How critics have fueled the Agyapong campaign

Opinion

4 months ago

Critics often dismiss Agyapong for lacking a university degree. Yet, history is filled with leaders who proved their worth through action, not academic titles. Agyapong’s record of service and problem-solving reflects this tradition. Vision, integrity, and real-world experience matter more than degrees. Agyapong has demonstrated these qualities in his public service and leadership.Effective leaders build strong teams, listen to diverse perspectives, and make sound decisions—traits Agyapong has shown throughout his career. Political systems like the United States make no educational requirements for the highest office, emphasizing capability and public trust over credentials.Agyapong not only offers pragmatic and innovative proposals but also stands out for his resilience and defiant spirit, resonating deeply with ordinary voters. His campaign is more than just policy—it’s an attitude, captured by the defiant spirit of “Don’t tread on me!” This attitude, combined with a record of pragmatic proposals and entrepreneurial achievements, sets Agyapong apart.The NPP’s history shows that endless debate and failed strategies have cost the party dearly. Now, practical leadership and unity behind a results-driven candidate like Agyapong are essential. Agyapong’s rise has put critics in a bind: join his growing movement or risk irrelevance, as his support among NPP delegates and ordinary Ghanaians continues to grow.An alienation of affectionsAgyapong’s long-standing loyalty to the NPP and his embodiment of values like discipline and honesty have earned him widespread admiration among Ghanaians, reminiscent of the public affection once shown to Nkrumah and Rawlings.Anti-Agyapong intellectuals have a problem with their serial put-downs of the Agyapong campaign, mainly because, to them, it lacks intellectual respectability. A few of them have expressed sympathy with the truths of Hon. Ken Agyapong’s campaign’s pragmatic solutions to national problems, yet, by and large, they have decidedly mixed feelings about the populist Agyapong campaign.Notable and credible strategist have warned NPP members that too much emphasis on the “ugly” aspect of the Agyapong campaign should not blind NPP delegates and Ghanaians to “the fact that some of what’s fueling the Agyapong campaign relies on a completely legitimate anger directed at NPP leadership who allowed the near-death of the party to occur in the first place following the miserable defeat of the party in the last general elections.NPP delegates must view the Agyapong campaign as a “pumped boil” alerting us to the infection lurking beneath the skin of our body politic. A majority of NPP delegates have expressed sentiments like those of many leading party members, more sympathetic to the Agyapong campaign, sentiments that the so-called intellectuals grudgingly admit.The frustration of the NPP critics is real. Agyapong’s solutions—shaped by his private sector success—are pragmatic and achievable, addressing the root causes of discontent. If this is the closest that our public intellectuals can get to empathizing with the Agyapong campaign, by looking upon it as a “pumped boil” on the body politic, then perhaps we should consider the possibility that the Ghanaian intellectual elite has become radically out of touch with the visceral sensibility of a large chunk of our nation’s population. The sentiment might not be a serious problem for Agyapong’s ardent critics, who, by and large, have long since ceased to be interested in influencing the many Ghanaians who have expressed sympathy for the Agyapong campaign.Hon. Agyapong’s rise puts his critics in a terrible bind. If they hope to retain their influence in NPP, they must either join the winning, progressive Agyapong campaign, too, or else battle it out to the bitter end. The bitter-end strategy, however, is fraught with peril. When these intellectuals attack his campaign, they win accolades from within their circles but make no dent in the Agyapong campaign itself, owing to its support from the NPP delegates and the massive national grassroots. Nevertheless, despite the critics, the Agyapong campaign preaches peace and unity in the NPP.The alienation of affection between the critics and the NPP base is like any marriage that has fallen on hard times — it is not easy to determine who first alienated whom, where the blame lies, or even whether there should be any blame at all. The critics, appalled by the Agyapong campaign’s success, of course, blame Hon. Agyapong for starting a successful movement. Logic 101 points out that ad hominem attacks are invalid. However, I’m not trying to rebut these intellectuals and supporters. Instead, I’m seeing the social psychology of critics of Agyapong —a point Agyapong supporters must examine in greater depth.Social influence and political changeSocial circles shape political views. Many align with elite opinions for prestige, but Agyapong’s movement draws strength from ordinary people’s common sense and independence from elite influence.This process must be familiar to anyone who frequently passes between opposing camps. An individual who is in polite company one day but in “rude company” the next will readily appreciate the pressure exerted by the group mind. To be accepted and respected by one group, he must repudiate the values and ideals of the other, a problem most of us avoid by limiting our company to a single group that shares our values and tastes. But this solution comes at a price. Those who restrict their circle to a single group of like-minded friends and acquaintances will inevitably become victims of an irresistible illusion.They’re normally unaware of the immense influence their specific social circle exercises over their own ideas and attitudes. If asked why they hold certain views and opinions, these people will sincerely argue that they have chosen to subscribe to them based entirely on their own deliberations and reflections.There are advantages to everything, including ignorance. If you are too ignorant to know who the elite opinion makers are, you will be entirely indifferent to the opinions they hold. As a result of their ignorance of such matters, they do not judge ideas by whether they come up to the standards of intellectual respectability accepted by the elite. But they judge them with their own common sense, caring little whether their conclusions will be shocking and scandalous to polite company. By doing so, they remain outside the influence of elite opinion makers. The Agyapong campaign has revolutionized the nature of the NPP and Ghanaian politics by highlighting the virtues of good citizenship and, in the process, politicizing the apolitical.Of course, there is nothing new in the fact that plenty of ordinary working-class Ghanaians shrug off and are indifferent to the elite opinion makers. But for most of our nation’s past, this approach to elite opinion has had a significant, costly, and corroding effect on our political system. The reason for this is simple. Those easily influenced by elite opinion through bribery and other unethical methods usually had political views of their own, but genuflect to corrosive enticements, forgetting that they have everything to lose.The NPP’s 2024 defeat shattered trust in the party’s leadership. Many former bystanders have now become active supporters of Agyapong’s campaign. Overnight, the movement has transformed the apolitical into the politically committed. Zeal has replaced apathy in the NPP’s strongholds. NPP supporters who misaligned in the last general elections have now become convinced that Agyapong is the next leader who can rescue the NPP from its present state and reverse its decline. Their suspicion and paranoia have been replaced by confidence and trust they repose in Agyapong. The attitude of party members towards those handling NPP affairs is no longer to give them more power, but rather to take away the powers that were stolen from them as they welcome their next leader, Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong.The Agyapong campaign has energized previously disengaged voters by focusing on real issues and rejecting elite gatekeeping. Attempts to dismiss his movement as lacking intellectual backing only reinforce its populist appeal.What sparked the Agyapong candidacy and campaign revolt is mounting dissatisfaction with living in a party and society in which a small group has increasingly solidified its monopoly over the majority, deciding which ideas and policies to favor and which political candidates to support.Defying the iron law of oligarchyFor better or worse, the profound decline of the NPP in the last few years is a testament to the enormous influence our elite has exercised as guardians. Ideas, customs, and traditions that no longer find favor with the stigmatized political elites are considered outdated. At the same time, the array of progressive policies of the Agyapong campaign has secured immense, widespread support. In fact, it’s the only segment of NPP supporters that has remained resistant to Agyapong’s innovative, progressive ideas and policies; the crowds on the campaign trail that enthusiastically greet him and hold up their handmade posters. Remarkably, the Agyapong supporters’ indifference to the whole idea of intellectual respectability renders them immune to the prestige pressure that molds and shapes others who do care about intellectual respectability.To put it another way, the Agyapong party can escape the otherwise all-pervasive influence of our elite because they are the people who Gramsci called “marginalized outsiders”. When referring to marginalized outsiders, Gramsci had in mind the kind of people who inhabited his native island of Sardinia. Tough and hardy, ferociously independent, stubborn in their ways, and pugnaciously proud of their own political and cultural identity, Agyapong supporters in the NPP embody the “Don’t tread on me!” attitude and are prepared to back it up with appropriate, proportionate, commensurate, and deserving policies, ideas, and action laced with empathy.The only defense that the marginalized outsider has against this onslaught is not to give a damn. And the fact that the Agyapong campaign does not give a damn about the current standards of intellectual respectability makes it problematic for the intellectual, who cannot take the same attitude. But it is also the characteristic that justifies the Agyapong campaign’s claim to be revolutionary. To be sure, it is rather a revolt of common sense against privileged opinion makers, and, by its very nature, has only constrained the NPP by the standards of intellectual respectability current in polite company. The Agyapong movement calls for a return to grassroots empowerment: “We do not need an elite to govern us. We can govern ourselves.”But this conclusion does not mean that we should toss the delusion of pure democracy into the trash bin of history. On the contrary, the iron law of oligarchy is itself the best reason for keeping the democratic delusion alive and well. The Agyapong’s philosophy of pragmatism has long recognized that an idea can be an illusion and yet still play a vital and wholly positive role by motivating people to act on it.Hon. Ken Agyapong’s political ascent has sparked debate about the true markers of effective leadership. Critics focus on his lack of academic credentials. Yet, history shows that transformative leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Lech Walesa, among others, achieved greatness through vision, practical skills, and resilience rather than formal education. Agyapong’s candidacy challenges the assumption that academic pedigree is paramount, shifting the conversation toward action, integrity, and results.History shows that only people who stand up for themselves retain freedom. The “Don’t tread on me!” spirit is vital—if lost, we lose liberty as well. Agyapong’s campaign seeks to keep this spirit alive in the NPP and Ghanaian politics.

source: Dr. Kwasi Sarpong Afrifa, New Jersey