An open Letter to the President

January 20, 2013

H.E. MR. JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA

THE CASTLE

OSU, ACCRA

Your Excellency;

MY LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF GHANA

NEW AFRICA, OUR DEVOTION IS DEMANDED

On my behalf as Chairman and on behalf of the African Union of Ostfriesland, Germany, I write to congratulate you for being elected as the 5th President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. We are proud of our country, Ghana and its achievements as the beckon of the African continent.

Mr. President, our nation consists of various specialists with different field of expertise and our personal devotion is the key for the new Africa. It is therefore imperative to note that, the farmer, the teacher, the mason, the scientist, the entrepreneur, the labourer and many other professions as well as that of the President cannot be an exception!

Flag-bearers are elites and are expected to lead the process for development when they win elections, and you have incumbency to do so. And it must be their duty to consider the development of Ghana to be their task. I also will like to say that, all young Ghanaians should see themselves to be lucky considering the fact that, post-election activities did not grow into a political warfare. Therefore, they should be motivated to be the motor for the successful development. We have four main advantages as a country and as a continent, namely;

1. We have a large room for development,

2. The population which creates the market is available,

3. The availability of our natural resources,

4. Finally, we have a strong foundation to build on (Meaning, as a country we are not starting from ground zero). Based on the above His Excellency, much is expected of you as a leader.

Development, we both know will not come automatically; it must be organized and coordinated. The key pointers needed are as follows: Devotion, Know-how, Democracy and political stability. We have the capital as a continent, but we seem to fail because we don’t use it collectively. We should be able to think collectively without neglecting our families and relatives. As citizens of Ghana, our focus should always be on our country.

A proverb:

“If I’m Rich and my environment is poor, then I’m the poorest. And if I’m poor and my environment is rich, then I’m the Richest”.

Democracy in Ghana:

The conflicts and small pockets of violence generated after the election should serve as a warning to all of us, and that we need to work seriously on our electoral processes. I guess we should not waste time to start now by creating a move of preparing for the next coming election 2016 since four (4) years will soon come, by understanding what might have brought about the mistrust in the 2012 electoral process; for which, the results is currently being contested in court. We need transparency and well organized voting system for 2016. We the citizens of the country deny accepting that parties and their leaders misuse our trust. Then when we decide democratically for a particular government/party to come on power, no one should try changing it. That is why we should request for more transparency in our electoral processes and must not give room for any doubts whatsoever about the legitimacy of our elections.

Pardon me to ask these questions His Excellency; is there any solution to prevent any mishaps in next elections after the declaration of result by Electoral Commission?

With your surety, will there be any form of consensus that can be reached by all political parties to work together for a transparent election 2016 without any party feeling victimised?

The main signal of democracy in a country depends on the acceptance of the opinion of the majority of the people through an election. His Excellency, the escalation of violent activities after the December 7th election has cost our nation at least a life and many injuries. That should never be a part of our character and culture as a people who seek to practice democracy and up-hold the rule of law. The development of Ghana and Africa as a whole depends on our hard work. Africa must be free politically and economically.

God Bless you Mr. President.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

Sincerely yours,

(SIGNED)

Abdou Ouedraogo

Chairman African Union of Ostfriesland, Germany