{"id":113172,"date":"2026-01-29T14:34:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113172"},"modified":"2026-01-29T14:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:34:55","slug":"from-abuja-to-ayawaso-where-service-suddenly-needs-a-smaller-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113172","title":{"rendered":"From Abuja to Ayawaso where \u201cService\u201d suddenly needs a Smaller Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 13 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Once upon a time, Hon. Baba Jamal was serving over 30 million Ghanaians comfortably stationed in Nigeria as Ghana\u2019s High Commissioner, shaking hands, cutting diplomatic ribbons, and representing the nation on an international stage. A higher calling<\/em><\/strong>, some might say.<\/p>\n

Then, suddenly, enlightenment struck. Not in Abuja. Not in Accra. But somewhere between Nima traffic and nomination forms.<\/p>\n

Now, Baba Jamal tells us his true, burning motivation is to serve Ayawaso East, a constituency he already tried for, lost, and is now re-entering through the narrow door opened by the unfortunate death of an MP. According to him, this is not ambition. Oh no. This is humanism.<\/p>\n

One can\u2019t help but marvel at this divine downsizing of service.<\/p>\n

Because really, how does one wake up and say:<\/p>\n

\u201cServing Ghana in Nigeria? Too broad. Too global. Too\u2026 much. Let me focus on a constituency that hasn\u2019t even agreed it wants me yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this is what sacrifice looks like, then the rest of us clearly don\u2019t understand politics.<\/p>\n

The explanation, we\u2019re told, is that Ayawaso East needs \u201ccredible leadership.\u201d Fair enough. But here\u2019s the awkward question no one is asking loudly enough:<\/p>\n

Was the High Commissioner role too heavy? Too demanding? Too\u2026 huge?<\/p>\n

Because normally, politicians fight tooth and nail to upgrade from constituency to cabinet, from cabinet to diplomacy, from diplomacy to something even bigger. Baba Jamal appears to be pioneering a new political theory: reverse ambition.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s be honest, this isn\u2019t even a guaranteed seat. This is a by-election. Against other aspirants. With history not exactly on his side. So one must ask:<\/p>\n

If he loses again, does Ghana get its High Commissioner back?<\/p>\n

Or was that chapter quietly closed the moment nomination forms were picked?<\/p>\n

I doubt very much he\u2019s packing his bags for Abuja if Ayawaso East says \u201cno\u201d again. Politics doesn\u2019t usually work like that.<\/p>\n

Which is why some Ghanaians are reasonably confused and mildly amused. If your heart is no longer in Nigeria, then perhaps the honourable thing is simple: resign properly and allow President Mahama to appoint someone ready to actually stay and do the job.<\/p>\n

Public service, after all, is not a part-time hobby or a political waiting room.<\/p>\n

But then again, politicians have a special talent for surprising us. Just when you think you\u2019ve seen it all, someone leaves a continental stage to audition again for a local role, and calls it destiny.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t like someone, you don\u2019t like someone.<\/p>\n

And some political moves? They don\u2019t inspire confidence they inspire memes.<\/p>\n

Ghana politics never fails to entertain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Once upon a time, Hon. Baba Jamal was serving over 30 million Ghanaians comfortably stationed in Nigeria as Ghana\u2019s High Commissioner, shaking hands, cutting diplomatic ribbons, and representing the nation on an international stage. A higher calling, some might say.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12265,15157,7464,1965,1883,477,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abuja","category-ayawaso","category-baba-jamal","category-hp-opinion-2","category-national","category-opinion","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}