Did Gbagbo Snub JA Kufour?

Ask Salifu Ali

Former President Kufuor is very much known for trumpeting his achievements

whenever he gets the least opportunity. It is something that is very dear to

him. His mantra is “If nobody will praise me, I will also not sit back and

praise myself”. In fact ever since he left office, Kufour has on a number of

countless occasions hammered home any role/s he had played in helping to abate

any political crisis especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such has been the

situation since Kufuor left office almost two years ago.

Mr. Kufuor has been deeply rooted in helping to resolve the political crisis

that has engulfed Ivory Coast for the past six years when he was in office.

Kufuor is known to be a “friend” of Laurent Gbagbo and flew to Ivory Coast

several times during his tenure to help in brokering peace. Gbagbo on the other

hand came to Ghana several times when Kufuor was in office to seek counsel from

him.

Therefore, it was natural for Kufuor to call Gbagbo on the phone when the former

used his country’s constitutional council to overturn the presidential election

results in his favour. But something odd happened when Kufuor called Gbagbo on

the phone. In his own words during his interview with the Joy FM’s Super Morning

Show, the ex-president informed the world that he had personally tried to talk

to Gbagbo directly but has not been successful.

Explaining further, Kufuor stated that he had left messages with the Aides de

Camp of Gbagbo but to date Gbagbo, has not bothered to return Kufuor’s calls.

And Kufuor was so happy to share this diplomatic snub information with Ghanaians

and the world at large? I cannot believe this. I could not help in shouting, “Oh

no, please shut up. Do not expose yourself. Do not let everybody know that you

have been snubbed”.

If Kufuor called Gbagbo and he refused to talk to him, what Gbagbo is telling

Kufuor is “To hell with you”. It also means he does not care a hoot about who

Kufuor is or the kind of “help” Kufuor gave to him in the past. It means he had

snubbed Kufuor: Short and simple. And this information is something Kufuor

should never have let out of his mouth. But as usual, since Kufuor has the

penchant of praising himself when he gets the least opportunity, he may have

released that information with the hope of trying to impress upon Ghanaians and

the world at large that he too is also trying to help in the mediation process.

Kufuor perhaps wanted everybody to know that he is also deeply involved in

helping to counsel Gbagbo to do the right thing by ceding power to the

presidential election winner Allassane Ouattara. But in so doing he blew his

cover by exposing himself to the world at large: That his words mean nothing to

Gbagbo. Kufuor made us to know that his much trumpeted diplomatic skills do not

carry any weight. And that he Kufuor does not even deserve just a return phone

call from Gbagbo who is hell bent on stealing the elections from his opponent.

This diplomatic snub should drum home to Kufuor that as a prominent personality

in the country it is not every time and in all situations that he should try to

“blow his own horn.” It is time he let other people do the talking for him by

way of trumpeting his achievements. Too much showering of self-praise will

expose Kufuor to the rest of the world, and to the embarrassment of his party

and supporters. A word to a wise…………….

salifuali@rocketmail.com