Retired army chief turned security analyst, Captain Budu Koomson, has decried the lack of emphasis placed on emotional intelligence for persons in power.
“The essence of emotional intelligence is almost not paid any attention in Ghana. We have emotional babies in very big positions in Ghana here,” He said on The Big Issue.
His comments were in relation to the scrutiny of Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, following the murder of Tiger Eye PI investigative journalist, Ahmed Hussein Suale.
Mr. Agyapong has been criticised for inciting violence against the slain journalist and exposing his identity in 2018 when the exposé on corruption in Ghana football set to be released.
Though the MP only called for Ahmed Hussein Suale to be beaten if he stepped on the property of NET2 TV, which he owns, Capt. Budu Koomson said those comments could not be taking lightly following the murder.
“I would put a lot of weight on it not just with Kennedy Agyapong but with everybody who is in a leadership position… you have to be conscious and responsible for your utterances.”
Capt. Budu Koomson also said we had a crop of leaders that cannot show restraint.
‘They can’t control their anger, they can’t control their passion. They can’t control their fingers from going into public tills. They can’t control their appetite for personal aggrandizement at the expense of the people. It is all over the place.”
He feels more credence should be put on emotional intelligence when selecting and assessing leaders.
“It has nothing to do with your IQ or your professor doctorate degrees. If you are a thief and we give you a cassock, you will steal the wine.”
Complicity in killing
Also on the show, a lawyer, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, said Mr. Agyapong had to bear some blame for the murder of the journalist.
“He [Ken Agyapong] has sobered up. It has hit him that he actually could have been the door through which this could have happened, and I think he knows he bears some responsibility. Whether he likes it or not, he bears some responsibility for what has happened.”
The condemnation for Mr. Agyapong’s purported indirect role in the murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale has come far and wide, stretching as far as the US Congress.
After a number of journalism watchdogs and civil society groups home and abroad condemned Mr. Agyapong for endangering Ahmed Hussein Suale, a US Congressman, Hank Johnson even urged the US’ FBI to join in investigations into his death.
Mr. Johnson in a letter to the US Secretary of State also said the US government must look at possible sanctions, including a travel ban, Mr. Agyapong over his conduct and utterances against the deceased prior to his killing.
Ken’s defence
Mr. Agyapong has insisted that he has nothing to do with the journalist’s death.
“This is what I said. This boy is not relevant to my life. This boy is irrelevant to my life. Why would I be stupid and order people to kill him looking at how far God has brought me? He has not offended me in any way. They should look for those who may be behind this heinous act. This is just cheap propaganda,” he said a few hours after the news of the journalist’s death broke on Thursday.
Following this, later on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen that day, the MP went on an expletive-laden rant attacking Ahmed Hussein Suale’s boss Anas Aremeyaw Anas for suggesting he was a prime suspect in the murder.
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citinewsroom
