“There is an irreducible quality in the experience of uncoerced choice which leads men to risk their very lives in its behalf.
Whether our choices are good or bad, wise or foolish, we feel diminished as human beings if we are prevented from making them.
Denied freedom to make choices, we are denied responsibility and to deny our responsibility is to deny our humanity.
It is the unique glory of man that although he hopes and works for an abundant life, he is prepared to die in order to prove that he is human” Bread, Freedom and Free Enterprise in Political Power and Personal Freedom.
On Saturday January 31, this year, delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will go to the polls on the basis of the privilege of having been entrusted with the responsibility of members of the party, as established by the due process and rule of law of the party, to elect a flagbearer and presumptive presidential candidate to lead the party in the 2028 general election.
So much has gone in since the party resolved to hold an early presidential primary, with both supporters and opposers of the process expressing their anguish or delight over what opposers have described as putting the cart before the horse whilst supporters insist that the process will give enough time for healing to promote a united front for the national elections.
Over the years, there are accusations and counter-accusations about official bias by the body appointed by the party to superintend such processes.
It was such alleged official bias that was used by Mr Alan Kyeremanten to leave the party to form his Movement for Change.
The same accusations prompted Hon Kennedy Ohene Agyapong to threaten a “showdown”.
Thankfully, since the last process commenced, all the five contestants and other key leaders of the party have commended the election committee, headed by the former Second and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Hon Joe Osei Owusu (Joewise), for managing the process so objectively, openly and transparently to the satisfaction of all candidates who have stated their confidence in the process.
No coercion
There is no subtlety or coercion to compel delegates in the choices they make on January 31, 2026. But it is imperative for the delegates to be reminded of the enormity of the responsibility entrusted on them.
If they exercise the franchise well, they would bring satisfaction to many and similarly if they make a mistake in who gets the nod, they would disappoint many of the supporters of the party.
This fact is underlined by Mr George Chaplin, a Honolulu newspaper editor, who has noted that, ” if people learn to take charge of change and guide it well, all of humanity is the beneficiary. If we fail, we invite disaster.
What an exciting and wonderful challenge to our intelligence and our compassion; and so, our dedication to the proposition that betterment of the individual is the noblest of all dreams”.
Delegates must know that the choice they make must have wider appeal beyond the confines of fanatic loyalist partisan supporters.
It is equally imperative that as the event draws near, the contestants exercise caution and circumspection in what they say or do.
For as somebody has said, ” we need to exercise caution in our speeches and actions when we are angry or stressed because the anger or stress will abate but we cannot take back any derogatory or irresponsible words that were hastily expressed”.
Sterling performance
Whilst asking the election committee to continue with the sterling performance and encouraging delegates to freely exercise their franchise, they must choose a leader of humility, integrity and trustworthiness, tolerant and willing to listen to viewpoints that they ordinarily detest. The candidate they elect must be calm in the face of extreme provocation and someone whose words soothe and calm nerves. Here is where my choice is for Dr Mahamadu Bawumia over Hon Kennedy Agyapong if I were one of those privileged to choose the presidential candidate of the NPP.
Beyond everything, let me confess that I was a member of the Information and Communications subcommittee of the Dr Bawumia Manifesto Committee.
I am rooting for him not because of that but because of the demonstration of humility, tolerance and selflessness in conceding defeat when the country was on the threshold of potential bloodbath, with the Electoral Commission disabled from declaring results because party supporters had besieged collation centres to disrupt the otherwise peaceful voting and counting of votes on December 7, 2024.
The same nationalistic act which some within the party are using to discredit him as an “afraid man” and gender insensitively as been a ” woman”.
I have had a bad encounter with Ken because I said what he did not want to hear and for which he threatened fire and brimstone, a clear example of a bad leadership trait. In 2016, the NPP invited me to address their national conference at Koforidua on ” Effective Political Communication”.
To make the discussions relevant and purposeful, I decided to pick examples of dysfunctional or destructive communication processes from within and cited Hon K.T.Hammond, who I described as acting like a pampered child even when speaking about an important matter and Hon Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who I described generally as generous and charitable but who whenever he spoke,caused problem for the party because of recklessness and undignified choice of words.
Unfortunately for me, both were absent.
I do not know how the message was communicated to them.
However, Hon KT approached me the next day to ask why I cited him as a negative example.
I gave him examples which he disagreed with and said in Twi, ” Yaw se wode w’ano do ennwere a enwo wo” to wit if you clear thorns with your mouth, they do not prick you, and we ended matters.
However, a week after the event, a friend called to find out whether I had offended Hon Ken in any way since he had openly sworn to deal with me ruthlessly.
I explained what had happened and afterwards called Hon Ken and introduced myself to him.
Immediately he went into a tirade of abuse including the fact that I was a fool.
When he paused, I responded that I agreed that I was foolish and stupid, the reason why his party invited me to talk to them and teach them how to talk decently in public.
Who is Ayeboafoh?
He was incensed, saying that when we are talking about journalists, who is Ayeboafoh and rained insults on the party hierarchy, especially the then Majority Leader and Leader of Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu.
He said he had ordered 40 vehicles for the party but because of the lack of sense in the party leaders, he would not give the vehicles to the party.
I then retorted that whilst I may be seen as sympathetic to the party, I was not a member of the party and so he could dump the vehicles into the sea.
I was told a few days later that he went to Oman FM and wanted to repeat the insults against me but was stopped by Fiifi Boafo, who then hosted the programme.
I called Hon Kyei Mensa Bonsu and Hon Albert Kan Dapaah to draw attention to my presentation at the Koforidua meeting which attracted the ire of Hon Ken.
I therefore urge the delegates to vote with discernment.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
