The return of nana addo
By Ansah Barnor¬-Freelance Journalist
For six months – take out or add a week or two – we waited, as Nana Addo paced the floor of every single household in Ghana. An astitute observer would have ... read full comment
The return of nana addo
By Ansah Barnor¬-Freelance Journalist
For six months – take out or add a week or two – we waited, as Nana Addo paced the floor of every single household in Ghana. An astitute observer would have noticed– if he had cared to do so – that he appeared ruminative. He had to be because whatever decision he would take, would have serious implications for – and with – millions of voters. Not for himself; To Nana Addo the Self had, long ago discarded all traits, all traces of selfishness common to– and with– all rational men and women. Not that he was _ and is_ irrational or rash. Nana Addo, to the observer as always would also have appeared at once depressive and buoyant, a poignant posture, the depression, an expression of empathy with the despondent, their groans, their hopeless existences now mired in concrete due to the endemic corruption crippling us; his buoyancy, the expression of his belief that the poor, the suffering majority always appreciate his tenacity to fight for them and to ameliorate their undeserved hardships, and that a day will come when he will open an outlet of relief to them.
He was far away, then, not in the wilderness. No one can consigne him into the wilderness. He was not in exile. No one can consigne him into exile. Anxious men and women, those who never wavered in their believe always in him –and he in them because he knows they recognize and appreciate his carrying on his shoulders their undeserved burdens – knew he would return home to them. The cynics, those who always regard him as a villain, not a hero, willfully asked: will he, on his return, embrace his second love? -- Politics? Eventually he returned to them, to the poor and promised them he will be with them always.
Their plight which more often than not they assuage through sex, for lack of recreative playthings had over the years, coalesced to define his political activism, an identity, a tag that prompts him to face dangers which, more often than not, had driven some of his contemporaries into exile, or into a state of acquiescence.
An implacable leader? An intransigent man?
This Nation was hugely surprised when we saw Nana Addo’s hand clasped firmly in Flt-Lt Rawlings’s hand; both men once deemed a nemesis to each other, these two political foes shaking hands to provide new and hopeful contours to our political landscape.
That handshake, plus Nana Addo’s reaction to the occluded Supreme Court verdict on the NPP election petition, proved, without equivocation that he is not what his NDC detractors and their few NPP allies had bombarded us on Radio, on TV and in the Print Media to believe and accept -that he is a “war-monger”, an “implacable and intransigent person”.
In stature, Nana Addo may appear, to cynics, diminutive. In reality he is, figuratively speaking politically taller than any of those in the NPP who loathe him in public or in secret, men like Dr. Wireku Brobbey, Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe and Mr. Kwame Piannim. He is taller than any of those men who now challenge him for the NPP presidential flag.
Nana Addo’s political activism, his innate strength and his penchant drive to face dangers, as he fights through “ Kumi Preku” on behalf of the poor - all these the angst of those who loathe him – are his armor with which he fends off every single attack, every single calumny. In Nana Addo, those who throw mud at him – mud scooped out of the Korle lagoon- see the qualities they yearn for; they see in him their political failures and shortfalls. They will not relent in their attempts to destroy him. They will find ways and the means to achieve their aim, with the connivance of cohorts in the media.
His reaction to the Supreme Court verdict – a verdict that will pose a direct threat, from 2016 and beyond to efforts at enhancing national cohesion- had temporarily blunted their schemes against him. If Nana Addo had called on NPP supporters and members to seek justice in the street and as a result there had been skirmishes across the country, those who loathe him would have bundled him - like a common criminal - into an aircraft that had been fuelled and waiting and flown him to the International Criminal Court to shoot the breeze with Charles Taylor of Liberia and Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast. This is not a mere conjecture. That was their single option on the table in 2012.
Undoubtedly that was their Plan A.Plan B is not far off. NDC’s General Secretary Dr. Asiedu Nketia gave an insight into plan B when he described Nana Addo’s calm acceptance of the Supreme Court verdict as a “war-mongers talk”. It was a good sign that Nana Addo or the NPP leadership did not snap at the bait. The NDC’s strategists are busy at work all day and all night long, planning, scheming, and plotting to ensnare him.
We should– never –forget his demeanor on the day of the verdict - a dark day indeed for Ghana. If we fail mentally to focus on his posture on the verdict day we would be lulled into their trap. He was calm and outwardly composed. On that day, Nana Addo categorically told us– this nation– that he was not– and is not–a “war-monger”. Although he did not agree with the verdict, he would accept it.
Should we then accept the Korle lagoon mud that his detractors had unashamedly thrown at him? Certainly, we should not! Never!
Undoubtedly, his political marketability has improved more pounced with this acceptance of the verdict. This is inevitable. This is the man eight or nine other giants are challenging for the party’s flag for 2016. Who, it must be asked, among these giants, all of them competent and qualified can boldly tell or convince party delegates that he is taller in terms of political activism than Nana Addo?.This is a crucial question. If one ponders, this point, This question, which is not rhetorical, one is compelled – a compulsion at once necessary and determinative - to recall Justice William Atuguba’s comments he made after the verdict that Ghana needs “Strong Institutions “but “not strong men” to uphold the tenets of our fragile democracy.
Certainly, we need men and women with innate strengths working within strong institutions to fumigate Ghana of the pervasive smell of corruption that is hampering our economic development.
Justice Atuguba was president of a segment of the Supreme Court a “strong institution” that heard the NPP 2012 presidential election petition In my perception, as a layman I think and believe firmly that Justice Atuguba did not display enough innate strength in dealing with Mr. Tony Lithur {then counsel for Mr. John Dramani Mahama}, who unprofessionally and disrespectfully, threw a bunch of pink sheets on the floor of the court. Justice Atuguba did not sanction Mr. Lithur as he severely sanctioned, Mr. Ken Kurankye, the journalist and Kooliko Marionette Atubiga who warned of a civil war if the verdict favored the NPP .Again Justice Atuguba failed to sanction Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata (who once served some time in prison, but was pardoned by former president J.A Kuffour) after he unprofessionally hurled insults at the petitioner’s counsel led by Mr. Philip Addison.
Certainly, Ghana needs strong men, at this moment in our history, a moment of wanton pillaging and sharing of national cash, strong men to clean the country’s stable smell of corruption. That there is massive corruption in government circles cannot be denied. Mr. A.B.K Martin Amidu then the Attorney General and Minister of Justice stumbled upon this human waste smell. At the request of the late President Mills, He started investigating this smell. Then he hit a wall of resistance. Men and women fearing exposure began to interfere with his investigations. Mr. Amidu complained to the late President Mills but surprisingly he was dismissed from the NDC government, because we were told he “misconduct” himself before the late president.
Those men and woman, his cabinet colleagues, and their cohorts who frustrated Mr. Amidu had made a smooth transition from the government of the late President Mills into Mr. John Mahama’s government and determinedly, are blocking all attempts to unmask them. Mr. Amidu, he should be told, knows the identities of the faceless pillagers and it is incumbent upon him to expose them and mention their names if he loves Ghana.
Ghana once had strong men like the big six. All those men never had the benefit and the advantage to work within the parameters of strong institutions; yet they succeeded in standing up to the British. They all possessed innate strengths; they were bold and courageous.
Let us go back in time - that amorphous element that determines man’s actions and or reactions to situations and events - forced or unforced - and with deep respect pose a simple question to Justice Atuguba and to those who subscribe to his judicial and political perspective. Did Sgt.Adjetey and his two other colleagues all three, imbued with innate strengths work within a framework of a strong institution in confronting a jittery British Governor who then worked within strong institution?
Certainly, they did not.
The National Pledge that we were canned in school to memorize enjoins us to be Great and Strong, Bold to Defend Forever’... To defend what - Institutionalized corruption? Or the pillaging and sharing of State Funds by a few rampaging men and women? Or, Great and Strong to defend indecision or acquiescence to the commission of corruption? Or the protection of thieves with links to government?
One should with deep respect again pose another question,-Which of these eight or nine NPP giants, though competent and qualified as noted above possesses that strong, bold and courageous character- innate strength that Nana Addo’s detractors would like to dismiss summarily.
In Nana Addo, one will not - never - flinch in admitting that we - this nation – have a man with the required innate strength to fight the corrupt men and woman and their cohorts, now ruining our country.
Why these blunt assertion? The answer, plain and unambiguous was ironically provided by former NDC Deputy Information Minister, Sam Okudjeto Ablaquah when the NDC government launched their green book which they believed would show case their “unprecedented achievements. A Journalist asked Ablaquah if the NDC government, under the late President Mills had ever conducted what the journalist called “Forensic Investigations” into Nana Addo, the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice and later of Foreign Affairs, in the Kuffour government, Sam Okudzeto Ablaquah’s answer was prompt;
“Yes. Nothing had been found to implicate Nana Addo in any criminal activity”. This is the answer, candid and without any frills, that elevates Nana Addo, which proves that this man with clean fingers is taller than any of his opponents, and which disturbs his NDC detractors,
This is the answer, plus the national awareness of rampant corruption, and the need to speak up against the canker that had largely engendered this piece. In the opinion of this writer, Nana Addo’s role in that fight will be crucial. Undoubtedly, cynics, detractors and hate filled minds will deem this opinion a praise singer’s perspective. They are entitled to their opinion, just as I hold tightly to mine.
We should not find an escape route in generalizations. This will, if we do, weaken the fight against corruption. There is massive corruption in not among trotro and taxi drivers, not among bread sellers with babies strapped at their backs, not among the trench diggers sweating profusely under the heat of the midday sun, not among parents wondering how to find food for their hungry children, majority of whom always skip school due to poverty, not among the unemployed graduates roaming the streets, not among the teachers, the poor fisherman, the struggling fishmongers, not among the truck pushers, not among the sex workers now increasing in number.
All these suffering masses and millions more point an unwavering forefinger at the Government, the source, they believe, of corruption and of their woes, the people in government and their cohorts outside government but with fingers buried deep in the governance of Ghana and directing murky affairs in governance. These are the hidden faceless men and woman who are corrupt and who frustrated Mr. Martin Amidu in his investigations. They are powerful, so powerful that they made it difficult to prosecute one of their own in a criminal court where he would have been sent to Nsawam prison if found guilty. Being powerful, these corrupt men and women effected Mr. Amidu’s dismissal from government because having stumbled upon the stench; he cried; “what a gargantuan crime” against the good people of Ghana.
Ponder this scenario; if an electorate gains access to any of NDC’s top men and asks; Sir have you ever heard of the name Woyome?
Promptly, the top man will answer; oh it is an island inhabited by certain tribal groups. Some of these inhabitants are called Judgment Debt Payments; others are called Waterville / Vamid; others are called Isofoton; some are called Guinea Fowl Projects; others are called Mango Growing Ventures; some are called Skillful Contract Abrogators, some are called simply Siphoning Bank Cash Bunch, others are called Debt Payment Defaulters, others are called Safe-Crackers, some are called SADA other are called GYEEDA,, some are called sanitary pads etc.,
The electorate persists: Sir, where can one find this island and its inhabitants?
The top man; Oh where there is abundant air to breathe you will find them.
The electorate: Sir, have you ever heard of the name Nana Addo?
The top man becomes agitated and shouts get out of my office. I have work to do, pot holes to fill, sagging doors, windows and fences to mend.
This is the name – Nana Addo – that evokes loathing in his detractors who had called him names. They had a field day in 2012, the period we were told Nana Addo is a “womanizer”, a “war-monger”, a “sniff”, an “ambition-driven person”, etc. What else will they call him in 2016 – a further attempt, futile and self-serving, to character – assassinate him? A famous radio presenter on Ok FM, Abeiku Santana, once offered this opinion; “because you don’t like Nana Addo, you say he smokes “wee”
Perhaps the heaviest mud, the most serious calumny, was delivered by Dr. Wireku Brobbey. At a time when the destiny of Ghana was being tinkered with in the Supreme Court, this man who was nearly sent to Nsawam prison for financial malfeasance during the Ghana @ 50 celebrations, told Ghanaians: “do not trust Nana Addo.” This was a poignant blow, delivered in four words but that carried devastating connotations likely to linger in my mind for a long time.
Is it for the sake of” national stability” that Dr. Brobbey told us not to “trust Nana Addo”, even if it meant strengthening in concrete the pillory to which the necks of millions of poor suffering, despondent Ghanaians are held?
We are aware of Sam Okudzeto Ablaquah’s candid answer, that Nana Addo is clean, does not have any stains on his white shirt.
Why this hatred then?
Those who loathe Nana Addo are aware of his clean, bold and strong character – as a legal giant, as a political colossus, yet they fail to appreciate the benefits of these qualities to Ghana’s development, yet they will bend backwards to make sure he fails.
Being morally and professionally clean, Nana Addo, if given the mandate in 2016, will form and run a government that will shy away from what we – this nation – had been repeatedly urged to “speak up against – CORRUPTION. Nana Addo gave an insight into this when he told an NPP rally somewhere in the Central Region in 2012 that those who are bent on joining his government so as to amass wealth will not be entertained.”
If the year 2016 does not give birth to 2012 - with all its trappings of cultural and professional evil, of fraud, of electoral and constitutional infractions, and the NPP wins the presidential and parliamentary elections, then the force optimism that we are being asked to entertain will be swept away, to be replaced by hope in the future –and optimism will forever shine in us, sweeping away the mist that blocks our view into the vista of Hope.
The return of nana addo
By Ansah Barnor¬-Freelance Journalist
For six months – take out or add a week or two – we waited, as Nana Addo paced the floor of every single household in Ghana. An astitute observer would have ...
read full comment