NPP Flagbearer Race: Can Kwabena Agyei Agyapong Soar?

Fluent-speaking Politician and Sports Enthusiast, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong who is in the NPP flagbearer contest could be in the race of his life. The former sports commentator who is also a civil engineer, is too accustomed to racing, at least from the point of view of arm-chair sports where he studied the ropes of competition from the arena where it is hottest.

Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyapong has been hopping from one media platform to the other propagating the message of a middle-grounder. He is blunt in his opinions, a bit distance away from partisan politics. The central focus of his campaign has been integrity in government and the welfare of the people. Occasionally, he talks about party people but looked more like speaking to Ghanaians than just a small club.

While the ambiance in politicking is not around him, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong continues to speak about the commoners’ issues. What is left for him to know is whether the people about whom he cares are listening. The political whirlwind which always steals the show comes up against a Ghanaian people hard-hit by hard times and reading between the lines as to which politician will readily, and genuinely redeem them.

Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, a former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party and a high-flier in his political stable, had a political accident when he was removed from the position by his party. He used to call the shots in another powerful sphere during the tenure of President John Agyekum Kufuor where he served as Press Secretary.

Despite the strong headwinds he encountered in his political journey which threatened his political equilibrium, Mr Agyapong cannot be written off as not having contributed to his party’s rise. On many occasions, he had represented his party in the strongroom of the Electoral Commission to monitor the collation of votes. His father was one of the judges allegedly smitten in the heat of Ghana’s revolution in the early 1980s.

Too much noise may not be swirling around him but the man Kwabena Agyei Agyapong who is contesting in presidential primaries a second time (his first was in 2007), is churning very important ideas on nation-building that people may not easily wish away.

The trundle forward requires a dispassionate, patriotic, and people-centered leadership, which this candidate appears to have a strong attachment to.