A letter to my PRESIDENT-ELECT

As a young lady I have always admired you. I remember the 1st time I heard you speak as Attorney General and the way you carried yourself, I asked Lilian Ansong and she confirmed that yes, that’s the man tipped to come after Kufuor.

You were graceful because you had prepared yourself for this role. But as God will have it, that preparation wasn’t enough; you needed to pass through the mill, be grinded and come out finer. I have always wanted you as President but the President you would have been in 2009 is not the President you will be in 2017.

You had to fail those times, you needed to be humbled, you need to see a greater portion of the country, come into contact with everyday people and witness for yourself their struggles so that when you finally are in the seat, you will remember with every decision you make the people that will be affected. I hope these 8 year lessons will forever remain with you.

Now Mr. Akufo-Addo, there’s work to be done….so much its scary.

Yes we are aware the country has been raped, we are aware our finances has been stretched beyond its elastic limit and personally I know all those promises you made will not be achieved in these four years…you know what, I’m not going to hold you to it. Rather what I want to see is PROGRESS.

I want to see that you are trying hard to put systems in place to get GHANA back on his feet. I want to see that you are working at putting systems in place to check corruption (yes, there will be corruption in your government). I want to see that you are working hard in building nationalism…I just want to see PROGRESS in every aspect of our lives. I hope you are not quick to build factories and dams and etc…Let’s have a plan first….and let’s work at it. Mr. Akufo-Addo, yours is a harder task because so many people, even those who didn’t vote for you have always wondered how your government will be like.

As you can see and even up to this minute …what people got cool chop, you have had to prove yourself beyond reasonable doubt that it’s for you and I believe same will go for your presidency. You will need to work harder than those before you, you will need to surround yourself with people who are inclusive, who watch their words, who don’t take people for granted. This is because what will be swept under the carpet for some, will be set in stone for you and you will be criticized for it.

If there’s any lesson at all, I hope you remember that the Ghanaian electorate of 2000 is not the same of 2016. The dynamics have changed. People can see and hear, and oh they don’t have short memory…they will remember and act on it. If you mess up, you will go.

I hope those young loud mouthed people in your party will be checked in your government…cos I’m sure like their compatriots in the NDC, they know that power is sweet and would want to amass wealth for themselves, like their friends did.

Mr. Akufo-Addo, there’s no better measure of economic prosperity than in our pockets. I hope you have learnt that. When the people say they are suffering, listen to them.

Don’t listen to the people around you, obviously they are eating from your plates and would want to pretend all is well so they continue to eat. But we, yes we the electorates, we get no freebies, we buy food at market prices, we pay bills, we buy toilet roll, we buy fuel, we pay Lorry fares, we use deplorable roads, and so we feel it when things are not going well. So listen to us and do something about it.

Lastly, I pray that God brings you good countenance and wisdom. You need it to choose the right people to work with, people who will help you to achieve this dream of making Ghana great again.

Permit me to call you, Mr. President elect… Ghana has been waiting for you, we are glad you are here, please work hard, work hard and leave a legacy. Don’t worry about another term, work as if this is the only term you have and leave a legacy to your name. As they say, good name is better than riches. I wish you all the best and I pray God be your guide.

I want to thank all who voted, who worked hard to ensure this victory. Most importantly, I want to congratulate my friend Lilian; this was the dream and this time you left the comfort of your home (even though you were very comfortable in opposition) and worked hard at it and you achieved results. I really respect you for that. Yes hard work pays!!!!!, not big billboards and last minute projects.

To the patriots, don’t be quick to compare NPP to NDC, Ghanaians voted for change because they didn’t like NDC so please they expect better from you. So kindly spare us with the NDC too did some…

To Ghanaians, well done, well done for believing in the change agenda, well done for demonstrating to the politicians that the power lies with your thumb. That those days of accepting freebies and voting for pettiness are over. That those days of accepting mediocrity, of being taken for granted are over.

That come 4 years you would reevaluate and make a choice. But the buck stops with us too. With the same zeal and passion we went out to vote, let’s use that same zeal and passion to work hard wherever we are. With the same VIGILANCE we monitored these elections with, let’s make the government know our eyes are still on it…. to make Ghana great again.

Congrats Mr President elect- Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo! God bless you.