The only noise you hear the members of the NPP standing on mountain and roof tops making is that Ghana is “hard.” They started making this noise in January 2009, immediately after the late President Atta-Mills was sworn-in. If they started making some noise in January 2009, and by September 2014, they are still making the same noise, then definitely, something is wrong with them. It means they are not “correct.” Do you think the NPP will stop saying that even if President Mahama should pay them $1,000.00 a week? So where are they coming from? Think about it.
Now, the likely Presidential candidate of the NPP for 2016 will be Nana Akufo-Addo, the most popular politician in the NPP. If Ghana is “hard” and the NPP is bringing Nana again for 2016, then they might have heard Nana offer some solutions to the problems Ghana is having. But have you heard anything at all? Or are they bringing Nana just because it is his time? Nana Akufo-Addo officially started his campaign to become the Flag bearer for the NPP in January 2014. For 9 months, the only two major things that Nana has talked about are that he is not too old to become President of Ghana, and also that he is not corrupt.
On the issue of age, he makes a funny comparison between himself and Alassane Ouattara, the President of Cote d’lvoire. He says at age 72, Ouattara has done 10 times better for Cote d’lvoire than the young enterprising President of Ghana. So now Nana Akufo-Addo wants Ghanaians to believe that for a President to do better for his/her country, old age is the determining factor. All other factors are not necessary. I wished when Nana is talking about age, he should also be bold to remind Ghanaians that his father, Edward Akufo-Addo, died at the age of 71, as an accomplished lawyer and politician.
Why didn’t Nana Akufo-Addo mention some of the factors that have contributed to the success story of Alassane Ouattara, including the fact that he has a reasonable and working opposition party, who are prepared to work with him to move their country forward? Can we say the same thing about Nana’s NPP? President John Dramani Mahama is working with an opposition party who are reckless and refuse to see anything good that the government is doing. They have already committed themselves to making sure that the country is ungovernable for the ruling government. They will pull down anything that the President will do to move the country forward. Once they have somehow succeeded in doing that, then they turn around and say “Ghana is hard.”
One other major statement by Nana Akufo-Addo is that he will not steal Ghana’s money but that he is in to help. In other words, he is not corrupt. To quote Nana, he said “I am not in politics to fill my pockets, to enrich myself or my family or to steal your money. That’s not why I am in politics. I am in politics because I have a vision and a dream of what this country can be and I want to work to make that dream possible.” I have said in some of my articles that per the pronouncements of Nana Akufo-Addo, you could see clearly that old age has already caught up with him.
Nana Akufo-Addo is trying to make Ghanaians believe that if he becomes President, he will also be the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Education, Health, Youth and Sports, Finance, Defense and the rest of all the ministries. That is the only way nobody will be in his administration for him (Nana) to enrich himself. And that is also the only way he will not see corruption in his administration. If he is thinking of appointing people like Jake Obetsebi and ‘Sir John” to his administration, then I bet him that he will see corruption in his administration, because these were the very people who were at the helm of affairs of the NPP during election 2012. These people were so corrupt that their own people had to kick them out when they sought for re-election. What did Nana Akufo-Addo, who was the Presidential candidate of the NPP do about it? If he could not contain just two members of his Executive Committee, what guarantee do Ghanaians have to suggest that if Nana Akufo-Addo is elected President, he will be able to contain all his ministers to prevent corruption? Was Nana Akufo-Addo not the Foreign Minister when 12 diplomatic passports went missing in the ministry and one was found in Singapore with a Ghanaian cocaine dealer? So why does Nana continues to say he is not corrupt? Or does corruption have a different meaning in the dictionary of the NPP?
The fact that Nana Akufo-Addo has said he is not running for President to steal our money is a direct insult to President John Rawlings and President John Kuffour, and he needs to apologize to them. Let Nana know that he doesn’t have to become President of Ghana before he can help. If he has any solutions, he can offer them whilst in opposition. After all, the NPP treat him as their President. I challenge the Opposition President to offer alternative solutions to the problems Ghana has. That is, if he has any. The NPP don’t even look at the quality of their candidates before they present them for general elections. And when they lose elections, they run to the Supreme Court.
The Presidency is not about comparing ages and talking about stealing money to enrich oneself. It is about serious business. It is about finding lasting solutions to the country’s problems. If the NPP people are saying Ghana is “hard,” they should push Nana to offer alternate solutions. If he continues on this same path, trust me, Ghanaians will again reject him in December 2016. If President should give the NPP people $1,000.00 a week and they will still say Ghana is hard, then they should tell us where they are coming from. If it is about their cocaine business and politics, they should let us know. That empty noise is disturbing our ears. They should give Ghanaians break and start looking for work to do. If they will continue making the same noise with the same crowd, the year 2016 will come and go, and the Alan faction will say “we told you so because Nana is not credible” and the Nana faction will also say “we will bring him back in 2020 because it is his time” The victory of NDC and President John Mahama would have been history.
Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol)
Public Relations Officer (PRO)
NDC Washington Metro Branch
Appiah65@Hotmail.com
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