Dr. Rainer Akumperigya a law lecturer at the Ghana institute of management and public administration (GIMPA) has shredded Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI over the debate of why intellectuals or neutrals are not supposed to engage in politics.
Franklin Cudjoe who came to the defence of Prof H. Kwesi Prempeh over social media users trolling and branding him a politician for not being proactive and vocal in the fight against corruption as he did in 2016 received similar treatment from Ghanaians.
Cudjoe wrote on Facebook that ” It must be made clear, that Prof. H Kwasi Prempeh is no pawn of any political party. He is an intellectual whose primary aim is to banish the mundane from our midst!!!”.
However one of the response with fire came from the law lecturer who waded into the debate and quizzed, how did we allow this to grow in our politics that, to be an intellectual means to not belong to a political party or that “neutrality” is a pre-requisite to the validity of your intellectualism?”
He advanced his reply to Franklin by adding that “Several examples exist of international scholars who openly politically identify- Paul Krugman, the distinqished scholar who won a noble prize in Economics is a fierce Democrat, several Harvard law professors where we go to learn and come back and demand to be worshipped are openly democrats same with Republicans. President Obama himself was a law professor at Columbia Law Sch prior to becoming president”.
Rainer further added that, it’s irritating and that “If you choose to stay behind and not get politically ‘dirty’, that’s a perfect choice to make but that must not make you believe that those who get into politics or engage in community organization to further their ideas do not equally hold superior ideas”.
Read below Rainer Akumperigya’s reply to Franklin Cudjoe.
“How did we allow this misconception to grow in our politics- that, to be an intellectual means to not belong to a political party or that “neutrality” is a necessary pre-requisite to the validity of your intellectualism?
It’s a dreadful proposition to think that Prof. Mills should not have been our Prosident just as by that same logic, it’s an abberation for the disquished Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang to be our next Vice President. How about Prof. Adu Boahen of the NPP of blessed memory?
If the people presumably with the biggest ideas in our society, some how are precluded from getting partisan, how do their ideas find expression in our material well being?
Several examples exist of international scholars who openly politically identify- Paul Krugman, the distinqished scholar who won a noble prize in Economics is a fierce Democrat, several Harvard law professors where we go to learn and come back and demand to be worshipped are openly democrats same with Republicans. President Obama himself was a law professor at Columbia Law Sch prior to becoming president.
If you choose to stay behind and not get politically ‘dirty’, that’s a perfect choice to make but that must not make you believe that those who get into politics or engage in community organization to further their ideas do not equally hold superior ideas.
Just stop it already, it’s irritating.”
Filed By : Agaatorne Douglas Asaah/awakenewsroom.com