Opinions of Thursday, 23 January 2014

Columnist: Sayibu, Akilu

Why It Must Be Kwabena Agyepong Part (II)

After publishing the Part (I) of the above in the media a couple of days ago, some persons emailed me privately to come up with the part (II). I was astonished of the deep expression of interest and likeness people have about anything associated with Kwabena.
One person after taking my phone number via my email address called me and said: “Kwabena should have gone unopposed as your General Secretary”. To that person, Kwabena was so eloquent, concise and precise in his media presentations and was also deeply experienced and knowledgeable in NPP affairs and should be the one to sit on the chair of General Secretary of the party at this time.
Somebody who knew my association with the former Vice President of Ghana, His Excellency Alhaji Aliu Mahama (late), wondered why I was not supporting Yaw Buabeng Asamoah who worked for the late Aliu Mahama as my preferred candidate for the position of General Secretary.
I did tell the person my support for who best qualifies to be the General Secretary of the NPP was not dependent on someone who knew my political god-father, late Aliu Mahama.
For instance, I am from the North but I don’t think President John Mahama should have been President of Ghana at this time. Timing is very strategic in politics and in the case of President Mahama, the sudden death of President Mills catapulted him to a position he was not yet ready to occupy. Let me not digress into absurdities here, dear readers.
The view of many is that, the next General Secretary of the NPP should be someone who has convincing understanding about how the Electoral Commission works. Aside the knowledge of the workings of the Commission that conducts political elections in Ghana, the person must also have practical experience of the entire election process including even how the results are received, collated and declared.
Fortunately for the NPP, Kwabena has represented the party in the Strong-room of the Electoral Commission in almost every election conducted in Ghana since 1992. Therefore if Kwabena is elected as the new General Secretary of the NPP, this rich and unique experience he acquired over the years will be brought to bear on the fortunes of the NPP in election 2016. The delegates of the NPP and the generality of NPP voters cannot afford to lose this opportunity in their efforts to secure victory in election 2016.
The ability to sacrifice one’s resources for a cause, politics inclusive, is necessary especially when fighting for political power from outside government. Kwabena has shown satisfactorily that he can make himself and his resources available for the victory of the NPP.
Among other things, he made an office complex available to the NPP at no cost during the run-up to the 2012 elections. This he did knowing that the NPP needed such facilities for its overall work. There is therefore no doubt at all that Kwabena would continue with this outstanding gesture for the NPP and even reach out to others to do same when voted as General Secretary.
He is also someone who is extremely accessible, humble and has high passion to see things done and to me the next General Secretary of the NPP must have these impressive qualities as a requirement. Once he is already naturally imbued with such qualities, the NPP will benefit from that should he be elected as the next General Secretary of the Party.
There is a unique feature about Kwabena which also gives him the urge over his other contenders. He does not judge people by what others say about them but by how much he knows them. He believes in “Experience being the best teacher”.
In politics, there are lots of “story-tellers” who will do anything at all to discredit others for peanut favours. Some persons have been in politics for decades but are politically immature when it comes to this. They take decisions on people not based on how much they know such persons but rather on how much “Jealousy driven vicious persons” (Have I quoted Komla right?) Know such persons.
It is my view that the next General Secretary of the NPP must be taller than some of these fairytales and Kwabena has already proven he sure can do it for the NPP.

I will end this part here by commending the delegates from Upper-West, Upper-East, Northern Region and the Volta Region for the massive show of love for Kwabena and his team during his campaign visits to those places. God bless you all and let us all unite with one voice and cry out loudly: “If there must be a General Secretary, it must be Kwabena Adjei Agyepong”.

Akilu Sayibu,

Email: Akilu.Sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk