Ghana! Let It Be Akufo-Addo

Ghana has a date with destiny once again on Friday, the 7th day of December, 2012 when it votes to elect its next president.

GO, like all media in Ghana appreciates the challenge facing Ghanaians and it is with that deep sense of responsibility that it recommends to the entirety of Ghanaians who will vote on Friday to vote for Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

We endorse Nana Akufo-Addo and request voters to vote him as President not because of any selfish or parochial considerations. We do so, instead for love of nation and a burning desire to restore, hope, dignity and nationhood among other imperatives of nationhood.

In President John Mahama, we have had a clueless caretaker President who has shown in the last few months that leadership has just been thrust upon him rather than one who has trained himself and honed his skills for effective and quality leadership of service to the mother land. From the circumstances leading to the sudden and untimely death of former President Mills right through to President Mahama’s style of leadership in these last few months, Ghana has retrogressed and dimmed in the eyes of the international community.

The tragedy of the Mills-Mahama administration begun so early when it was revealed sometime in the course of this year that the duo superintended the payment of the whooping sum of GHC 51.2 million to Alfred Agbesi Woyome. The Mahama administration has not till date been able to recover the money paid and is in a court battle with Woyome.

Many question why a government that has not been able to protect the national kitty should have the nerve and audacity to question the free Senior High School (SHS) policy of Nana Akufo-Addo. President Mahama and his ilk, without shame look Ghanaians and for that matter students of SHS (some of whom are fending for themselves) and tell them not to believe that Nana Akufo-Addo will be able to implement the much vaunted free-SHS policy. That should only have been possible in a situation where President Mahama and his NDC had not ensured that GHC 51.2 million of our money was lost under very bizarre circumstances. President Mahama and his NDC do not care because that is public money which money he and his party and government do not care two hoots about.

The bogus CP settlement and of course the Rockshell judgment debts also loom large over President Mahama. All these occurred under his joint watch with the departed President Mills.

Yet another reason why President Mahama and his NDC government should be shown the exit by well meaning Ghanaians on Friday is the fact that they have not been able to deal with the energy supply situation. Ghanaians have in the last few months been confronted with a situation where even though the Akosombo and Kpong Dams have full supply of water for energy generation, we have had to go for months without electricity supply. The official explanation given by President Mahama is that the dropping of a ship’s anchor in Togolese waters destroying the West African Gas Pipeline is an “act of God.” This is a President who does not even understand nor appreciate what an “act of God” is and yet he wants Ghanaians to vote him into office for another four years of a so-called ‘Better Ghana.”

The opulence, profligacy and gross inhuman conduct of President Mahama and his government on this campaign provides yet another basis why Ghana must push them into opposition to learn humility and respect for the poor living conditions of many Ghanaians. From vehicles to cash handouts, President Mahama and his team have compromised many a so-called volunteer with cash and other trappings, of course, using state funds for personal benefit. The recent expose of the rot at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) where state funds had been earmarked for one of the many mushroom groups clamouring for President Mahama’s election provide yet another example of stinking corruption under President Mahama.

Of course, corruption has now been patented under the watch of President Mahama. This has caused even the founder of the NDC, President Rawlings to have justifiable basis to lament the phenomenon of “greedy bastards” in government. Enter the babies with “sharp teeth” who have been unleashed by President Mahama and before him President Mills to attack everyone who has had cause to caution the government against corruption and moral degeneration. That style has witnessed unjustified insults from the Mahama coterie at the Castle who think that all who caution them about their misconduct deserve to be insulted The monumental failure that Ghana has become under the Mills-Mahama administration can only be reversed under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo. In Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians have a choice and a serious alternative who means business and is committed to creating jobs for all (not for a few), good governance and restoring Ghana to its rightful place in the international arena. With a more than solid background in government as Attorney General and Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo has rubbed shoulders and hobnobbed with world leaders. Beyond that he has established personal relationships with world leaders that can be leveraged for the benefit of Ghana.

Nana Akufo-Addo, unlike President Mahama abhors corruption and believes in hard work. An established businessman and lawyer, Nana Akufo-Addo is responsible for the success of a number of leading foreign and local business interests in the country today.

Looking across the field of candidates for the presidential election, GO has no doubt that between Nana Akufo-Addo on one hand and President Mahama, Dr. Nduom, Akwasi Addae (Odike), Hassan Ayariga, Dr. Henry Lartey, Joseph Osei Yeboah and Dr. Abu Sakara, the man who is well rounded and ready to take Ghana to its rightful place as President is Nana Akufo-Addo.

A vote for Nana Addo means free-SHS for our children, a revamped NHIS and free NHIS for all persons under-18, a purposeful and corruption-free government. A vote for Nana Addo also means equal distribution of the nation’s oil wealth and wealth from other resources for the rapid development of Ghana’s human resource base and to improve the quality of life. As we go to the polls on Friday, GO urges all voters to put Ghana first by voting the man who has what it takes to make Ghana the land of freedom and justice it ought to be. Vote well! Vote Nana Akufo-Addo!