by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.*
It has come to my attention that a certain gentleman, Addo Danquah
Akufo-Addo, Esquire, has been going with the title of "Nana" and has
very recently been elected a flag-bearer of the main opposition party
in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party, ( NPP). What even surprises me is
the fact the being a lawyer, Mr. Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo would be
extremely conversant with the provisions of the constitution and
abdicate from whatever traditional stool he occupied before contesting
for public office in compliance with the sacred provisions of our
constitution.
CHAPTER TEN of our constitution reads under Article 94. QUALIFICATIONS
AND ELIGIBILITY "( 3).A person shall not be eligible to be a member of
Parliament if he—(c) is a chief." So there is no ambiguity here. You
are either a cheif or you are not a chief. "Nana" is a title
exclusively reserved for cheifs as their official titles, so where is
Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo coming from? Is this man so attached to
this title that he is willing to flout the constitution in doing so?
The problem is that I suppose that he is not a chief and so why the
official title of Nana? On all his posters, website, facebook,
everywhere, even on the recent Electoral results sheet, Alan
Kyeremanten was simply "Mr" whilst Akufo-Addo went by "Nana". Titles
are not triffles. One way of respecting our constitution is not to
allow misleading titles that mean absolutely nothing to create the
impression that we are relaxing important provisions in our
constitution. Even if he used to be a chief or a prince or what have
you, he was deemed to have abdicated the moment he decided to contest
for public office several years ago, so why still "Nana"?
Needless to say that if up to this time he has not abdicated from his
feudal posts then he has been in violation of the constitution and the
Electoral Commission has serious questions to answer for such an
anomaly and can only redeem itself in no other way than according Mr.
Akufo-Addo his official title of "Mr" or to promptly disqualify him
from the race to teach other charlatans, who would not abdicate before
contesting like the late Mr. Dan Lartey did as ex-chief of Gomoa Lome,
a good lesson. It is not enough to cut your hair "sakora" and call
yourself a chief to qualify for an official recognition even up to the
level of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, and to be routinely called
"Nana" rather than "Mr" for all official purposes. It should take more
than an ordinary hair cut! On what legal basis is he calling himself
Nana?
Mr. Akufo-Addo must be brought into order to drop that misleading
title with immediate effect!
Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!
*Please let's stay in touch and on top of the NPP! Give me a follow on
twitter! I shall give you a follow!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheOdikro
