So much ink has been spilt on the inability of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to confer an award on one of the past Presidents from the continent of Africa as they are wont to do annually. Within the Republic of Ghana however, the situation has attracted both angst and joy as a result of propaganda, envy, admiration and more envy: more envy because a son of this Land of Our Death, who happened to have been elevated to the high office of President once upon a time, and who happens to have attracted public and open statements of hatred by some of those who temporarily control the levers of political power fortunately or unfortunately, had his name mentioned as a probable and indeed towering candidate for the nascent award. Perhaps, in the minds of those who are the foster children of “Do Me I Do You”, no Ghanaian, past or present, must ever make it to that level; after all, they have glorified Kofi Nwiah recently and with that, yanked the flag of Samia’s immediate past ancestor from the control of Nduom and in essence, eaten further into the depleting remains of the CPP carcass, for that, contrary to what a certain David Ampofo once told us, is what Kofi Nwiah’s party is: the shell of a vandalized carcass with its “ribs” enthused about their handiwork in the self-destruction spree.
Is it not plausible that had Kufuor the full-blooded Ghanaian taken the award, he would have put a decisive dampener on the total irrelevance of the otherwise clever battering of Kofi Nwiah’s party under the aegis of a so-called centenary celebration of Nwiah’s life that was officially planned, plotted and presented by fringe remnants of the Cockerel Party, ready, over-willing, able and over-enthusiastic in their desire to decimate anything of the Busia-Danquah tradition, so that the heights of their envy and hatred make it easy to enter into a very loose marriage of political convenience with the very people that either claimed Kofi Nwiah bequeathed unto Ghana only a flag and an anthem or in more heart-wrenching forms, simply kicked out the only constitutional incarnation of Kofi Nwiah’s party of which they, these latter day apparatchiks of the Brutus pedigree were veritable and prominent attaches. Hello Mr. Bernard Mornah, how do you do?
Within the span of one month, I have seen Kufuor in action on various platforms both within Ghana and outside the 92,098 square miles that constitutes our geo-political space. This man, who some wife-beating deputy minister claimed had a swimming pool in his house even after television cameras had shown that there was no such facility on his residential compound has carried himself with grace and decorum especially when he is on the international platform. When I wrote within these pages that Kufuor had been appointed the chief fundraiser for the 700th Anniversary Celebration of Exeter College, Oxford, someone called to ask me where I got this information from. One does not sit in a security class with both the British and the English in their land and not have a wide area network of very good friends who have unlimited access to priceless information. Thus if a cabinet minister goes to take Mabey and Johnson files and refuses to share them with the local SFO for example, or if some other people have been implicated and it is kept from the public eye, those who hide those things should know that others know even more which shall be divulged when they so determine.
Now if I say that Kufuor made Ghana proud when he delivered his speech on “Africa and Globalization-Enabling a Better Future” at the United Nations University in Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo, it was because I and a few colleagues who were there, enjoyed seeing someone making Ghana so proud. I have had my personal problems with John Kufuor; these are open secrets and yet I acknowledge his contribution to this country called Ghana. Sometimes I wish I had been close to his inner circle and helped steer him off the path of mistakes, especially the ones that he made as far as his own political party is concerned, or to proffer advice on the people around him who hail him when he is around only to turn around and bad-mouth him so terribly you would think he is Satan’s first cousin.
Indeed Kufuor is only human and does not carry either the wisdom or knowledge pot alone. He is thus bound to make mistakes, both pardonable and what some people think are unpardonable ones. Nevertheless, I have come to realize that when it comes to his dealings within the international community, he has strenuously avoided bringing Ghana into disrepute of any sort. Maybe it is his flawless international credentials that are irking some people so much so that they are raising and flying some flares about his purported detrimental involvement in the Vodafone Deal. But that is a matter under investigation so I will not delve into it.
If Kufuor has made such an awesome mark in the international arena, then far more important is the platform upon which he launched himself and with that, Ghana unto that pedestal. Is it not a truism that Kufuor was elected by the good people of Ghana to preside over the administration of this country for eight uninterrupted years? What is more of an award, reward or elevation than for the citizens of a country to collectively decide to bestow upon one of their own, the privilege of taking decisions on their behalf? With all due respect, it is not Mo Ibrahim or his money that has made John Kufuor who he has become. Indeed the connections that Kufuor has made in his tenure as President are such that the prize money pales into great insignificance for how do we compare a personal award of five million dollars to influence, clout and stature? Can anyone buy his way into all G8 meetings between 2001 and 2009 with five million dollars? Has anyone managed to get debt-forgiveness close to six billion dollars on the basis of a five million dollar award? If Oxford, an educational institution, can appoint our former Head-of-State to tour the world to raise funds from all its surviving students who have passed through Exeter College alone over its 700 year existence, what is five million dollars, nay a Mo Ibrahim award that has gotten some people so green with envy that their shade of green cannot even be defined?
I saw Kufuor at Gabby Otchere Darko’s mother’s funeral. He was again regal and elegant, carrying himself well and displaying what elder statesmen display. When we exchanged greetings, it was not like old adversaries in the NPP; he showed an understanding and cracked a joke or two. I carefully took notice of his behaviour and body language while sitting next to His Excellency John D. Mahama, sitting Vice-President of Ghana. He scored very high marks on the occasion and truth be told, the Vice-President’s delegation displayed similar candour in obviously markedly opposition territory. I saw him again at Osu, celebrating the one-year commemoration of the passing of the mother of a dynamic young woman in the NPP. Again he was mobbed by the crowds in a predominantly NDC stronghold. There must be something about him that places him in the love-hate relationship but is that not human nature after all? Is one man’s freedom fighter not really another man’s terrorist? Did we all not see him visiting his old office at the castle in the company of former Presidents and being very warm and friendly with His Excellency President J.E.A. Mills? Even Koku Anyidoho, who has openly expressed disaffection for Kufuor in Ghana and beyond could not help but smile as pleasantries were exchanged, going the extra mile to ensure that TV cameras picked him posing behind the self-same hated John Kufuor as he shared his opinions with the castle press corp.
Yet John Kufuor for all the love and hate that has been meted out to him remains a towering figure in the annals of this country’s history. Whether we like it or not, he shall be remembered for a number of things especially that he was the second and dare I say, most successful president yet under the fourth Republican dispensation. Like his predecessor John Rawlings, he will enjoy both praise and scorn, for that is the lot of a leader, especially in a politically charged atmosphere but should that make us resolve not to promote him and with that, Ghana when the opportunity so presents itself? When President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva went to make a presentation that “awarded” Brazil the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games, he still had political opponents, but they rallied behind him to chalk that success for their beloved country. I am quite sure that when Barack Obama went on the same mission, both the Republicans and Independents of America supported him even if he returned unsuccessful. Obama has gone ahead to win the Nobel Prize and as controversial as it may be, he has brought honour firstly to his country and lastly to himself, for without America being his platform, how could he have acceded to that prestigious position that in turn facilitated his winning of the prize?
The time has come for us to promote our own. It really does not matter whether the individual concerned was spawned from an ethnic group that oral tradition may have despised and planted into our infant minds so that we grow with deep-seated hatred for people of that tribe. It is of relative insignificance if the individual earmarked for some award or promotion comes from the opposing political group provided the interest, image or integrity of Ghana are under consideration. Sons and daughters of this land all add up to make Ghana what it is. Perhaps, Ghana would not be complete without a John Rawlings, the same way that it would be incomplete without a John Kufuor. Can we as a people, collectively use the Mo Ibrahim saga as the last time we shall display our shameful attitude of deriding our leaders, past and present at least when it comes to operations at the international level? I need not enumerate the benefits of such a move for we know it within ourselves. Would it not be sad, that if current President Mills makes the grade for such an award, some people would engage in backroom machinations to deny him that and then gloat about his inability to clinch the award? How do we grow as a nation with such an attitude and what would be the attraction for well-meaning people to take to politics and leadership if the very people who confer on them the privilege of leading us for defined tenures turn round to portray to all and sundry that we were foolish enough to make the very same leaders our elected President? Jehovah-M’gaddishcem give you grace to ponder over these things.
