view Ken Agyapong differently than other NPP leaders because of this. Even though he appears to be sincere in his efforts, he has been surrounded by a lot of enemies because he is no more interested in doing the previous dirty work for Akufo Addo.

Now that Ken Agyapong wants to run for president, he is being harassed. He warns those who oppose him that if they dare, he will dissolve the party and claims that he will reveal every secret he is aware of. He laments the difficulties he has faced since the beginning of January this year and makes a threat that if the NPP attempts to bring down his business; he will instead bring down the party.

Ken Agyapong is aware that rampant corruption within the government is the root of the nation's decline, but many people now view him as a traitor since he is washing the party's dirty laundry in the open. Others also contend that Agyapong is a part of this destructive government and is acting in this way because he wants people to vote for him. Whatever the situation, this is a politician from the NPP that I liked, and it's a shame that I can't support him because of his unpleasant past.

Since Agyapong is intelligent in business, I am confident that if the government had listened to his warnings, the economy wouldn’t have spun out of control when things were going bad. Like Agyapong, I also tried my best to alert the president to the state of our country and impending doom, but all were ignored. The only gifts I received from those who hate this writer so much were insults, and now that the dust has settled after the collapse of the economy, they have realized their stupidity.

Why would a wise leader, for example, spend 25 billion Cedis to bring down the banks when he only has to invest 9 billion Cedis to keep the banks from failing for the workers to continue servicing the people? Only Akufo Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta will carry out such an abysmal action because they lack the intelligence of innovation and development. My advice to Ken is not to be ashamed if he didn’t win the presidency, he still has a lot of work to do in life to support the youth.