Wednesday, 17 March 2010 04:58

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked. Leadership is defined by results not attributes” – Peter Ferdinand Drucker. The word ‘arrogance’ was one of the strongest weapons used by Agya Ofuntuo’s campaign team against opponents during the Zu-za primaries and general elections.

And it helped them to wrestle power from Osono, didn’t it?

During the Zu-za primaries in 2006, two clear years before the 2008 thumb printing exercise, Agya Ofuntuo’s campaign strategy was to espouse his so-called humbleness, peddle mendacious stories about his fiercest opponent, Ekow Spio-Garbrah and drum it home that he (Spio) was an arrogant brute.

The strategy worked to perfection as most delegates left the congress grounds singing, “Spio is arrogant, Ofuntuo all the way.” Sticking to the popular maxim that a good coach does not change a winning team and a winning strategy, Agya Ofuntuo maintained his campaign team and most importantly, the winning strategy for the general elections.

In the heat of the 2008 campaign, the Osono candidate, Nana Addo, was labeled as a no-gooder and a drug addict by the propaganda machinery of Agya Ofuntuo.

Like Uncle Spio, he was also called an arrogant brute, who would not mind trampling upon Asomdwekromanians if voted into power. Again, the strategy worked perfectly as majority of the electorate swallowed the bait and joined members of the Zu-za family to sing, “Nana is arrogant, Ofuntuo all the way”.

We are all waiting patiently for the humble and pious Agya Ofuntuo to reduce fuel prices drastically, introduce the one-time national health insurance scheme and fill our empty pockets with cowries. But that wasn’t to be.

The price of fuel has since appreciated drastically and for the first time in as many years, Asomdwekromanians could be seen queuing for fuel at filling stations. Food prices have almost doubled, with the prices of other essential goods and services becoming unbearable by the day. Everywhere I turn, everyone is complaining. Teachers, nurses, traders, drivers and ‘kayayee’ (porters) are complaining that things are worse today than 14 moons ago.

Things are so bad that people can hardly afford two quality meals a day. With the exception of members of the ‘konum tea’ club, who are ‘chopping’ our cowries ‘nyafu-nyafu’, everyone is crying for help. About a week ago, I went to the Kwabenya Stone Quarry to buy some stones and I saw a nursing mother busily breaking stones under a sweltering atmospheric condition.

The pitiable sight led me to buy the stones from her. When I was about to leave, I mischievously remarked that I wondered why she and her colleagues were suffering so much when we have a very ‘humble’ and ‘pious’ man as president. Her response was not only cheeky but thought-provoking as well. “Ibi humbleness we go chop?” she asked.

So in my tranquil moments I ask myself; which is worse: a humble but incompetent leader or an arrogant but competent one? Honestly, I think a humble but incompetent leader is worse and I will tell you why.

We all accept the fact that being humble is a rare virtue that we should all strive for, but bread and butter issue is not about who is humble, neither is it about how arrogant one is. It is about who can use his acumen to manage the limited resources of the state to maximize output and about who can help assuage the difficulties that the masses are going through everyday. To parody Peter Ferdinand Drucker, effective leadership is about achieving results and not about being called ‘Asomdwehene’ (Prince of peace) or otherwise.
Please do not get me wrong.

I’m not in the least challenging the fact that our president is a law professor; neither am I denying that he is extremely intelligent. My argument is that acquiring a zillion degrees or being humble does not make one an effective leader and Agya Ofuntuo’s performance so far is proof enough.

By the way, do you think those saying Nana is arrogant really believe so? I believe it is just a ploy to make him look bad in the eyes of the electorate.The average Asomdwekromanian, they say, is now discerning, but I cannot tell how discerning they are.

However, I have the strong conviction that my kinsmen would be discerning enough to realize that being humble or arrogant has no bearing whatsoever on one’s competence or otherwise. Next time any politician comes to tell my compatriots to vote for him because he is humble, I expect them to ask him, “Ibi your humbleness we go chop?” I rest my pen for now and I hope to see you next week!

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