A letter to President Mahama – You are more than a hero

Dear President Mahama

To say you are a happy man now means I am massaging the truth. To have your greatest ambition to serve your nation for a second term quashed in an election many predicted you were going to win must be really excruciating.

I find your move to call the president-elect to congratulate him a matured one and a move associated with personalities that understand the vicissitudes of life.

I encourage you, in these difficult moments, to be strong and focussed. I know your ambition was not truncated alone, but it was truncated along millions whose hopes and aspirations are tied to yours.

Arise from your pains and make Ghanaians love you and miss you more. Few men are able to do what you have done. Remember, a young man is not fitted for life's battle until he has met and survived defeat. You will survive!

You don’t know what you have done for Ghana with your concession speech and your conduct shortly before the declaration of the results by the EC but Ghana knows what you have done for her. That night you conceded was the same night Gambia’s Yahaya Jammeh disappointed millions of ears around the world – he refused to accept the election results that he had earlier accepted.

JM, you did not lose the presidency to just anybody. You lost it to a colossus of a personality who has pursued the presidency for almost two decades.

Someone who has tasted strings of defeats in his quest to become a president.

You may have lost the presidency but your legacy lives on – be it positive or negative. You are highly esteemed in the minds and hearts of millions of Ghanaians who share in your vision and passion.

Generations would be told of your story: That one of the greatest men who traversed the sands of time, from Bole Bamboi blessed his nation with his leadership. I may not have been your fun but you have won my admiration.

You have taught many African leaders that the path to become president is the same path that one loses the presidency.

It is true that the path of defeat is a very lonely one but be strong and pull yourself together. You are indeed a hero not only for Ghana but for the entire world.

As you put it in your speech, “History will be my greatest judge”, we wish you well. This quote from Bruce Lee is apt in this situation. “To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth.”

I am glad that your life has drilled many lessons deeper into the depths of my heart and soul. You shall indeed be remembered no matter the criticisms against your governance style.

Thank you.

Richard Kwadwo Nyarko

(Oguaa Fisherman)