Open letter to Ghana's First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo

Your Excellency,

Surprising though it might be to you, you actually have it within

your power to help secure a second term for your dear husband, our

nation's leader, President Akufo-Addo.

There are a number of vital steps that if you encourage your husband

to take, will change the nature of our nation's politics permanently -

for the better - and make his position in Ghana's political world

unassailable.

Your Excellency, to begin with, you must act swiftly to prevent the

possibility of your husband suffering the political equivalent of

warzone-collateral-damage from arrant wrongdoing by members of his

extended family clan and yours.

To do so, you must get your husband to follow the example of former

President Rawlings.

It might interest you to learn that once upon a time, former

President Rawlings made it plain to all his relatives that if they

messed up, they would be on their own: and suffer the consequences of

their own foolishness by themselves - as he would not come to their

rescue under any circumstances. It worked a treat for him as it

happens.

Secondly, you must constantly remind your husband of the Asantehene's

friendly advice to him that he must never forget that it was to him

that voters gave the mandate to govern the Republic of Ghana - not

those around him in his inner circle and government.

In effect what the wise Asantehene was implying was that the

president's appointees serve at his pleasure - and only on condition

that they deliver the results he expected from them when he appointed

them to their positions in government.

Naturally, no one in Ghana expects your husband to usher in rule by

saints - for heaven is the only place where saints inhabit: not the

planet Earth.

However, he can occupy the moral high ground in our nation's politics

for the next eight years, if both of you publicly publish your assets

- even though there is no law compelling the two of you to do so.

That will strike a major blow against high-level corruption in Ghana -

since nothing else can pierce egregious grand-larceny's extra-hardened

armour so to speak.

Above all, when the two of you finally make your move to publicly

publish your individual assets, you must take the whole nation by

surprise - and, crucially, no one but the two of you must know that

you have indeed decided to do so.

Alas, if any of the leading figures in the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

and his inner circle get wind of such a decision by the two of you,

they will move heaven and earth to prevent you doing so - by coming up

with all manner of excuses as to why it shouldn't happen.

Ignore all of them, Your Excellency: For you will both be securing

your place in history if you publicly publish your assets - and will

earn the respect of the whole world on top of that too.

And wherever you travel officialy to in the world, you will find that

you will both experience virtually the same kind of admiration that

more or less the entire human race had for Nelson Mandela whiles he

was alive.

Doubtless, you will be besieged by many 'concerned' individuals from

your party and extended family clans when word about this missive to

you gets around - most of whom will try and convince you that it would

not be a wise move for you and your husband to publicly publish your

assets.

Ignore all of them, Your Excellency - for they are actually only

thinking of themselves and how such a move by you and your husband the

president will ruin their secret wealth creation agendas at Mother

Ghana's expense.

Finally, food for thought for you, Your Execellency: If former

President John Dramani Mahama and his wife Lordina, as well as his

brothers Edward and Ibrahim, and their respective spouses, had

publicly published their assets as some of us suggested they do, John

Mahama would still be President of the Republic of Ghana as we speak.

For sure. Such as life.

I wish you and your courageous husband well.

Thanks.