Nkrumah also had a dream. He dreamt that Ghana will generate its own electricity, he dreamt that Ghana will use nuclear energy one day, he dreamt that Ghana will have brainy scholars, He dreamt that Ghana will be the hub of West Africa, he dreamt that Ghana will be a self sufficient industrial producer. I could go on and on and on... Then he became President and he started implementing his dreams. Akosombo , Atomic , many secondary schools, polytechnics and two universities, Tema and Tadi ports, Accra- Tema motorway, all the industries under GIHOC etc were built. It all started from a dream and became a reality. Now in comes Arthur Kennedy, who also has a dream and vision for Ghana. At least he has a dream and vision for Ghana. What about you or what about the other candidates. He is what Ghana needs now, with so much tension brewing between the NPP and NDC, whilst the citizens suffer, the NPP needs a new and neutral face to lead the party on and reunite Ghana.
People accuse him of having caused a year to be lost in the education system when the Universities were closed in the early 1980s. I hope these people know that Arthur K did not order the universities closed, Government interference in the education system and junior staff activities did. In any case, it turned out to be good because the one year Post A Level national service was instituted. Many communities depended solely on these service personnel for teaching so much that it was proposed by one Service president to coordinate such that, service members leaving after the year will be able to hand over directly to incoming members for continuity . The service also gave us allowances which most of us used to relieve the burden off our parents. With the work experience, we also became open minded and understood and appreciated our parents and other Ghanaian workers.
Arthur K did not abandon Ghanaian students and life was not easy for him as people think. He was declared wanted by the PNDC after delivering a speech condemning the 1981 coup. He was charge with sedition and to save his life, had to become a refugee. His counterpart who stayed was executed by the Rawlings regime. The then Chairman Rawlings made sure that his transcript was never sent from Legon to Canada where he was given refugee status, so from a final year medical student in Ghana, he had to start the BSc program in Biology all over. He did not give up, got his Bachelors in Biology and proceeded to Medical school again.
As a Medical Officer, he has been honoured in Wisconsin and South Carolina and was until March the CEO of the Family Health Centers in South Carolina, (a company that he took from the red to profit making in just a year) with over 120,000 patients. He was appointed the Governor’s representative on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Diabetes initiative in South Carolina. I could go on…..
He is leaving all this to help his motherland. He is currently based in Ghana and we hope Ghanaians will see in him progress. He is an achiever and that is what Ghana needs. Arthur K has been with NPP from the beginning and has met and discussed pertinent issue with the current Government officials. He is thus not new to the party and is well abreast with the happenings in Ghana. If, there were a queue for Presidency in Ghana, Adu-Boahene should have been the flag bearer in 1996, followed by JH Mensah. Hilla Limann should not have been president and Prof. Atta-Mills should not have been the Vice president.
Kwame Nkrumah, Clinton and other leaders who have guided their countries to success started in their forties. Now is the time. The stars have aligned and Ghana is at the threshold. We go or we sink. If after 50 years of independence (both Ghana and South Korea started in 1957), Ghanaians believe we are at the best place possible, and the current leaders are the best that happened to us, please go ahead, vote any of them into power. But if we feel, we need a change, a new direction, a leader who has already presented his vision for Ghana, then let’s go with Arthur K.
Go Arthur K go, the stars are aligned and I am sure the delegates will see in you progress and vote you as the flag bearer of NPP.
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
