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Why President Mahama is
still poles ahead of Akufo-Addo (Part I)
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Part I
Part II
President Mahama is acknowledged as the “face” of the
NDC, being the one put in power on the ticket of the NDC,
but he hasn’t in any way said, done or refused to say or do
anything that endangers the wellbeing of the party. He
hasn’t made any public utterance or portrayed himself in any
way to suggest that he has any problem with anybody in the
NDC. Indeed, even at the time that the NDC was struggling
with how to deal with the “Rawlings factor”, he never
postured himself in any way to suggest that he had any
vested interest in anything—whether Rawlings should be
divested of the accolade as the founder and father of the
NDC.
Neither did he say or do anything to ruffle feathers when
Rawlings’ fate was decided. He didn’t also say or do
anything to give the slightest/faintest idea of how he felt
about Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings’ vituperative reaction
to the Sunyani congress that preferred the late Prof. Mills
to her and her consequent desertion of the NDC to lead the
NDP (having now made us know that she didn’t form that
party). President Mahama hasn’t reacted in any way to the
provocative utterances from the Rawlingses nor has he taken
on anybody in the NDC challenging his authority or impugning
his integrity with obnoxious public utterances. He has a
thick skin to soak it all up.
Let me leapfrog here a bit for a good reason. Is it so for
Akufo-Addo? No!! Anybody holding any contrary view should be
considered as part of the huge problem facing Akufo-Addo.
From all indications, he has a hand in the rumpus that has
rocked his party and deflected it from its major agenda of
reaching out to the electorate with convincing messages to
win their hearts and minds. His slimy ways of retreating to
the background when the machinations are materializing and
his opponents are being “destroyed” only to resurface with
face-saving messages of reconciliation are known. That is
why a staunch follower of Joshua Attoh Quarshie’s type can’t
take it anymore but to burst out, accusing him of being the
cause of the chaos in the party. So also is it being said
about him that he is breeding sycophants in the NPP, which
runs counter to the ideals of the UP tradition.
For the nonce, let it be said that Akufo-Addo is focused on
winning Election 2016 but flippant about what happens to the
NPP when he is no more. That’s not how seasoned politicians
think and behave. They do things to keep their political
tradition alive. They think about the future and ensure that
whatever they do leads to sustainable political power. What
I see coming from Akufo-Addo is skewed toward his personal
quest, which endangers the future viability of the NPP. Just
consider how any potential leader of the NPP has been
destroyed in the eyes of the public just because they dared
challenge Akufo-Addo.
The funny part is: What happens if he dies today or is
incapacitated by any ailment beyond control as to render him
invalid for the elections? (After all, no one knows when
Nature’s bell will toll) Will the NPP go for Alan Kyerematen
or any of the discredited aspirants to contest Election
2016? With what effect? Truly, these NPP people are walking
a tightrope on a one-way lane in the political landscape.
How do they think at all? So, because of Akufo-Addo, no one
in the NPP should hold a contrary opinion on the party’s
affairs and express it without intimidation or the kind of
repercussion that is adding more woes to Akufo-Addo’s own
credibility problems? How pathetic!
Okay for now. Let me get back to my line of argumentation on
President Mahama’s stance. There have been disturbances at
the NDC front over the years that one might expect him to
wade into; but he hasn’t. He has stayed away from all that
fracas, obviously because he would rather work for such
internal crisis to be resolved amicably than catalyzing them
into a self-destructive inferno.
Take, for instance, the series of agitations and misguided
actions by NDC supporters in reacting to his appointment of
CEOs for Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies in some
parts of the country or the Ministries, Agencies and
analogous institutions. He never inserted himself into the
scenario. Should he be dismissed as a weakling in that
sense? I don’t think so. He knows the heavy political
capital involved and won’t want to say or do anything to
cause needless headache. Eventually, all hands are on deck,
even if the undercurrents of dissension and discontent are
still prevalent. The truth is that he isn’t coming across as
the be-it-all-and-end-it-all for the NDC and its government.
He is in charge of affairs but isn’t rowing the boat alone.
He has remained the cool-headed, affable man that he
naturally is. Indeed, anything from him that might be
interpreted as a reaction to happenings leans toward unity
and the strengthening of bonds for Ghana’s good. He is on
record as seeking unity in the ranks of the NDC and
Ghanaians, generally. The bottom-line is that he is really
not perturbed about happenings in his own party to the
extent as to want to exert his influence to have people obey
his voice or be damned. Politics is about differences and
how to reconcile for the good of society. That is what
guides President Mahama’s mindset and attitude. Is it the
same for others, especially Akufo-Addo?
One significant fact is that while Akufo-Addo is preaching
about VIOLENCE in terms of the voters register or gigging of
elections, President Mahama has been urging Ghanaians to
work for peace and fellow-feeling to realize the national
aspiration of “one nation, one people, one common destiny”.
Public perception of Akufo-Addo within the context of his
own violent posturing (“Atiwa kuraa ye kyere won bibi kakraa”,
and “All die be die”) is highly negative. What good does he
think will come from this highly negative perception of him
as someone who will be more willing to plunge Ghana into
chaos if his ambition is not realized than as someone who
has the technical capability to solve problems?
Of course, the people already know that he is not the kind
of problem-solver to redeem them from their plight. All that
talk of him as Ghana’s redeemer has no foundation in the
truth that the people know and which truth informed their
electoral decisions at Elections 2008 and 20912. The
overarching question, then, is: What new lessons has he
learnt to add value to himself to warrant his being
preferred?
I won’t bore you by going any further. Just cast your mind
round and over happenings in the NPP since Kufuor handed the
mantle to Akufo-Addo and you should be your own judge. The
manner in which he is doing things portrays him as
politically immature and filled with a kind of dangerous
zeal that scares. I have wondered why he thinks that he can
solve Ghana’s problems and why he is raising the bar so
high.
I make the connection with Rawlings’ dare-devil suicidal
challenge to Ghanaians that he was ready to face the firing
squad if Ghanaians didn’t like what he had come to do for
them for the second time by overthrowing the Limann
administration. What happened? He is still strutting around,
becoming the best friend of Akufo-Addo and Co. If
politicians of their ilk don’t end up at the stakes, they
set their countries up for pogroms. And it is the innocent,
poor, defenceless citizens who suffer the scourge of their
nonsense!! No more.
I shall return…
Cont'd: Part II
I shall return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor
to continue the conversation.
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EC BUDGETS $230M FOR NEW VOTERS
REGISTER Kenya did same for $95M
Statesman, Dec
10, Ghanadot - Credible information available to the
New Statesman indicates that the Electoral Commission
has prepared a budget of $230 million for a possible
compilation of a new biometric voters register for the
2016 general elections. .More
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COP21: African
campaigners demand compensation for effects of global
warming
Independent, Dec 11, Ghanadot - African
campaigners are demanding compensation for the huge
damage being inflicted on the continent by global
warming – a problem that has been caused by the rich
countries but will hit poor nations the hardest.
....More
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'Kufuor, Ghana's most
successful leader'
Ghanaweb, Dec 09, Ghanadot - Ghana, since
adopting constitutional rule in 1992, has had Mr Jerry
John Rawlings, Mr John Agyekum Kufour, Prof John Mills,
and Mr John Mahama as presidents in different
periods....In Mr Otchere-Darko's opinion, Mr Kufuor
stands out among the four. In a tweet to wish
ex-president Kufour well on his 77th birthday Tuesday,
December 8, 2015, the DI founder said Mr Kufuor’s
two-term presidency dwarfs that of all his
contemporaries. .....More
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Anchoring the future to the past, Kufuor
A republication
Commentary, Dec 10, Ghanadot -
On February 02, 2007, we published the following article
on President John Kufuor. This republication is to
wish him A Happy Birthday.........More
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