Just read the news article titled, "I am Running" as Konadu tells NDC elders of her presidential ambition. If the events from Egypt and Tunisia can predict anything, then I can assure you that no one from the Rawlings family will be elected president in Ghana for the next 300 years. Let me begin by stating clearly that I am not an NPP or an NDC supporter, but I sincerely like what President Mills is doing so far. My support for President Mills' performance is debatable but I can assure that every goat can wake up to seek the highest office of their country, you can ask Sarah Palin. In the advance society, aspiring presidential candidates rarely undermine their Party's sitting president because that will also diminish their own chances of becoming presidents. President Mills took office at a challenging time, amidst Global financial crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that had brought economic status of North America, Europe and Japan to their needs. President Obama is still digging snow after the storm, and so are other powerful world leaders.
Amazingly, the people of Ghana would like to see President Mills turn things around in a day, otherwise he is deemed a failure. We Africans are impatient, stubborn, and refuse to understand reality. We have a society where rich people tend to sit on their money without any appropriate investment to ease unemployment. Rich people in Ghanaian cities would rather bring victims from the villages to work for them just in exchange of providing them daily food, a slave mentality that has hindered African development in post-colonial days. We have a society where diverting the funds for your children's education to show off at the funeral is acceptable. Yes, we even have a culture where we avoid helping the hungry and the sick only to pretend to love them by donating money to bury them when they die.
We Africans need to change our ways of thinking otherwise we will never get out of poverty. We need to develop self-esteem and improve on our good cultures and get rid of the bad ones. Selfishness, greed, corruption and "fake Christianity" are the main obstacles facing Ghana's development. These issues give way to tribalism, nepotism and conflict in society. Our politicians and leaders should be held accountable for their duties, and our citizens must find ways to contribute to their country's development. It's about time the people of Ghana realize that successes in the developed world were achieved through hard work, dedication, getting to work on time, and staying at work till scheduled end times. Ghanaians should realize that success is not about finding ways to get rich overnight, we should stop our cultural mindset of getting money by all means necessary to have a good time today without thinking about tomorrow. All NDC foot soldiers should understand clearly that President Mills was not elected to distribute money to his party members.
Government cannot solve all problems for us, and certainly not in two years after taking office. We can all help contribute to the wellbeing of our motherland by indulging in healthy debate on issues that will make Ghana a better country. The insults to our political leaders tingled with tribalism all over the internet will not advance our goals as a country. The blatant attack on President Mills should stop immediately, after all, this is the most peaceful president Ghana has had since our independence and he does not deserve that. For Mr. and Mrs. Rawligns and their evil NDC foot soldiers, it was a strategy to make the President unpopular to the Ghanaian people in order to advance their evil agenda.
I do believe J.J. Rawlings was a born dictator who is suffering from being removed from office and looking for lost respect. The man came to the scene with real chances of achieving greatness, and certainly had the chance to be an African icon. He could have done that by simply not staging another coup to remove democratically elected President Limann. Instead, J.J. Rawlings has become an albatross, a national disgrace and constant threat to his NDC party, and Ghana's rising democracy. The man cannot wait for another day without coming out to criticize the President for being slow. Found out, he had hoped Atta Mills would round up all his political opponents and throw them in jail just as he did in his PNDC days. Let me ask you Mr. Rawlings, you claim that ex President Kuffour and his ministers were corrupt and need to be prosecuted; has anyone arrested you for all the brutal killings of your time? Has anyone in our peaceful Ghana set up tribunals to investigate the brutal killings of the Judges? Has anyone dared to set up commission to investigate the Mabey & Johnson scandal? Let me also ask you Mr. Rawligns, you keep annoying the Ghanaian people that Professor Mills has Team B as his cabinet, did anyone ask you why you took power with just O'Level certificate? Did you have the intelligence to travel outside Ghana to negotiate any solid investment for mother Ghana? NONSENSE !!!
In the case of the opposition, I can understand their natural position of making their case to come back to power in the next election, but they could do it with honesty and civility. I do not recall Professor Mills attacking then President Kuffour at every little step he took whiles in office. If Nana Akufo-Addo wants to be the next president then he needs to indulge in healthy and sensible debate on what he intends to do different from the current leader. His personal attacks on the president has consequently enabled the flood gates open about his own personal issues, and so far the odds are not looking good for his presidential ambitions. This serves as warning to all our current and aspiring political leaders to behave themselves and live by example.
I would advise Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings to be thankful for peacefulness of the Ghanaian people, but it could change. One day we will rise against corrupt politicians, FAKE PASTORS, and development obstructing chiefs. Jerry Rawligns and his wife can attack the president, they have the rights to do so as citizens but their constant attacks have made them enemies of the state. Ghana is not a monarchy, and certainly not an authoritarian state, we will never allow anyone to rule for 20 years again. Mrs. Rawlings could be a good person, but if she truly loves her country then she can serve it without seeking the highest office, after all, her husband wasted a couple of decades doing nothing in that position. May God bless our homeland Ghana.
Written by,
FRANCIS KWEKU ABOAGYE,
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO
