A tale of three kings; Mills, Nana and Alan

Ghana’s political scene presents a mixture of events, trends and prospects that are of gargantuan interest worthy of note. Ghana’s politics, one may say has come of age or at least has left behind it the dark period when chaos and the power of the gun ruled. Now it is the power of the thumb that rules, such is the beauty of democracy.

As in the words of the astute American president Abraham Lincoln, democracy is “government of the people, by the people, for the people” and it shall not perish from our world, a world that Ghana is very much a part of. If the pedigree of our democratic dispensation is anything to go by then indeed ‘a tale of the three kings’ is all but an interesting piece of thought on Ghana’s three most powerful political figures currently.

President John Evans Atta Mills is no doubt one of the best educated persons to ever ascend to the presidency. At age 27, he had already earned his PhD and spent nearly three-decades of his life as an academic and lectured in the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana and other institutions of higher learning. He did excel in his academic working life as much as he has in his politics. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, also a well educated Lawyer and Politician has proven himself worthy of the presidency. Nana Addo whose education was largely in England and the University of Ghana was called to the English Bar and Ghanaian Bar in the 70s where he served competently. He was also an astute public official who served in a number of portfolios under the Kufuor’s administration from 2001 to 2007 when he had to resign his post to pursue higher echelons of politics. However he lost the 2008 presidential elections to the sitting president.

Alan John Kyerematen also known as Alan Cash is second in ascension to the NPP flag-bearership who demonstrated his ability to not only ascend to the NPP flag-bearership but also to the presidency in the 2008 NPP caucuses. Alan John Kyerematen is a very educated and innovative business man and politician whose corporate and political life has been remarkable. Currently he seems to be latent in Ghana’s political scene waiting for his turn to emerge like a hurricane.

Thoughts of an impartial observant

As 2012 elections zoom in on us the whole country is rife with questions. It has been said that it is difficult to win against a sitting president but will 2012 defy this popular believe? Whiles president Mills rides on his golden horse of incumbency, Nana Addo is chasing a win at all cost in his political ‘injury time’. I call it injury time because should he fail to secure the presidency from Mills this year, his chances of being re-elected as flag bearer come 2016 are quite lean especially with hurricane Alan looming latently in the background.

Now we have seen how our change of governments occur octo-annually beginning 1992 to 2000 for former president Rawlings and 2001 to 2008 for former president Kufuor and now 2009 and ongoing for president Mills. So the question is, will Mills be able to follow suit of his predecessors? Mills however seems to be sure and in control of what he is doing and assures his followers that come 2012 victory shall be theirs.

Of late Nana Addo has not been very forthcoming with the press. People are asking what he is doing. But it quite easy to understand why he is not all over the news and giving speeches, perhaps, he does not want to eat the soup whiles the fufu is still being pounded. The year is still young.

At this moment Alan Cash has relegated himself to corporate life, I suppose. Like a patient dog, he lies under the table quietly with watery jaws waiting for his master to throw that bone down. And once he grabs it, he won’t let go. The denouement of the tale of three kings even gets sweeter when we look at whose interests lie with whose? If the octo-annual change of government trend is to continue then Alan’s interests lie with those of president Mills. Why? Simple, As I said earlier, the chances of Nana Addo being re-elected if he fails to win against president Mills in 2012 are very slim therefore Alan being the next in line to the NPP flag bearership won’t have long to wait to ascend to the presidency, i.e. 2016.

Otherwise if Nana Addo wins in 2012, as ambitious as he is, he will most definitely push for a second term of office in 2016. If that happens, NDC will fight all out to win back power in 2020 and keeping it for another eight years or so making Alan’s dream of becoming a president almost non-realizable. So for Alan to become president of this country, Nana Addo has to lose in 2012 to pave the way for Alan to reap the presidency in 2016.

We should not pretend to believe that some people within the NPP will not sacrifice Nana in 2012 in order for Alan to win the presidency in 2016. But Nana Addo has to know this and if that be, then he will cast all his strength behind his campaign this year to win.

The question on the mind of many Ghanaians is, will President Mills be able to win hands down against his very competitive opponent, Nana Addo? Again we cannot overrule the influence of former President Rawlings during the NDC 2008 campaign and now that he seems to have redrawn his support for Mills, who will the Rawlings’ supporters vote for? Some people still believe that on the verge of the 2012 elections, some magic will happen and Rawlings will declare his support again for Mills but wouldn’t that be the biggest hypocrisy of the century? Indeed it would.

On a lighter note, all the three presidents of the forth republic Have John in their Names and a likely future president Alan John Kyerematen also has John in his names. Is this indicative that Alan will succeed Mills in 2016? If this happens, we would have had four Johns who occupied the presidency since 1992 and perhaps what we may call the John Dynasty of Ghana would be in effect and perhaps John Mahama will also follow in line. Wouldn’t that be something? This year, 2012 will decide many things amongst them are; who will succeed Mills as president of Ghana? Will Nana Addo’s political ‘injury time’ end him well? Will some people be covertly working to ensure Nana Addo’s failure which will subsequently inure to Alan’s benefit? Will Rawlings magically re-declare his support for Mills? And supremely, will all parties accept the electoral results as presented by the EC? We will know the answers to these questions and more as 2012 dangerously unfolds.

A Feature Article by S. Y. Namouz for allghananews.com