After watching the first story on News 360 (the 7:00pm bulletin) on TV3 last Saturday, I experienced what seemed like the symptoms of falling in love again. This time, the affection is towards a fellow man- Hon. Kennedy Ohene Akompreko Agyapong.
And I don’t mind if you accuse me of being gay, because that’s not what this is about. This is about what seems to me as the great inroads Ken Agyapong is making in the minds of people regarding the possibility of he winning the flagbearer race of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on November 4, 2023.
So, when I watched the story about his ‘Showdown walk’ in which I heard him say, “As a businessman, I have employed many people. My track record is there to show. You have tried lawyers, soldier, economist, etc, it’s time to try a businessman,” the message seemed to have landed well on my mind.
And when he added this to his address to the delegates, the symptoms intensified- “I am boldly and confidently telling you today that if you vote and make the mistake not to vote for Ken Agyapong, opposition is just staring at you because Ghanaians have decided. The 2024 elections, NPP lost that election in 2022. Why? When the Cedi dropped and businessmen all the way to tomato sellers lost monies, Ghanaians decided. When the middle class had bonds taken for 15 years, they decided. When pensioners lost monies, they decided. Anytime, there is quiet in the country and Ghanaians do not talk, then they have decided already,” he spoke in Twi.
Nonetheless, like the young teenage girl who falls in love with the area bad boy, but wonders what mum, dad and the whole family would say if this comes to light, I shuddered over my feelings. That’s because like his business track record, Ken Agyapong’s rowdy and undiplomatic nature is public knowledge.
A recent example is the threat to give President Akuffo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia a ‘showdown’ over alleged maltreatment of his polling agents during the Party’s Super Delegates Conference held on August 26, 2023. Not even prodding by his personal aides could calm him down. This singular act, has suddenly popularized the word ‘showdown’ to the extent that people spare no opportunity to use it in their conversations these days.
The charge to beat Gas
I am 100% Ga. A very proud one. Thus, I spare no effort in defending whatever is left of our image as a people. So why am I harbouring seemingly warm feelings towards someone who once threatened to beat my people? Could it be that ‘time heals’?
Hon. Ken Agyapong’s charge for Gas to be beaten in April, 2012, was so serious he got arrested for it. For those who may have missed it, here is how Peacefmonline reported it:
“NPP firebrand, Ken Agyapong, has declared war in an interview on OmanFM in anger at what he perceived to be the aloofness of the police following the assault on the party’s parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma South, Ursula Owusu, by some thugs believed to be NDC activists. He warned that the NPP will crush any ‘fake’ police or army personnel in the coming elections.
A clearly enraged Kennedy Agyapong was emphatic that flashes of violence being experienced in the on-going biometric registration exercise, specifically in the Odododiodoo Constituency will not cease until the security agencies stamp their authority in the area. If you are an Ashanti or Akan and somebody enters your shop, use whatever weapon you have to hit that fellow. We would beat all Gas and Ewes in the Ashanti Region if this is how they want us to go,” he charged.
Very characteristic of him.
The charge to beat journalists
I am a journalist on the verge of attaining the status of veteran. It is therefore unthinkable that I will think of frolicking with someone who is on record to have threatened journalists for doing their work. Indeed, he is alleged to have masterminded the death of an investigative journalist, Ahmed Suale of Tiger Eye PI. An allegation he denies, even if many take his denial with a ‘bag of salt’.
Here are excerpts of how the BBC’s Joel Gunter reported the incident, “On 16 January, 2019, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a Ghanaian investigative journalist who had collaborated with the BBC, was shot dead near his family home in Accra. Ghanaian police believe he was assassinated because of his work.
When Tiger Eye aired its latest investigation, which exposed widespread corruption in African football, Ghanaian MP Kennedy Agyapong began a campaign of hostility against the team, saying he was offended by its undercover methods. He called publicly for Anas to be hanged. Weeks after the film was screened, in June last year, he used his own TV station (Net 2 TV) to attack Hussein-Suale and expose the journalist’s most closely guarded secret – his face.
“That’s him,” said Agyapong, as images of Hussein-Suale appeared on screen. “His other picture is there as well, make it big.” Agyapong revealed Hussein-Suale’s name and the neighbourhood he lived in. “If you meet him somewhere, slap him… beat him,” he said. “Whatever happens, I’ll pay.”
But years later, Akompreko says he was quoted out of context. “I showed the video of Ahmed Suale and when they [ my workers] saw it, my workers came to me and said, Hon. ‘don’t you know this guy, you even gave him GHC1,500 to go and pay his school fees’, then I said you have to be careful, if this guy comes here beat him up because he is going to set this company up,” he told host Umaru Sanda Amadu of Citi TV.
When questioned about possible regrets over his call, Agyapong firmly stated, “No, not that I want to be president and therefore I will say I didn’t say that, No. I said if he comes to my premises, I didn’t say go and beat him outside…You know Ahmed Suale’s problems, he made a lot of mistakes, and in all the investigations Anas did, Anas never showed his face, so all the people that Anas embarrassed in this country, it was Ahmed Suale who set them up. Suale was the one who set the Finance Minister up, they never saw Anas’ face,” he explained.
I trust the police to resolve this issue.
It’s time to go
The reason why I shivered over my own thoughts like a teenager in love should be clear by now. I mean what will my relatives and Gas generally, think of me? What about the inky fraternity? Will they not say that I have been given a fat brown envelope?
Well, I know a few teenagers who damned the consequences of their prohibited love affairs. Some even eloped with their forbidden suitors. At the end of the day, they caused a change in perception of their family and friends towards their lovers. And that is what I hope will happen if Ken Agyapong wins the November 4, 2023 and December 4, 2024 polls.
My position on the flagbearership aspirations of their Excellencies Dr. Bawumia and John Mahama has already been stated in two articles I wrote titled, ‘Why Bawumia must bid his time’ and ‘Why Mahama should have tarried a while.’ For those who have not read it, I guess the titles sum everything up- we have seen all that they have up their sleeves. Indeed, at a point, I got so frustrated that I posited that Mahama should be voted for just for the sake of change seeing as he is the only one the NDC found capable. And Bawumia is definitely not an option for me. That tells you how far away I would be from a polling station on December 7, 2024 if I have to choose between these two.
But if the analysis of Dr Hayford Nsiah, Political Science and Public Policy Analyst, is anything to go by, then Ken Agyapong could become president. According to Dr. Nsiah who was interviewed during the aforementioned news bulletin, Ken Agyapong is better placed to beat John Mahama. He explained that a vote for Dr Bawumia is a vote for the continuation of Akufo-Addo’s poor showing. Actually, he spoke my mind when he stated that “voting for Dr. Bawumia means increasing the chances of former President Mahama to become president. He added that “I think President Mahama’s worse nightmare would be to wake up one morning and hear that Ken Agyapong has won the NPP flagbearer race.”
So, I asked myself, why then don’t I channel my energies towards trying something new? For the sake of love. That’s because despite his odd nature, the 63-year-old politician’s accomplishments give me the impression that he is able to conform to dictates of particular situations if the need arises. For example, he has been in Parliament since 2000, never have I heard of he engaging in fisticuffs with any member. Not even hot verbal exchanges. The only instance in which he was hauled before the privileges committee was for his absence without permission. As it turned out, his failure to attend upon the House for more than 15 days was for health reasons. And he did not promise them a showdown. Ken Agyapong honoured the invitation and subjected himself to the process.
Plus, the leadership of the House have found him level-headed enough to make him chair such critical committees as Communication and Defence and Interior as well as member of the Judiciary Committee. I stand corrected, but nothing untoward has been heard from his association with these important agencies of the second most important arm of Government in the republic of Ghana.
At the domestic level, the rumour mill has it that he has multiple wives. The famous and beautiful Adwoa Safo is reported to be his ‘baby mama.’ If with all his temperamental nature, we have not heard of he assaulting any of these women, then it gives vent to the point that we could be shocked with Ken Agyapong as president- calculated, people-centred, strategic and above all diplomatic. Should we not try? It’s a huge gamble you say.
Well, I seem to be falling in love. It seems to me that until something drastic shakes off that feeling, I may just have had my president effective January 7, 2025- H.E. Kennedy Ohene Akompreko Agyapong. Very unlike me, but love is blind. And didn’t William Shakespeare say that, “desperate times breed desperate measures?” This is how desperate I am for a leader who will use proceeds from our abundant natural resources to turn our beloved Ghana into a country we can all cherish. Not business as usual.
Shalom – That’s good bye in Hebrew.
Let God Lead! Follow Him directly, not through any human.
The writer is the author of two books whose contents share knowledge on how anyone desirous of writing like him can do so. Eric can be reached via email [email protected].