Akufo-Addo and NAPO undermined Otumfuo’s public advice to them, here is why

The 5th President of the 4th Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo ascended the throne in 2017 with a lot of optimism and anticipation due to the mouth-watering promises given to Ghanaians by the NPP coupled with the determination of the President to give a good chase for the Presidency and became a ‘third time lucky’.

As the 4 former Presidents e.g. Rawlings, Kufour, Atta-Mills and Mahama did since 1999, they visited the Ashanti King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to brief him on national issues and sought wise counsel from him.

To the best of my recollection, the 4 former Heads of State stated above were not advised publicly on various issues by Nana Otumfuo and they acted against the advice from him.

However, following the electoral victory of President Akufo-Addo in 2017, he also visited the Ashanti King. In such public interactions, nana Otumfuo advised President Akufo-Addo that he should focus on having a good name and leave behind a good legacy because at his advanced age, the President does not need riches anymore.

Nana Otumfuo also reminded Akufo-Addo that the way Ghanaians used ‘hunger and anger’ to vote Mahama out in 2016, the same way will Ghanaians vote him out if he does not live up to expectation. This was a very good public advice given to the current President, in my view.

Today, what have we seen under President Akufo-Addo? Clearly, the actions and inactions of the President have undermined the good public advice given to him by Nana Otumfuo then. Now, Ghanaians are feeling hungry and angry and are ready to massively vote out the ruling NPP government that President Akufo-Addo has led together with his driver’s mate, Dr. Bawumia for almost 8 years come December 7, 2024.

When Dr. Bawumia, the Flagbearer of the NPP finally decided together with the National Council of the governing NPP to pick Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) as the running mate on July 4, 2024, he was also immediately introduced to nana Otumfuo in the stronghold of the NPP in Kumasi.

NAPO as a former MP, minister for the Education and Energy Ministries has earned an unenviable ‘arrogant’ tag in the public eye from his utterances. It was intimated that NAPO was likely to undermine the Flagbearer’s authority to lead the NPP due to his arrogance and that could be problematic for the already poorly performing NPP going into the 2024 general elections.

As in the case of President Akufo-Addo, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II openly advised NAPO to be decorous in his utterances and being submissive to the Flagbearer because he heard that NAPO is arrogant. Nana Otumfuo told NAPO openly that his alleged arrogant behavior is contrary to how he brought him up according to royal customs.

Immediately after that, NAPO disrespected the wise counsel from nana Otumfuo and went ahead to denigrate the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which generated public uproar and unqualified apology from NAPO.

From the actions and inactions of Akufo-Addo and NAPO, they have clearly undermined the wise counsel of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and that is highly unfortunate. It is up to the Ghanaian Voters to decide the course of our struggling country under the leadership of Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia come December 7, 2024.

In fact, Bawumia-NAPO ticket is not attractive and competent enough to break the 8 for the NPP. Both Bawumia and NAPO’s records as Vice President and former Minister respectively will work against them in the upcoming general elections in 2024.

The resetting and rebuilding agenda of Mahama and the NDC coupled with a rich human resource base, experience in governance, economic management, etc., is vital for rescuing the country from the current poor governance and economic hardship under the reign of Akufo-Addo and Bawumia.