As a writing rule, I do not comment on matters involving kin or kith. I do not trust my judgement when I have an interest in the outcome of such matters. Instead, I seek the counsel of people I respect in this business. I waited for the opinion of Uncle Kwesi Pratt when news broke about a politician who had been recorded giving money to a controversial woman. Alas, last week, Uncle Kwesi broke his silence on the matter, and he was decidedly noncommittal, but he also pricked our scruples into questioning our collective hypocrisy. On Good Morning Ghana, Kwesi profusely extolled the communicative prowess of Sammy Gyamfi, but hesitated to pronounce a verdict–beyond saying that the matter had split Ghanaians in the middle.
Words like loaded pistols
Elsewhere, nearly every public media commentator, including some NPP politicians, wished Sammy’s cap fitted another person. Here is a golden egg that must be preserved, willy-nilly. On XYZ, popular morning show host, Black Rasta, described Sammy Gyamfi as his mentor while acknowledging that Sammy is many years his junior–both in age and in public communication. Like all of us, Sammy Gyamfi is a rhetorician, but unlike many of us, he does it with graceful finesse. He understands the art of argument and persuasive communication, the unique skills Sam Leith, former editor of the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, lauds in his book, ‘Words Like Loaded Pistols.’ Sammy Gyamfi’s words are loaded pistols. He shoots you dead.
How does a president deal with such a fine asset? Bare his teeth and show him the way out, to please the yelping critics, or shield him and show his back to an opposition who are flying the recently launched code of conduct in the faces of the presidency? Many believe Sammy Gyamfi shot the NPP dead with the bullets from mouth during the NDC’s years in opposition, to pave the way for a John Mahama victory. In the end, the Presidency decided that a caution and a public apology are sufficient. Sammy stays on. The NPP, however, want a stiffer punishment for the gem and have petitioned CHRAJ and the Special Prosecutor for better answers.
Split in the middle
We are all split in the middle–for various reasons and for different interests. Beyond these columns, I have some interest in this matter because of family and friends who do not see beyond Sammy’s tribe. I was transported to Prof PLO Lumumba’s lectures on tribe and politics in Africa, when I started hearing calls for Sammy’s head after the video went viral. Instead of weighing how Sammy’s indiscretions will survive any good governance test, my uncles worried that their tribesman from Bono was in trouble. Sammy is from Wamanafo, a few villages after my mother’s village. The people of Wamanafo and Abonsrakrom look out for one another.
Looking out for Sammy, my mother and my eldest uncle whose wife hails from Wamanafo, called me to express great concern about calls for Sammy’s resignation, suggesting that the Dormaahene, Oseadeeyo Nana Agyemang Badu, should immediately journey to the Jubilee House to save his son’s job. Similarly, my nephew who had attended Miracle Preparatory School in Sunyani with Sammy Gyamfi, went into prayer and fasting, beseeching the Heavens to favour his classmate in these trying times. This is how we do our politics.
In Africa, politicians are creations of tribes, and the people of their tribes cheer them on and swear to protect them when they err. He may not be a good politician, but he is good enough for his tribesmen, who would be quick to overlook his misdeeds because he is their own. In PLO Lumumba’s words, if a politician is corrupt, his tribesmen are happy to claim him as their corrupt son, not anybody’s, and dig up worst cases to justify his foibles. The Kenyan public intellectual and legal icon regrets that there is no hygiene in African politics because of these practices.
Political hygiene
The NPP is baying for Sammy’s blood not because they want hygiene in our politics, not anymore than the NDC wants the NPP in opposition forever. The NPP sees Sammy’s troubles as a golden opportunity to sink the golden boy and spin out a disaffecting tale of corruption against the new Mahama government. Sammy may be a great communicator, but he is great for the NDC, not for the NPP. This is how adversarial politics works. A political operative in our governance system puts it more succinctly: When the cow is black, say it is white. Another justifies millions of dollars found under a minister’s bed as funeral donations. No hygiene here.
What were Sammy’s worst faults in this almsgiving episode? Where in the world is charity ever a crime? Uncle Kwesi has warned that public commentators are not doing Sammy any good when they argue that the young politician has the right to donate personal resources out of the abundance of his kindness. They sink him even further when they compare his $800 cash public donation with Cecelia Dapaah’s millions under her bed, and other infractions in the past administration.
There is nothing like small reputational damage in politics. In Canada, a glass of orange juice worth $16 cost the job of Bev Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, who was accused of overspending taxpayer dollars at a swanky London hotel. Meanwhile, nobody queried Candidate Trump when he was filmed distributing $100 bills to shoppers at a supermarket during the 2024 American elections. Who opts to see the optics decides what they opt to see. The optics of giving foreign currency in public may not look good, because of what the NPP calls the SGS (Sammy Gyamfi Standard). The suave communicator is holding a mirror to our faces. If you see yourself in the mirror, put a sock in it for Sammy!
Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin
Tissues Of The Issues
Ottawa, Canada
[email protected]
