“God has shifted the Mantle of Power to New Generation”
The One-week celebration of the late President John Evans Atta Mills was virtually turned into a political campaign when President John Dramani Mahama seized the opportunity to market himself and his political ambition.
At a well-attended celebration at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park in Accra, President Mahama sought to woo the youth into voting for him in the upcoming elections since he had now become the flagbearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In the course of his speech, Mr. Mahama noted. “God has in his wisdom shifted the mantle of power to a new generation and I call on the generation of young people of this country to stand by me and let us show our fathers that we are ready to take over this responsibility and make a good job of it and that tomorrow when they are dead and gone, they will know that their children were well brought up, took over responsibility and made sure the nation Ghana continued to hold the pride of place in Africa.”
He went a step further with a brief account of himself.
“I was born in 1958. I’m the first President of this country to have been born in the nation Ghana after we attained independence; all previous presidents were born before 1957.”
All this while, his right-had man, Kwesi Seinti Baffoe Bonnie, was seen urging the crowd to applaud in a very patronizing way.
Whilst admitting that President Mills’s death had placed what he described as “a very heavy responsibility” on him, Mr. Mahama appealed to the country’s teaming youth to rally behind him since “I cannot do it alone. I can only carry this responsibility if I have the support of the majority of the people of Ghana.