Akufo-Addo’s naysayers are electoral prostitutes – Group

Pressure group Citizens Awake Forum says those casting aspersions against Nana Akufo-Addo for his decision to make another attempt at the presidency are “electoral prostitutes.”

Akufo-Addo announced recently to run for the flagbearer slot of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), after a six-month vacation.

His announcement was greeted with cynicism by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) which ridiculed him as an old man who is just preparing to suffer another humiliating defeat from a youthful John Mahama in 2016.

Akufo-Addo turns 70 on March 29, 2014 and will be 72 years by 2016 when fresh elections are due. John Mahama turned 55 on November 29, last year and will be 57 in 2016.

NDC's General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia and the party’s National Organiser Yaw Boateng Gyan, have both welcomed Nana Akufo-Addo’s re-entry into the race. They say the NDC will easily defeat Akufo-Addo again because they have done it twice in the past.

Citizens Awake Forum however said in a statement that: “The view expressed by the NDC is borne out of fear and panic” over Nana Akufo-Addo’s declaration.

The Group says the incompetence of the Mahama administration is what has led many Ghanaians to clamour for Nana Akufo-Addo. It says Ghanaians have “trust” and “hope” in Nana Akufo-Addo’s leadership and thus believe he is Ghana's only salvation.

“Today, there is no doubt that the Mahama government has failed Ghanaians. The government has turned Ghana into a Republic of Darkness, [a] bedmate to corruption,” coupled with recurrent shortage of water, the group noted.

To buttress its argument about the former Attorney-General’s competence as a politician worthy of leading Ghana, the group said in its statement signed by Executive Director Ernest Kojo Smith that: “Even though, the man is not president yet, his ideas are being tapped by the ruling government. This should tell how visionary the man is.”