By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

In the wake of his election as Member of Parliament for Akyem-Abuakwa South, I have been studiously following the meteoric rise of Mr. Atta-Akyea. When we schooled together at the Akuapem-Akropong Presbyterian Boys’ Boarding School (SALEM) in the 1970s, I knew him as Master Samuel Akyea, and he was a year my junior, as a I vividly recall. His half-brother, Thomas Akyea, was my classmate. I was good friends with both brothers before I learned of my blood relationship with Samuel Akyea, by way of Kyebi. And although he was my junior, I respected him quite a lot; he was also the more studious of the two Akyea brothers.

Anyway, I had almost totally forgotten about Sam until his name popped up as a possible successor to Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo as MP for Abuakwa South. I readily concluded then that he was almost certain to be a shoo-in, as it were, for reasons that are too obvious to directly broach. I was, however, quite flabbergasted when my old SALEM mate was recently quoted in an article claiming plaintively that, for some curiously unexplained reasons, “democracy has eluded the elephant party.” Of course, the icon of the pachyderm is an unmistakable reference to the official insignia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the main political and parliamentary opposition to the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Mr. Atta-Akyea was further quoted to be caustically accusing the NPP as follows: “When you cannot practice internal democracy, you cannot achieve national democracy” (See “Some NPP Members Are Thieves – NPP MP” Ghanaweb.com 6/15/09).

On first blush, I thought the reporter, belonging to a media organization called The Catalyst, a name I was hearing first time around, had attributed his quote to the wrong NPP Member of Parliament. This must most definitely be coming from the mouth of the ever-gushing and perennially self-flagellating Mr. P. C. Appiah-Ofori, that Gomoa loose-cannon who appears to have woefully missed his calling as either a Methodist or Baptist minister.

Then I kept reading and kept doubting the veracity of the source; more so as the writer kept misspelling “Abuakwa” as “Aboakwa.” And then the name and epic electoral defeat of Nana Akufo-Addo kept creeping in, followed by what appeared to be a crusading verbal overdrive; and then I grudgingly concluded, “Homeboy, you might not like what you are reading, but this surely sounds like it must be coming from your old SALEM mate and cousin.” And to be certain, this is not a very pleasant admission for me, for several reasons.

First of all, the mordant accusation of the NPP as a party woefully lacking in “internal democracy,” and therefore incapable of “achieving national democracy,” whatever that means, sounds like the old ironic joke of the CPP, a breakaway faction of the seminal United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) that continues to insist, against common sense that, indeed, it is the UGCC that deserves to be branded as a “Separatist Faction” (M’ate Meho) and not the CPP. What chutzpah!

Secondly, and even more significantly, Atta-Akyea’s accusation, paradoxically and dialectically, presupposes that, somehow, any Ghanaian voter on the lookout for the genuine practice of “internal [party] democracy” ought to be, curiously, looking towards the rag-tag party founded by the infamous Dzelukope Mafia capo. And, indeed, it would be nothing short of an epiphany if the Abuakwa-South MP came out one of these days, as a notorious NDC propagandist suggested recently, claiming that the bizarre dynastic process by which the now-President John Evans Atta-Mills succeeded Chief Dzelukope, as the perennial presidential candidate of the so-called National Democratic Congress, epitomized what might be aptly characterized as the finest example of “internal democracy” yet.

And, by the way, not many of us have so soon forgotten the fact that Mr. Atta-Akyea, himself, was elected candidate for the Abuakwa-South constituency by about 80 delegates and against two or three other contestants who were all his blood-relatives, in a constituency with a population numbering upwards of 50,000 people! And so what, really, is my dear cousin talking about?

And if, indeed, he were such a stickler for both “internal” and “national” democracy, then why did he not back out of such flagrantly unrepresentative process until such time that each and every registered NPP voter of Abuakwa South had been allowed to fully participate in the party’s primary electoral process? Or is he also going to suggest, here, that his parliamentary seat was, indeed, forced upon him by Nana Akufo-Addo?

The Abuakwa-South MP has also, reportedly, alleged that many donors “invested” huge sums of money in the presidential run-off campaign of Nana Akufo-Addo but thanks to the relatively overwhelming number of “thieves” who constitute both the grassroots and national operatives of the NPP, somehow, such “investment” capital never got to oil the Akufo-Addo campaign machinery well enough to enable his uncle clinch the presidency. Now this is a quite serious allegation for two significant reasons.

One, the damning and unmistakable implication here is that, somehow, Nana Akufo-Addo had deliberately oriented his presidential campaign towards the especial interests of some big-name and big-time “investors” whose massive losses are, perhaps, the greatest misfortune that ever befell the NPP, at the expense of the greater good of the Ghanaian electorate. I hope the keen reader fully appreciates what I am driving at.

And two, is the Abuakwa-South MP in anyway, shape or form suggesting that were he to be invited by the odious Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for a crash-course in “Water-Boarding,” that he, Mr. Atta-Akyea, would be able to provide the Dzelukope Mafia with a comprehensive list of such Akufo-Addo “investors” as he alleges and the respective amounts invested?

Or is Mr. Atta-Akyea, rather naively and scandalously, implying that he is too young to vividly remember how and why the Dzelukope Mafia changed the name of the erstwhile Special Branch of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to the “Qaddafy-sounding” Bureau of National Investigations?

Indeed, those NPP critics who vehemently decried the recent swarming, and swamping, of the BNI offices by some prominent members of the Kufuor administration, in the wake of the Mpiani Affair, had better research the history of the BNI under P/NDC tenure. Or have these critics so readily, and perhaps even conveniently, forgotten the “Bermuda Triangle” that became the BNI under the tyranny of Dzelukope Jeremiah?

In any case if, indeed, Mr. Atta-Akyea sincerely believes that his uncle lost Election 2008 largely because of “thievish” NPP foot-soldiers and other campaign operatives, then why did he lead an earnest team of NPP lawyers to seek a court injunction restraining Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan from announcing the presidential run-off results, when it became eerily and uncomfortably apparent that Nana Akufo-Addo may not get to inhabit Jubilee House? Was such move merely intended to throw dust into the eyes of the Ghanaian electorate as well as sow pernicious seeds of national discord, even civil strife, fully cognizant of the fact that his version of this landmark event was squarely predicated on a hoax, a treasonable offence of the highest order? No wonder the ardent enemies of the NPP are having a field day!

In brief, to say that I am disconsolately disappointed in the recent public pronouncements of Mr. Atta-Akyea vis-à-vis the NPP, is to mince words. Mr. Atta-Akyea must promptly apologize or let his intentions vis-à-vis the fortunes of the NPP be known forthwith; for to observe that he is not helping the party to confidently look forward to thoroughly winning Election 2012, is to understate matters. A word to the wise….

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is the author of 20 books, including “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@aol.com. ###