Did you know that some of us humans have extraordinary eyes? Well, I have encountered at least two of them.
When I was younger, we had a fried fish seller near the Makola Market. Her name is Auntie Deidei. On one evening, something tragic happened. One of our ‘area boys ’suddenly fell ill. His condition became critical, thus was put in a taxi and rushed to the hospital.
After the taxi of an ambulance left the scene, a few of us stood bewildered. To our utter shock, Auntie Deidei muttered, “He is gone- Dead!!. I can see him walking towards that direction…” She pointed to the direction of the General Post Office in Accra. Not too long after, word came from the hospital that Laryea had passed.
The second instance is closer home. My dear wife, Dede, told me that once upon a time, she saw a woman at a function. Despite this woman being all dressed up and mingling with friends, my wife said she saw in her, a corpse laid in state.
Without any prior acquaintance with this woman, my wife walked up to her and asked for her hand in prayer. Owing to the theme of the prayer, the lady confessed to a near death experience she had few weeks before their encounter. The lady expressed extreme gratitude for that unsolicited prayer.
Evidently, there are persons who see what those of us with ordinary eyes cannot see.
The selection of Nana Poku (NAPO) and the arrogant tag
Our elders say “attitude is like pregnancy, you can’t hide it, no matter what, it will show.” They add that “pregnancy protrudes, it does not shrink.”
For this reason, of all the adjectives the ardent critics of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia have used to describe him, they have never had cause to say he is arrogant or disrespectful. Actually, not too long ago, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II had cause to commend Dr Bawumia for not allowing power to change him from his ‘humble’ self.
Why then is Bawumia’s choice of a running mate, NAPO, being taunted with the arrogant tag? I had heard this arrogant adjective being used to describe the former Minister of Energy a few times, but could not bear witness until most parts of the country began experiencing erratic power supply, popularly known as ‘Dumsɔ’.
Consequently, calls for a loadshedding timetable by individuals and business owners became rife. Indeed, the regulatory body in charge of the public utilities- Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) also asked for the timetable as part of its regulatory mandate.
Nana Poku’s reaction to these calls prompted my article titled “Dear all, request for submission of load-shedding timetable” on 29th March, 2024.
Here is the statement, “If you are comparing four years- four years, NPP administration is 300 times better than John Mahama. Nobody has said we haven’t [experienced dumsɔ, I am just saying it is far much better than John Mahama ever did…Ask those who want it [load-shedding timetable] to bring it. I haven’t seen any timetable today. The ECG said that there is no timetable coming up. Why do you want to bring a timetable? For what purpose? Why would somebody get up and wish evil or bad for the country?”
This obviously unguarded statement, intensified his being referred to as arrogant and disrespectful. Subsequently, he had cause to unrepentantly state that the erratic power supply that was experienced in parts of the country was not ‘Dumsɔ’ but ‘Dumsie-sie’ (Routine maintenance).
What the ordinary eye sees of NAPO
For the non-New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, that is those of us with ordinary eyes, this posturing of NAPO smacks of so much arrogance that if the NPP selects him as the running mate to Dr Bawumia, then they might as well throw in the towel as far as the December 7 presidential election is concerned.
This position has been so rife among all objective political commentators that, at a point, although NAPO’s name kept coming up as the favourite of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, we could not bring ourselves to believe that he is the chosen one.
Our belief was given some impetus when a member of the National Council of the NPP, and MP for Asante Akyem North, Andy Appiah Kubi said that NAPO is not his preferred running mate.
“We have not been consulted as a caucus for us to state our position, but me Appiah-Kubi, if it was for me to choose, I won’t choose him. Because he is not my preference… I would want somebody who will submit to the presidency and who will also bring Parliament closer to the Executive,” he explained.
As it turned out, Mr Appiah Kubi was a lone voice in the Council. That’s because on Thursday, 4th July, 2024, we were informed by the General Secretary after a marathon meeting that the National Council of the NPP unanimously approved NAPO’s nomination as the running mate to their flagbearer.
Upon hearing the news Nana Ohene Ntow, until recently, a die in the wool member of the NPP said this about Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, “Ghanaians don’t need NAPO as Vice President. He is very arrogant. NAPO is the least qualified.”
Actually, all the panellists on the 6th July edition of Key Points on TV3, where Ohene Ntow spoke, were unanimous in their view that the NAPO they know is not cut for the job. They posited that he (NAPO) would need some form of rebranding to erase the perception of arrogance against him, if he will succeed in that role.
What the ordinary eyes cannot see
Despite these negative sentiments by those of us with ordinary eyes, those who matter in the NPP (with extraordinary eyes) had very nice words to describe their choice.
This is how the General Secretary, Justice Koduah Frimpong, concluded his address to journalists when he emerged from the National Council meeting.
“In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, if you were to ask me what Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh brings to the NPP presidential ticket, I will tell you he brings decades of political astuteness, trustworthy leadership, confidence, decisiveness, grassroots mobilization, charisma, patriotism and demonstrable incorruptibility,” Mr Frimpong read from a prepared speech.
Almost immediately (Between 4th and 9th July), they unleashed NAPO onto the electorates, not just as Dr Bawumia’s running mate, but the messiah to deliver the Ashanti Region votes.
This motive was lucidly touted by the flagbearer himself.
“I needed someone with experience with a legislative branch to provide me with complementarity. I needed someone who could support me to win the election. I combed throughout Ghana for someone who could help me tour the Ashanti Region and there was one person I could find and he is Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, a.k.a. NAPO,” Dr Bawumia said in his typical rally voice tone at the unveiling event.
The presidential candidate of the NPP spoke after the President of Ghana and NAPO’s benefactor, had spoken. “I have trust and confidence in the two of them to do the work. I have worked with the two and I know what they can do,” President Akufo-Addo reassured.
Indeed, the giant screen at the rally displayed the inscription, “Election 2024: The Perfect Pair for Ghana.” Clearly, those with extraordinary eyes see in NAPO an ability to help in the quest to ‘break the 8’- Win the presidential election for three consecutive times.
The premonition of a custodian of culture and tradition
As for our elders, they say things oo! ‘What the elderly person can see sitting down, if the young climb the tallest iroko tree, they won’t see” is another of their sayings.
The aforementioned mammoth unveiling rally was attended by all those who matter in the party as well as the not too important ones. Before then though, as part of the grand strategy to win the Ashanti votes, NAPO was formally introduced to his uncle- Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
The eminent King, who is known to have close relationship with NAPO and his new boss’ main opponent, John Mahama (Remember the ‘Yentie Obiaa’ dance?), minced no words in his address to the audience at the politico-royal gathering.
Here is what the ‘otikokorsuor’ said to a frowned ‘Otikorkorsuornana’ in the presence of all.
“This my nephew, I have advised him in private. Whatever I told him, I will say it in public. I have heard people saying that you are arrogant and disrespectful. I don’t know how that came about because I personally nurtured you. I urge you to prove the critics wrong. Don’t let Dr Bawumia regret choosing you. Follow his lead with humility. Do only what he asks you to do. May God’s will prevail,” Otumfuo said with a raised tone.
The troublesome words of a running mate
Few moments later…
The duration of the outdooring rally proved to be far shorter than anticipated. That’s because the speeches were short. President Akufo-Addo gave a brief speech followed by the introduction of the ticket, Dr Bawumia told us why he chose NAPO and the microphone was handed over to the man of the moment.
With the unveiling of his counterpart, Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang in mind, I expected a vision statement from NAPO the dentist. Instead, it started with an ethnocentric statement that when the late Professor John Evans Atta Mills first used, he got chastised by members of NAPO’s party- ‘Adze wo fiea oye’- to wit, “it is good to have one of your own in the right places.”
He confirmed his mission- help galvanise the party’s base, by telling them “mudi3 na abayi”- ‘This one belongs to you.’ He asked for an unprecedented percentage of votes from the residents of the region- 85%.
Therefore, in what turned out to be an Ashanti Region-focused speech, Nana Poku could not hide his true self. It was when he said, ‘en3 m3ni agyi paa’- ‘Today, I am so happy’ that my eye brows got raised. He went on a praise singing spree- showering commendations on President Akufo-Addo. Then he slipped…
“I can boldly say that if the history of Ghana is told from 1957, we have never had a president that has helped Ghana more than Nana Akufo-Addo. I mean from 1957, even including your Kwame Nkrumah, none of them has protected Ghana and developed the country more than Nana Akufo-Addo,” he said in harsh-toned Twi.
In the process, he negated the advice by the revered King, thus vindicated his critics. The groundswell of public backlash that this generated can all be read on editors.3news.com.
It’s time to go
Social media commentators won’t kill me ooo!! See the comment I found on a story I wrote on NAPO’s faux pas- “Character does not pay lorry fare, so it follows you everywhere.” Very akin to the pregnancy anecdote mentioned earlier, isn’t it?
And when he spoke thereafter on the matter, NAPO said he was not trained to be a coward. A subsequent unsigned letter of apology, supposedly issued by his campaign team on July 12 underscored his opinion of Dr Kwame Nkrumah- “The statement reflects my personal opinion about President Akufo-Addo’s impact relative to other Presidents we have had.”
No wonder there has been a call from a representative of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the party Dr Nkrumah founded, for NAPO to apologise verbally, preferably on another political platform. Very much so, because as for this unsigned letter he can easily deny authoring it.
Against this background, the question that begs for an answer is whether this gaffe will be the first and last of NAPO as a running mate of Dr Bawumia or we should brace ourselves for more as he has already hit the ground running without any polishing?
I have no doubt that by this singular act, NAPO has given credence to the credo that “the leopard does not change its spots.”
If this is anything to go by, and it is true that presidential elections are won by the votes of floating voters, then it is looking like what the ordinary eye cannot see will be a mirage.
Zaìjiàn- That’s goodbye in Singlish (Singapore).
Let God Lead. Follow Him directly, not through any human.
The writer is the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Columnist of the Year- 2022. He 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 eric.ayettey@mediageneralgh.com
