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Ben Ephson: NPP must be grateful to Arthur K
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- Created on Monday, 14 December 2009 00:00
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Ben Ephson: NPP must be grateful to Arthur K
Story by Isaac Yeboah
Pollster and Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, has described Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy's book, as a very fair book.
Ben Ephson told Radio Gold in Accra that a lot of happenings within the New Patriotic Party confirm Dr. Arthur Kennedy's assertions in the book that there was a lack of proper coordination in the prosecution of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's campaign to win the presidency, some of which have been denied by those concerned.
Ben Ephson said for instance, he would take with a pinch of salt, former President J.A. Kufuor's denial of Arthur K's claim in the book that he (Kufuor) did not go to Tain for the 2008 presidential election decider between Nana Addo and Prof. J.E.A. Mills because of security reasons.
He said what has emerged from the former president is that he was told in Wenchi by the NPP campaign team, that the party was seeking an injunction on the election and therefore it would not come on, claiming also that it was while on his way back from Wenchi that he heard on radio, that he (Kufuor) could not make it to Tain because of security reasons,
I must put on record that if you read the book, he also apportions some blame levels to himself and his committee but one thing which comes out clearly is that there was lack of coordination between the campaign team of Nana Akufo-Addo and the presidency. For example if the campaign team of Nana Akufo-Addo had decided that they would not go to Tain to campaign and take part in the election, they could have by a phone-call told the president. The president drove all the way to Wenchi, en-route to Tain for him to be told that they were going to file an injunction, there would be no vote in Tain then he travels back to Accra - clearly this is an example which the president explanation confirmed what Arthur K had used as a lack of coordination in his book. I think the book is a very fair book.
While admitting that he could not think for the president (Kufuor), Ben Ephson asked rhetorically; "If you are the president of the country, would you admit that you felt so insecure that you couldn't go to a place? I think that it's for everybody to judge because if the president said he heard it on radio, once again, he was helping Arthur Kennedy because if you are the president and you hear that they say that you are not going to Tain because of security reasons government in power they had lots of outlets to deny that radio story and nothing was done.
Ben Ephson said the book is a fair book because some of the happenings (which he heard from credible sources and some of which were almost in the public domain) that were said to have happened in the party, including an alleged altercation between Nana Addo and President Kufuor at Wenchi, which might have slighted the party, are not in the book.
I'm saying that if you read Arthur K's book, it's a good book, the grassroots, the foot soldiers will learn something from it, the NPP as they head towards 2012 and the NDC currently in power will also learn a lot from the book.The attempts to try and punch holes in the book will rather cement any holes that they try to create.
He said from where he sits as an outsider, he believed anybody who wished the NPP well would commend Arthur Kennedy for the book.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
