AKUFO-ADDO DESERVES BETTER - PATRIOTIC THINK-TANK ADVISES ASENSO, JINAPOR AND EUGENE
We at the Patriotic Think-Tank find it extremely perplexing and intriguing as to why three closed associates and appointees of the president, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo - Addo, at the seat of government would want to leave their top appointments and chase parliamentary seats. These appointees include the two deputy chiefs of staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor and Francis Asenso - Boakye who are eyeing the Damongo and Bantama seats respectively. Then the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who is also preparing to secure the New Patriotic Party's parliamentary to represent the good people of the Awutu Senya West constituency.
Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, this move sends negative signals to Ghanaians, as it creates the impression of top and high profile Jubilee House appointees abandoning the Executive arm once the president seems likely to lose, and smartly moving to the Legislative arm to secure and preserve their political relevance beyond the 2020 General Elections in the event that power changes hands.
While some natives of the Damongo area have sent a strong message to Abu Jinapor telling him to rather contest the Yapei - Kusawgu (Buipe) seat since the latter is his hometown, a large section of the party(NPP) people in the Ashanti region are expressing their displeasure and disappointment with Asenso-Boakye's decision to leave his top post in government as a Deputy Chief of Staff to contest for the Bantama seat.
This edition of the series puts the spotlight on Mr. Francis Asenso - Boakye, and will in subsequent editions publish findings as uncovered so far as sincere concerns surrounding the decision of Samuel Abu Jinapor and Eugene Arhin to chase parliamentary seats are concerned.
In the case of Asenso Boakye, most of the party people from the party's stronghold believe that he as a Deputy Chief of Staff has been very helpful to the people of the Ashanti Region and even beyond. Reason being that, as a Deputy Chief of Staff and a close confidant of the president, he is much more placed and even much more powerful within the corridors of power than a Member of Parliament with regards to offering support and seeing to the needs of the party people who call on him.
The fear therefore is:
The numerous party people from the region that call on Asenso-the-Deputy-Chief-of-Staff for support and intervention whenever the need arises will no longer have such an influential person at the presidency to depend on. Indeed, ever since the NPP came to power, Asenso-the-Deputy-Chief-of-Staff has been the key figure at the presidency that has helped and assisted a lot of party people from the stronghold in several ways including jobs, appointments, scholarships etc. And it is all because of the fact that as a Deputy Chief of Staff, Political Assistant and closed confidant of the President of Ghana, he is very influential within the corridors of power.
Yes! Asenso-the-Deputy Chief-of-Staff is very powerful such that most of the parliamentarians in the Ashanti region and beyond even call on him for their concerns to be addressed. As a matter of fact, most of the DCEs in the region owe Asenso-The-Deputy-Chief-Of-Staff a debt of gratitude so far as their appointments are concerned. The truth is, as I mentioned earlier, as a Deputy Chief of Staff, he is always in a better position than a parliamentarian to help or offer an assistance to a party person due to the clout and influence the Deputy Chief of Staff's office commands. A clear case is the ongoing AFCON. Asenso had about fifteen (15) slots for supporters to join the Black Stars to Egypt while the parliamentarians across the country had only one slot each.
According to the party people of the region, although the Chief of Staff, Madam Frema Osei Opare herself is from the region, she is not regarded a typical party person from Ashanti since she did and still do her politics outside the region which makes her widely disconnected with the party people in the region, unlike Asenso who they can relate and approach as one of their own.
The sad aspect is, most of the party people from the stronghold who relied on Asenso as their only source of hope at the presidency are unhappy about his decision to go to Parliament because he is the channel through which most of the party people, MPs, government appointees among others, get to the presidency for their voices to be heard. And once he becomes a parliamentarian, he will automatically become less influential and less powerful than he is today as a Deputy Chief of Staff, with less or even no clout to offer assistance and support to people as he used to. He will even struggle to get the high number of slots and opportunities he gets today for his constituents.
When a Deputy Chief of Staff who is the "boss" of all these influential ministers is desperately chasing a parliamentary seat which will make him less powerful than his subordinates then we need to ask questions.
Now the questions that the people of Ashanti are asking are:
Will these powerful appointees, Asenso in particular, leave his powerful Deputy Chief of Staff position to be a less powerful Parliamentarian and lose all these opportunities and influence?
Is this rush for parliamentary seats a signal of rats fleeing a sinking ship as Election 2020 draws near?
Has Asenso thought of the likely possibility of losing the parliamentary primary as well after being replaced as a Deputy Chief of Staff?
Will Asenso-The-MP wield much influence and power to help the party people including his constituents as Asenso-the-Deputy-Chief-of-Staff does?
Is Asenso, a Deputy Chief of Staff's decision to abandon the presidency and chase a parliamentary seat a damning verdict on the performance and subsequent chances of the Akufo-Addo government in the Election 2020?
Doesn't Asenso's seeming desperate flight for a parliamentary seat suggest a damning indictment of the government's record going into Election 2020?
This is clearly an unsmart political decision which Asenso must have a second look at. Asɛmsɛbɛ!
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