Prof. Dr. Dr. Ochtere Addai Mensah writes:
THE NPP’S BAMBA QUESTION: COMPETENCE IS NOT A UNIVERSITY CERTIFICATE
The mockery in some quarters’ surrounding Kwadwo Boadu’s ( Bamba) election as First Vice Chairman exposes a rather uncomfortable prejudice: the assumption that political leadership must be validated by academic pedigree.
That is a dangerous standard for a political party is not a university faculty, and a First Vice Chairman is not being appointed to lecture constitutional law. The job is political organisation, mobilisation, strategy, coordination and, above all, delivery. If delegates considered Bamba the person best equipped to perform that role, his educational background does not invalidate their judgment.
In fact, the argument that someone without a university degree is somehow unqualified for senior political leadership says more about the arrogance of the critic than about the capacity of the politician.
Politics has never been a contest in which certificates alone produce results. Ghana’s political history is full of people whose influence came from organising people, understanding communities, building relationships, taking risks and delivering under pressure. Those are skills that cannot always be acquired in a lecture hall.
And there is another point the critics conveniently miss: Bamba did not appoint himself. Delegates elected him. If people who actually participated in the party's internal democratic process assessed the candidates and placed Bamba ahead of Nana Bee and Nana Akomea, the appropriate question is not, “Where is his university degree?” The appropriate question is, “What did the delegates see in him?”
Perhaps they saw something increasingly important in modern political competition: practical political competence.
The NPP has every right to evolve from a party whose leadership credentials are judged partly by social status and educational pedigree into one that places greater emphasis on political effectiveness (especially if the happenings on the political front are a foretaste of how the 2028 elections will be fought). If that is what this election represents, then it should be welcomed rather than ridiculed.
The real examination begins now. Bamba must prove that the confidence placed in him was justified. He must organise, mobilise, build unity, withstand political pressure and contribute meaningfully to the party's preparations for 2028. If he fails, critics will have their evidence. If he succeeds, the “no university degree” argument will be exposed for what it always was: an argument from prejudice rather than performance.
Ultimately, the ballot of delegates is a more relevant qualification for a party office than the sneer of spectators.
THE NPP HAS ELECTED A POLITICIAN, NOT A PROFESSOR.
Now let the man work.
The Horns of the Altar!!!