Dr. Arthur Kobina Kennedy wants to know from Malik Kweku Baako Junior when would have been expedient to publish his book “CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH”.

The following is a rejoinder from Dr. Kennedy to comments attributed to Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, on Peace FM, which was written and published by Myjoyonline.

Dear Mr Sefa Kayi,

RE: MALIK KWEKU BAAKO’S COMMENTS ON KOKROKOO REGARDING “CHASING THE ELEPANT INTO THE BUSH”

Kindly permit me to react to comments made by your esteemed panelist, Malik Kweku Baako on your show about my book, “CHASING THE ELEPHANT INTO THE BUSH”

He is reported to have described my book as “politically immature and inexpedient”.
Furthermore, as reported on “MYJOYONLINE” he described the timing of the book’s release as “tactless” at best and at worse “naïve”. He opined that any serious political party would conduct a research to find out the reasons for the outcome and implied that this has been done. Since he has been consistently privy to party information not available to most members despite not being a member of the party, I take him at his word.

It is a sad day for our country when a leading journalist takes to condemning a book that he has not read. How are we going to modernize when leading lights of our society display such backward tendencies? When would be the best time to write the book? 2012? 2016? 2060?

As to my maturity, I have never been called immature since I was a student. Even while Mr. Baako and his friends where drinking in the pseudo-Marxist ranting of Rawlings et al in the 1980’s, I knew better. I knew it was a futile ideology that would lead Ghana nowhere and I stood against it. Our history has fully borne out my maturity and his immaturity on that issue.

Writing about elections is a common feature of advanced and modern democracies. Indeed, as I write, Sarah Palin is on a tour discussing her book about the 2008 campaign in the United States while books by Cheney and Bush are scheduled to come out.

Furthermore, the idea that a book about the 2008 elections will hurt the NPP has no factual basis. Indeed, exposing the election-day shenanigans of the NDC and our woeful failure to prevent them as well as other mistakes by the campaign is the surest guarantee that those will not be repeated in 2012. To modernize, we must do what modern societies do and writing about politics is a key feature of modern societies.

Finally, I urge all Ghanaians to read the book for themselves, either now from book outlets, including amazon.com around the world, or in stores in Ghana after the New Year, rather than listen to the empty pontifications of those who have not bothered to read the book.

Arthur Kobina Kennedy

Tags: arthur kennedy, CHASING THE ELEPANT INTO THE BUSH, new book