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So, many of us watched Paul Adom Otchere yesterday on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana, and he was in his usual element doing PR work for President Akufo Addo. I don’t really have a problem with him for what he used his program to do yesterday. In a less-paid job in Ghana like journalism, sometimes need to pick up such jobs to keep you on your feet. I think the best we should do is to congratulate Paul Adom Otchere for winning a “reputation management” role in the Akufo Addo government.
To the substantive issue, Paul Adom Otchere attempted to rationalized why it was prudent for Akufo Addo to callously sack his neighbors. According to Paul Adom Otchere, the President had moved to the Flag Staff House but there was the need to keep his private residence safe hence the need to eject Akufo Addo’s neighbors. He canvassed this point to rubbish those who counseled the President to move to the Flag Staff House and allow his neighbors to live in peace.
According Paul Adom Otchere, though the President had moved to the Flag Staff House, there would be times where the President would visit his private residence. On the basis of this, there was the need to eject his neighbors who posed security threat to Akufo Addo’s private residence. Strangely, Paul Adom Otchere narrated how Jerry Rawlings, Kufuor Mills and Mahama used their respective private residence alongside the Osu Castle or Flag Staff House. What he however failed to tell Ghanaians was that Jerry Rawlings, Mills Kufuor and Mahama never sacked their neighbors on the flimsy excuse of security threat.
It is highly illogical, if not senseless, for any rational being to argue that because the President will sporadically visit his private residence, his neighbors needed to be sacked on the basis of security threat. This alibi is the most infantile and weakest among all the reasons assigned so far. It exposes Akufo Addo as the most callous and hotheaded person on earth. If what Paul did yesterday was a PR job to polish the President, then he has worsen the already sordid image of Akufo Addo. Which compassionate President will drive away his neighbors simply because he will visit his private residence once in awhile? These are persons whose taxes were used to build the Flag Staff House that Mr Paul Adom Otchere claimed Akufo Addo has moved in. The Flag Staff House was built for a purpose and one of it is to House the President. All the needed security measures were considered before that edifice was put up.
Those who crafted that idea knew that Presidents needed ‘tight’ security at their official residence so they cannot be exposed to insecurity by allowing him/her to reside at where they lived before becoming Presidents. Past Presidents who lived in their private residence while serving as Head of State knew they were not required to discomfort their neighbors by deciding not to move to the Osu Castle or Flag Staff House so they continued to live with their neighbors. If intermittent visit to his official residence could warrant ejection of his neighbors in such nail biting manner, then the whole of Nima would have been wiped out if he had decided to live in his private residence after becoming President.
Paul Adom Otchere did not end his editorial there l with his illogical, warp and intellectually malnourished justification, he launched a scathing attack on Civil Society Organizations, particularly Dr Emmanuel Akwetey of IDEG for criticizing the President. He called them hypocrites. Paul Adom Otchere said he would have wished he head Dr Kwesi Aning speak to the issue because it was a security issue. His argument was that Dr Akwetey was not competent to be heard on the issue because he had no training in security issues. In other words, security issues must be left to security experts. So the basic question, was Paul Adom Otchere speaking as security expert when he fruitlessly attempted to justify the ejection of Akufo Addo’s neighbors? Paul Adom Otchere has been a jack of all trades in this country. He has shared opinion on virtually all issues in this country. Th recent one was when he transmogrified into a historian to give an account of the history of Ghana in a way to belittle Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and praise his Danquah demigods. When he did this, nobody questioned his expertise. He did it gleefully. He was loved by those he intended to please with that piece of “sorry” work. Today, he is questioning Dr Akwetey’s expertise, calling him hypocrite. Paul Adom Otchere has over years portrayed himself as an expert in everything. Somewhere 2016, he was all over the place throwing his weight about as an IT expert. What is the fate of his ICT Chamber?
Paul Adom Otchere, in his desperate attempt to nail Dr Akwetey, made an analogy that ended up betraying his intelligence. He made the argument that Dr Akwetey was lobbied for the vacant EC job in 2016, and that if he had been offered the job and an official residence, would the IDEG boss stop visiting his private residence? In the first place, Dr Akwetey would not have ejected his neighbors simply because he was offered EC job. Security would have been detailed in his private residence but not to the extent of sacking his neighbors. Dr Akwetey, unlike President Akufo Addo, would not relish living in isolation. When Dr Afari Gyan we never read anywhere that he asked for ejection of his neighbors neither did we hear his successor do same.
The most disjointed aspect of the editorial was when he said Felix Kwakye Ofosu had confessed that Akufo Addo was the most abused politician before he became president. Again, Paul Adom Otchere listened attentively to Felix Kwakye Ofosu and used his comment to further his trade but what he lacked was the understating of the comment. Felix Kwakye Ofosu never said Akufo Addo is the only abused politician in Ghana. Felix used the word “most abused”. This should tell any intelligent listener that Jerry Rawlings, Kufuor, Mills and Mahama were all abused but Akufo Addo’s abuse topped them all. The CSos Paul attacked never insulted Akufo Addo. They only criticized him. I’m struggling to understand where the supposed confession by Felix Kwakye Ofosu came in the equation. To even conclude Felix’s statement was a confession bits my imagination.
As for where he praised Akufo Addo for delivering excellent speech in parliament and concluded on that to say the President had demonstrated his leadership traits, I can only say Paul Adom Otchere was garnishing his thoughts to increase the size of the “good things” from the big house.
By Amorse B Amos
