BREAKING NEWS!!! HAS OKOAMPA BEEN SACKED?
It is very interesting that without any explanations, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., has all of a sudden dropped an important "accolade" to his name! The "accolade" in question is none other than his hallowed membership to the institute dedicated to his "main man", Dr. J. B. Danquah! I find it very significant that Okoampa has suddenly dropped the use of: "He is a Governing Board Member of the Accra-based Danquah Institute (DI), the pro-democracy think tank"
In his most recent feature article, "Don't Patronize Me, Dr Kennedy!" By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D. Feature Article | 5 hours ago, here is how our Associate Professor now presents himself: "*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is a former Undergraduate Ford Foundation Fellow at the City College of the City University of New York. He is currently Associate Professor of English at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York."
Meanwhile, just a day before, in "Arthur Kennedy is Being Sexist and Petty" By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D. Feature Article | 1 day ago, he was still: "*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is a Governing Board Member of the Accra-based Danquah Institute (DI), the pro-democracy think tank, and the author of 21 books, including “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net."
Okoampa is capable of getting himself sacked and keeping it as low-profile as possible! Two years ago, when he was sacked from the New York branch of the NPP, nothing that we said could squeeze a single comment out of his then very sad throats! As I noted in Is It Not Time For Akuffo Addo To Distance Himself From The Danquah Institute Altogether? Saturday, March 27, 2010, A Rejoinder to : "Who Are These “Parliamentarian Drivers”? By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article of Tuesday, 16 March 2010:
"I want to appeal to all Ghanaians from across the political spectrum to denounce this deeply insulting article. I specifically call upon Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to consider these comments serious enough and accord the same attention and time for condemnation as he did to the recent assault by his body guards against the supporters of his political opponents at the party's headquarters! This political contagion can and must be contained immediately. Okoampa must be isolated politically. We should erect a political cordonsanitaire against him, strictly and voluntarily imposed by all proud and peace-loving Ghanaians. "The only place available for the purveyors of doom and damnation of Ghanaians is political quarantine. All those found to be associated with such an idiot, do so at their own political risk and peril!
It is time for all right-thinking Ghanaians irrespective of political hue, to distance themselves from the greed driven gamblers with our future and our destiny as a nation. Okoampa has already pointed out that Nana Akuffo Addo is his main man for the 2012 elections (see: "NPP Flagbearership: My Choice for Election 2012", by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Feature Article, Wed, 03 Mar 2010. The question Nana Akuffo Addo needs to answer is, is Okoampa his man? I am sure it is not too much to ask of our potential future presidents< the simple question of how close they themselves stand in relation to extraordinarily toxic opinions of their very close associates, particularly one who expresses su flagrant and self-confessing hatred for a country we call home?
I am even sure that Okoampa himself does not expect to treat Ghanaians this way and get away with it! He has already been dismissed before by the New York branch of the NPP for similar outrageous declarations calling for war in Ghana, in the lead up to the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections. He is used to being attacked for his aggressively stupid opinions even within his own party. The attempt by the Danquah Institute to bring Okoampa back from political ostracism begun by the New York branch of the NPP is a disservice to the good people of Ghana.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need a clear apology from Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., the author of these abominations! It is time Ghanaians of all walks of life put maximum pressure on Nana Akuffo Addo to come out once more to condemn the work of his notorious henchman or go down with him! I call on ordinary Ghanaians, especially the rank and file of the NPP to join me in this condemnation and show the way Akuffo Addo to follow and condemn Okoampa's ill-considered words!"
I think what has been going on behind the scenes smacks of a full-scale war within the Governing Board members of the infamous Danquah Institute. For instance, the phrase, "the Dzelukope Mafia", is used frequently in the writings of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., so many times that I have lost count. It was thus "a very special experience" to see his reaction to a similar charge by a fellow member of the Governing Board of the Danquah Institute, Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy:
"Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe has an unfortunate tendency to see many things around him in the context of his family and his tribe. The history of Commonwealth Hall and Legon is not a history of his family and the institution we are discussing is not “The J.B. Danquah Academy”--- It is the University of Ghana. While I join him in honouring the contributions of his illustrious ancestors to Commonwealth Hall, I yield no quarter to anyone in my contribution to the Hall and its history. I served as President of Commonwealth Hall and can assert that in the eyes of true Vandals, we are all equal in the eternal Vandal family. It should trouble all of us that some members of Mr. Danquah's family seem to share Nkrumah's unhealthy penchant for naming things after himself. Unlike Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe, I believe that in the modern Ghana that we seek to build, each and every one of us must be judged, not by the deeds of some illustrious ancestors but on our own merit.
Finally, I urge Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe to mind his language. His disagreeable pieces do not serve the causes and the people he supports well. It is the misguided effusions of people like him that tends to give credence to the unfair pejorative appellation of members of his esteemed family as the “Kyebi Mafia”. As Ghanaian patriots, let us disagree if we must but let us do so with courtesy." (Re: Arthur Kennedy is being sexist and petty, by Arthur Kobina Kennedy, Dr. Feature Article | 1 day ago)
Okoampa calls that "cowardly" and "insolent":
"It is also rather cowardly for the former NPP presidential aspirant to hide behind his rejoinder to my article and call my family and sub-ethnicity names. This is not the first time that Dr. Kennedy has used insolent epithets like “Akyem Mafia” and “Kyebi Mafia” in an article; and on those past occasions, such usage had absolutely nothing, whatsoever, to do with any perceived crime or offence that I might be plausibly said to have committed against this Fante native of Asebu." - Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.,(Don't Patronize Me, Dr Kennedy! Feature Article | 20 hours ago)
It is not very clear at all why Okoampa chose to attack Arthur K, but the charge of "sexist" has been effectively repudiated by Dr. Kennedy:
"The charge of Sexism is false. The esteemed Doctor misses the central point of my argument entirely. My quarrel with the decision by the Legon authorities is not with their desire to make Commonwealth a mixed Hall--- My quarrel is with their desire to use that, by their own admission, as a punishment. Indeed, by framing the introduction of women into Commonwealth Hall as a punishment, the University authorities have demonstrated a sexism that should trouble all of us. It is offensive to tell women who are being sent to Commonwealth Hall that they are being sent there as punishment. The addition of women to Commonwealth Hall, if it is ever done, must be done for positive reasons.
Next, I am baffled by Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe's claim that I have injected Mr. Kofi Annan's name into the crisis unnecessarily. Right from the beginning, it was the University authorities who made the heckling of Mr. Annan one of the key reasons for their action. Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe himself wrote in his article that “The Legon Executive Council's decision to gender-mix Commonwealth Hall follows the inexcusably boorish heckling of former UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and other dignitaries of both national and global renown, by a group of student residents of the Hall during the University of Ghana's most recent graduation exercise. It is also significant to highlight the fact that Mr. Annan currently serves as Chancellor of Ghana's flagship academy.”"
TO BE CONTINUED...
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