Dr. Arthur Kennedy has become controvertial in Ghanaian politics
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday February 25, 2010
The controversial book, ‘Chasing the elephant into the Bush – The politics of complacency’, written by Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), was launched at the Teacher’s Hall in Accra Tuesday with all the guest speakers commending the author but disagreeing with him on certain aspects of the book.
The book has 184 pages with 17 chapters interspersed with pictures. The hard cover is dark green with a photograph of an elephant. It was printed in Ghana and published by ArthurHouse.
During the auction, Kwame Sefa Kayi of Peace FM who moderated the launching attended by a handful of guests, had to wait for about ten minutes before Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko of the Danquah Institute purchased the first copy for GH¢50.
At a point Mr Sefa-Kayi had to force the book on the audience to buy. In fact, all the first 10 copies were forced on the reluctant buyers.
Even though the moderator initially pegged the auction price at GH¢1000, the highest price paid for it was GH¢350 bought by the MP for Chereponi, Samuel Jabanyite.
While some speakers said the book offered useful lessons for political parties particularly the NPP, others were of the view that Dr. Kennedy was merely exercising his right to free speech and added that it will help strengthen the current democratic dispensation.
Dr. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the celebrated heart surgeon and a leading NPP member who chaired the launching set the tone when he said “the book may be controversial but as a people particularly the NPP family, we should be able to tolerate the views of others and embrace it for the better.”
“Here it is not because I like everything in the book. There are portions I totally disagree with but there are useful lessons to be learned”.
He said “the elephant may be in the bush but I tell you in 2012, it will come back home.”
Peter Mac Manu, outgoing National Chairman of the NPP said Dr. Kennedy’s book was not out of place because the NPP itself commissioned some members somewhere in January and February 2009 to investigate the causes of the then ruling party’s defeat in the 2008 general election, adding “we have done our own in-house review but it is not for public consumption.”
He said “this is not the first time that the NPP is reviewing its performance after a major election. We did in 2005 after winning the 2004 general election and I was the one tasked by the Haruna Esseku administration to lead a team to look into the issues.”
“The NPP as a party has no qualms with the book. Arthur K is entitled to his opinions and that is the beauty of democracy. There might be some errors but at least something has been started and others must follow suit,” he said
Mr. Mac Manu however said individuals within the party may have their own grievances with Dr. Kennedy for writing the book just as the author has the right to freedom of speech, stressing “you do not expect everybody to like the book hundred percent.”
He later admitted “the only thing I do not like about the book is the title,” generating laughter from the audience.
Yaw Baodu Ayeboafo, General Manager in charge of newspapers at the Graphic Communications Group Limited who gave the keynote address stressed the need for tolerance in the political landscape that would bring about healthy political discourse towards strengthening the country’s democratic dispensation.
“I wrote the foreword of the book. It is the first time that somebody who has been in the thick of affairs is writing about what really happened. All that we have had over the years have come from the outsider’s perspective. We have to explore and allow people to express themselves.”
Mr. Ayeboafo urged the public to find out what is in the book before attacking Arthur K saying “we should look at whether the one who wrote the book is the devil or activities that constituted the writing of the book.”
He also appealed to media practitioners not to cast judgment on a product they have not seen since that constituted what he called ‘lies’ in journalism and pleaded with Dr. Kennedy not to hit back at anyone who criticized the book.
Earlier in his introductory remark, Dr. Kennedy said the release of the international edition had on the book and his personality “a coordinated and destructive assault, the nature of which has not been seen for a long time.”
He said there was a real danger that the book will be remembered more for the “issues around it than issues inside it.”
He admitted that it was impossible for him to write so much on a subject as passionate as politics without “giving actual or perceived offence to some,” and commended former President J.A. Kufuor for disagreeing with him on certain aspects of the book but having his concerns stated forcefully.
Also see : www.dailyguideghana.com
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