May Jake Okanta Obetsebi-Lamptey's Soul Rest In Peace

May the soul of Jake Okanta Obetsebi-Lamptey - who is reported to have just passed away in the UK - rest in peace. Apparently, he died of leukemia.

One hopes that he did not suffer much pain, if any, during his illness - and that if he did it did not last for too long a period.

Unless one is a lucky survivor of cancer, it is actually hard to comprehend the pain and expense involved in fighting some terminal illnesses if one has never been through such illness before.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has lost a key strategist - and one of its most intelligent leaders.

Had he lived till the end of this year, Jake could have made a real difference for Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's quest for the presidency - as even that cabal of hard-of-hearing geniuses (with overblown ideas about themselves) in Nana Addo's  inner-circle, now causing such havoc within the NPP's ranks, and ruining its election campaign with their hare-brained tactical ideas, respected him.

His flair for marketing, definitely played a key role, in the election of the party's candidate in the December 2000 presidential election - the then candidate John Adjekum Kufuor - as the second President of Ghana's 4th Republic.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey was one of the few truly world-class individuals to hold office, as government minister, in the Ghanaian  political world, since Ghana gained its independence from Britain in 1957.

And, as minister in charge of the tourism portfolio, he most certainly had a far better grasp of the potential game-changing role that responsible tourism can play in Ghana's development, than all the ministers who thus far have been in charge of the  tourism ministry, since the 4th Republic came into being.

Perhaps Jake Okanta Obestebi-Lamptey could have eventually ended up as a presidential candidate of the NPP - or even as Ghana's president - if he had been a fluent speaker of Twi, for example. It is such a pity that he never learnt to speak any Ghanaian language fluently.

As someone who criticised him in one's writing, whenever one felt that it was in the supreme national interest to do so, one is particularly saddened by his death. Hopefully, those criticisms did not add to the burden of stress that sometimes impact human health negatively, and might have influenced the final outcome of Jake's leukemia.

In any case, despite one's frequent criticism of his party, as tourism minister, he was always helpful, when one drew his attention to particular projects that one felt needed his ministry's support.

Above all, one hopes that Jake Obestebi-Lamptey's untimely death will lead to less rancour in the politics of our country - and help reunite his much-divided party, which he once served as national chairperson, of, too.

Jake's death ought to remind all of us (politicians and journalists alike) that whiles alive, we must never forget that in the final analysis, it is our nation that will endure - not political parties and individual politicians: no matter how significant they might appear to be to one at any given point in time in our history.

We must also never forget that peace and tolerance are what our nation and its people actually require for a stable democratic system -  and help foster both in our nation's politics.

Jake has played his part in shaping our nation's destiny - and has now departed from this earth on the journey to the other side that we must all undertake one day too.

The whole nation mourns with his widow and family, as well as with the entire membership of the NPP - all of whom have our prayers: and to whom we send our heartfelt condolences at this most difficult period facing them. May Jake Okanta Obetsebi-Lamptey's soul rest in peace.