OPINION: Frimpong Boateng, the President we’ll never get
There are some people I swear by. One of them is Pastor Mensa Anamua Otabil of the International Central Gospel Chuch (ICGC). Another is Kwaw Ansah of TV/Film Africa. Two others are Kwame Pianim and Prof Agyemang Badu Akosa.
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None of them is an angel; indeed, they have flaws that fit them into the mould of Aristotle’s definition of tragic heroes: unbendable when it is a matter of honour or principle. They will not bend even if it means death. They are like Ephraim Amu who on pain of dismissal by white missionary heads of the Akropong Training College refused to cast aside the African jumper for their western garb.
Because they do not cheat the system and refuse to be corrupted by it, people who work or associate with them often misunderstand them … until these associates, with time, see the inside of the steely character and the principles undergirding their faith and actions. These are not people looking for money. Generally, however, you cannot fail to notice them because they succeed or die still trying.
They are the ones about whom the hymn writer urges us, at their funerals, to “Now praise we great and famous men”. That hymn came alive for me while Professor J. K. Kwateboi Marmon Quartey lay in state at the forecourt of the State House (beside his younger medical colleagues), having died in the course of giving his all to humankind. In his retirement, his heart bled at the thought of thousands of men in remoter parts of Ghana who could not access medicare for prostate disorders. Recruiting younger volunteer doctors whom he was mentoring in the area of Genito-Urinary medicine, he travelled on his own charges to regional hospitals where he performed procedures to mend men’s diseased prostate. On one of those trips, he was crushed to death in a road accident, aged 82.
Such nobility of heart! That is the quality I look for when I enter the polling booth to cast my vote for a president of Ghana or a politician to represent me at the district or national assembly.
And that is why, since 1992, casting my vote has never been easy for me. In the polling booth, I realise I am looking for the picture of Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng.
Not because he is a Christian: religion may guarantee good morals but not necessarily good leadership. Not because he is a great surgeon or great professional - if that were a criterion in leadership, this country should be a paradise by now.
Professor Frimpong Boateng is a highly religious person who practises religion – not necessarily in church, but in life. The man does not define himself by what he wears, by the brand of car he drives or the size of his mansion. You can just not corrupt the guy!
Had this man been President, we would never experience ‘dumsor’ in Ghana. If this man were President, Valley View University would not be having challenges with storing the energy they produce from waste. The Appolonia village’s waste-to-energy experiment would not fail. Ghana, under the presidency of Frimpong Boateng, would not have Departments of Engineering in the universities and still experience ‘dumsor’ on our campuses. In all boarding schools, Frimpong Boateng would ensure that students produced their own requirements of crops, vegetables and fish.
As a journalist, curiosity drove me to his house where I saw his wife cooking on a gas stove: the gas coming into the stove was biogas, made from the garbage (rubbish) in the home! When he wanted to be New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer, he went round the country campaigning in a car powered by jatropha oil produced by himself. (Mind you, it does not necessarily take a scientist to do these).
As Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Hospital, he decided that every staff, without exception, deserved to be extra-financially motivated; hence, a monthly flat cash bonus to all, irrespective of position. It started. The system died when the senior professionals insisted that they deserved more than the juniors.
Read his latest book, Taming of a Monster, and learn lessons in ingenuity, selfless leadership, foresight and prudent management of resources. Learn how to transform a city such as Korle Bu (or a country) with internally-generated funds. Read his first book, Deep down my heart, and discover steely determination and selflessness in a man with capability!
If Ghanaians admire the late Lee Kwan Yew for transforming Singapore from Third World to First World, we should wait till Frimpong Boateng becomes President of Ghana.
But Frimpong Boateng will never be President of Ghana. Standing as an independent candidate is out of the question: In Ghana today, it is only a miracle that can put a non-NPP/National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate into power. In the NPP to which he belongs, he stands no chance because the succession list is a tall one. He may have to wait for perhaps 20 years. NDC? He will not fit here because his ideology is different. Convention People’s Party (CPP)? I do not know.
• That is why Frimpong Boateng will never be President of Ghana.
