Why Does President Akufo-Addo Not Appoint The Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo As Ghana's Next High Commissioner To The UK?

To use an analogy from the game of soccer, one wonders whether President Akufo-Addo cannot  gain more from Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo's many talents, by shifting him from the midfield position to the centre forward position instead.

The Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo is no shrinking violet - and will bat well for Ghana (to use an analogy from my favourite game cricket), if he is sent to the UK as Ghana's next high commissioner to the Court of St James.

Yaw Osafo Marfo, who is now the new Akufo-Addo administration's senior minister - appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to be vetted not too long ago, following his nomination as senior minister by the president.

It would have been obvious to any keen observer who watched the proceedings of the committee, that Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo was in a combative mood that day.

Clearly, from his body language and tone of voice, it was obvious that he was in no mood to tolerate any disrespectful comments from the committee's minority caucus' members.

In a sense, he  succeeded somewhat, in projecting himself to the committee as a whole as a wise, experienced, competent and world-class professional.

And to the committee's minority caucus' members in particular, he sought to project the image of an experienced politician forced by circumstances to be questioned by youngsters in their salad days in Ghana's  political world. 

One got the distinct impression that he was restraining himself from showing his irritation with political neophytes who he had to condescend to answer irrelevant questions from. Talk about arrogance.

Alas, his arrogance that day has now backfired: the appointments committee's minority caucus' members were quick to spot his recent embarrassment.

They noted what they saw as his comeuppence with satisfaction: The minister of finance's put-down (when he swiftly made it clear to the world that he was definitely not going to use money from the heritage fund into which a portion of oil revenues are lodged - despite  what the Hon Osafo Marfo  had been reported in the media to have suggested to the contrary).

The deflation of Osafo Marfo's massive ego must have been palpable to the Appointment Committee's minority caucus' members - but they must also have felt some pity for him somewhat: on a purely human level. Poor man.

As a matter of fact, Yaw Osafo Marfo's discomfiture, has suddenly made it clear to many Ghanaians that the minister of finance has a mind all his own - and will not brook interference in the  policy formulation and implementation roles assigned to his ministry from any quarter whatsoever. So there.

In short, it has made Yaw Osafo Marfo's  role as the new administration's Czar overlooking  the work of  all governmentt ministers - including economic policy formulation and implementation - appear rather redundant.

Could Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei not do so perfectly, after all?  Is he not a heavy hitter too, I ask?

In any case, despite that apparent slap-in-the-face he has suffered,  our country must perforce  tap Yaw Osafo Marfo's considerable gifts, for the nation-building process now underway.

Post-brexit Britain is keen to leverage emerging markets to replace Europe's single market - access to which it is now going to lose when it finally leaves the European Union (EU).

It is a unique moment in Britain's modern history - as she seeks to realign her trading relationships around the world. And it is the perfect time to make the many win-win investment opportunities available in Ghana known to UK Plc.

It is the considered view of this blog that if the President does some lateral thinking on the subject, he will soon come to realise that indeed Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo is uniquely qualified to be a very effective high commissioner to the UK for Ghana at this juncture of the history of the longstanding Ghana-UK trading relationship.

He is a  very capable gentleman who can drum up considerable investment into Ghana from a post-Brexit UK - now desperate to find new markets: and therefore quite keen to leverage its Commonwealth links to access  thriving emerging markets around the world.

The question is: Why does President Akufo-Addo not appoint the Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo as Ghana's next high commissioner to the Court of St James?