Can We Trust Kofi Adams?

This weekend, delegates of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) will converge at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi for a national delegates� congress. The objective is to elect national executive members of the party, who will be responsible for running its affairs in various capacities for the next four years. One main ingredient that the delegates are expected to be looking out for as they make their choices from the many contestants of the various positions, is the question of TRUST. One person whose decision to vie for a position again in the national executive of the NDC has widely invoked the question of trust is Mr Kofi Adams, who now wants to become national organiser of the party. This simple but very important question is, CAN WE TRUST MR KOFI ADAMS AS NATIONAL ORGANISER OF THE NDC? For one to win the trust of his party, particularly with regards to those who have had the opportunity to be national executive members, the party folks simply have to judge by their track record as to how dedicated and loyal they have been to the course of the party. This implies that to pass the loyalty test, party official must have remained unquestionably committed to the party and its government in every sense of the word- in bad and good times and in easy and difficult times. For obvious reasons, the name of Mr Kofi Adams appears to be synonymous with something that irritates the ears of the overwhelming majority of NDC members. That is, Friends of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings (FONKAR) and its related alleged Kofi Adams� secret deal with New Patriotic Party�s (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere Darko against a second term presidency of then President John Evans Atta Mills. It is a fact that Mr Kofi Adams fronted the activities of FONKAR, even though he denies ever being a member of Mrs Rawlings� movement to block the second term bid of then President Atta Mills by taking over as flagbearer of the NDC. His exploits in recruiting disciples for FONKAR could not have eluded probing eyes and ears at the time. So that cannot be in contention, to begin with. It is also a fact that Mr Kofi Adams was for some time suspended as a national executive of the NDC when a said secret tape with his alleged voice was heard telling NPP�s Gabby Asare Otchere Darko in effect that he was ready to do everything within his power in helping the NPP to come to power in the 2012 elections. It is again a fact that Mr Kofi Adams was reinstated after sometime, following inconclusive investigations into the authenticity of the voices on the said secret tape due to lack of technological knowhow. This is what has made Mr Kofi Adams� case even worse as far as many an NDC faithful is concerned. Strictly, he is cleared based on the inability of the investigators to conclude their work because of a technical hitch. But this has thickened the clouds of doubts hanging on Kofi Adams as regards his innocence or guilt. The big lingering question is as to what is the reality? Did he, or did he not, is a question which still hangs in the air. It would be remembered that the conversation between the two persons on the secret tape was supposedly held after the defeat of the FONKAR candidate, Mrs Rawlings by the late President Atta Mills by some 87%, where Mr Kofi Adams was allegedly speaking to his friend from the congress grounds in Sunyani. It must be noted that what was most revealing about this whole episode is not so much about the back and forth regarding the said secret tape in particular, which could be described by those who believe in its authenticity as the icing on the cake, but Mr Kofi Adams open hostilities towards the then Atta Mills-led NDC government, which clearly fed into his work as spokesperson for former President Jerry John Rawlings who had adopted a hard stance against the then NDC government. Pronouncements made by Mr Kofi Adams in the media against the Atta Mills-led NDC government when apart from being an NDC national executive, he was supposed to be a representative of the party�s on the panel discussion on various radio and television stations. It is also important to note that Mrs Rawlings and some of her FONKAR disciples broke away from the NDC to form a new political party, the National Democratic Party (NDP)which has since worked tirelessly in tandem with the NPP to bring the NDC down. Indeed, it was Mr Kofi Adams who first indicated on one of his radio programmes on Adom FM that a breakaway party from the NDC was in the horizon. Something significant however happened soon after the sudden death of President Atta Mills. Mr Kofi Adams� suddenly changed his hard stance against the government which had then been taken over by President John Dramani Mahama. The attacks, castigations, innuendoes and vilifications of President Atta Mills and the government suddenly stopped, indicating clearly that his main beef had to do with a personal problem he had with the late President Atta Mills and his government, even though he was the party�s deputy general secretary. This again brings to the fore the very relevant question. Considering Mr Kofi Adam�s way of politics as he demonstrated under President Atta Mills, will he not do same again against the party if he yet again picks up a personal grudge with the Mahama-led government, irrespective of his position as national organiser of the party? How can we trust Kofi Adams as National Organiser of the NDC? How can any NDC person today beat his chest and say that as for Mr Kofi Adams, he will never turn his back on the NDC no matter what?