By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
August 25, 2015
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net

Any National Democratic Congress (NDC) operative who tries to harass Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, through the unorthodox use of personnel of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), formerly the Special Branch of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), ought to be immediately run out of the Kumasi metropolis. They may be part of the ruling party or government, but they need to be sternly told that Ghana is neither a police nor a slave state. I am, of course, referring to Chairman Wontumi’s quite credible allegation that at a strategy meeting of the NDC’s Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), at which First Lady Lordina Mahama was present, the RCC members hatched and discussed plans to use NDC foot-soldiers decked in New Patriotic Party (NPP) colors to harass and antagonize female head porters, popularly known as “Kayaye,” in a bid to creating widespread disaffection among these extremely exploited workers against NPP in the lead-up to Election 2016 (See “BNI Chases Wontumi Over Lordina’s ‘Secret’ Meeting” Adomonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 8/25/15).

The NDC’s Asante Regional General-Secretary, Mr. Raymond Tandoh, has been reported to be claiming that Chairman Wontumi’s allegation is “frivolous” and that his party has officially lodged a complaint with the BNI for investigations to be conducted into the said allegation. Mr. Tandoh is also reported to be claiming that some key regional NDC operatives have “strong evidence” indicating that it was rather the NPP whose operatives had a plan to create Kayaye disaffection against the ruling National Democratic Congress. Clearly, what Mr. Tandoh ought to do is to publicly divulge whatever “strong evidence” he has to the preceding effect and let members of the Ghanaian public draw their own logically appropriate conclusions. This is an inter-party propaganda tussle, as far as I can see it, and so it is ultra vires for any executive member of either major political party to cavalierly presume to use BNI operatives to harass his/her political opponents. There is no breach of any rules of conduct here for the likes of Mr. Tandoh to drag in law-enforcement agents. It is also quite clear that Mr. Antwi-Boasiako is being harassed primarily because he is only one of a handful of NPP regional chairpersons who are not afraid to duke it out with the NDC’s mischief-makers.

It is also clear that heading into Election 2016, the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress has more to lose, in terms of political capital or administrative track-record, than its main and most formidable political opponent. As I vividly recall, in the lead-up to Election 2012, then Transitional-President John Dramani Mahama intemperately attacked Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because the NPP’s Presidential Candidate had dared to publicly outline plans for making life a bit more comfortable and less burdensome for the Kayaye, most of whom are known to be of northern-Ghanaian descent and heritage. Back then, Mr. Mahama disingenuously attempted to use the Kayaye situation to polarize our national political culture. The President even gratuitously claimed proprietary rights over the subject of Kayaye in the country, by mere virtue of the fact of him having been born in the North. Three years later, the NDC clearly has nothing to show by way of having put any progressive measures into effect to appreciably improve the quality of the lives of these unacceptably deprived hardworking Ghanaian citizens.

Rather than shamelessly and unconscionably attempt to scapegoat Chairman Wontumi, party hacks like Mr. Tandoh would be far better off pushing his bosses to creditably acquit themselves in the indescribably depressing matter of the living conditions and the wanton exploitation of the Kayaye. Indeed, even as I noted in a previous column on the same subject, Mrs. Mahama has not conducted herself in a non-political manner ever since her husband formally assumed the reins of governance in January 2013. And so, really, no keen observer of the national political scene can claim her to be innocent or incapable of such devious political scheme as she has been alleged to have actively participated in by Mr. Antwi-Boasiako. For instance, under the specious guise of running a non-governmental charitable organization, Mrs. Mahama has actually used her unregistered and unaccountable charity organization to actively support and/or complement the political activities of her husband’s government.

Well, as of this writing, Chairman Wontumi had been widely reported to be saying that he stood by his every word vis-à-vis the NDC’s anti-NPP Kayaye disaffection plot. The Asante Regional NPP Chairman was also reported to have dared the Office of the First Lady to publicly deny the allegation. This latest propaganda battle between the NPP and the NDC is quite refreshing because in recent weeks, it has mostly been the key operatives of the NDC who have been putting their main political opponents on the defensive.