Abu Jinapor and the rare political virtue of loyalty

From the airwaves of my childhood to the corridors of power, a story of steadfast allegiance to a political cause. By Gideon Kwasi Annor , a writer and political thinker The Bible gives us Ittai the Gittite, who declared to David, “… in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be” (2 Samuel 15:21). Greek mythology gives us Argos, the faithful dog of Odysseus, whose loyalty endured twenty years of separation. Different stories, different worlds, but one enduring principle: true loyalty is not measured by the convenience of the moment, but by the consistency of one’s commitment. That is precisely how I feel whenever I see or hear Samuel Abu Jinapor. Shocked? Yes, I am talking about the same Abu Jinapor whose voice has been a familiar feature of Ghana’s political discourse for as long as I can remember.

Anytime I hear him, I am transported to my days preparing for the BECE at St Francis Junior High School in Nungua, some 20 years ago. I would ask my father, Opanin Yaw Annor of Kyebi Amanfrom, who these political figures were, and he would explain which belonged to the NDC, which belonged to the NPP, and how we were lucky to have the brightest of the brothers in our fold. Even then, Abu was making his case on the airwaves. His advocacy was so prominent that I remember hearing about his involvement in President John Agyekum Kufuor’s 2007 State Visit to the United Kingdom. I would later learn that, at just 23, he had already become a political aide to Nana Akufo-Addo, supporting his presidential ambition through the 2007 primaries, the 2008 elections, the 2012 elections and, eventually, the defining contest of 2016. I remember the stories of a young man travelling across the country with candidate Akufo-Addo, speaking…