As the world watches and Ghanaians wait for a President-elect to be declared, I hope Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta Mills will take the following honorable steps to make the voting in the Tain Constituency unnecessary. They should do this not because either of them believes that there were no voting irregularities in some parts of the country but in spite of such beliefs either of them might have.
First, Nana should dig deep within him and come out to concede defeat to Prof. Atta Mills and tell Ghanaians that he is doing so because of his great love for Ghana and because of his great support for the ideals of democracy – ideals he has fought for all his life. He should then congratulate Atta Mills and wish him the best and promise him that he, Nana, and his NPP party will work hand in hand with Atta Mills and the NDC to continue the nation building process that is underway in Ghana to move this exemplary sub-Saharan country into prosperity.
Then Professor Atta Mills should gracefully respond with admiration for Nana Akufo-Addo for the courage, maturity and wisdom demonstrated and point out to Ghanaians that Nana Akufo-Addo has proven that he is the illustrious son of Ghana that many, including him Atta Mills, have come to know him to be. The Professor should then thank Ghanaians for the confidence they have placed in him and let them know that he is going to be President of the whole Ghana and not President of only the NDC party.
To Ghanaians everywhere, I wish to say that we should all strive to build a better Ghana for our children. A nation is built on the integrity of its citizens and we have a great obligation to do well for other Africans to follow. We cannot continue to claim the rights of the first-born child without bearing the responsibilities of that order of birth. To a large extent, the failure of the African continent should be blamed on Ghana’s inability to separate itself from the poverty stricken countries surrounding us in Africa. As the first to become independent in Black Africa, we have not given much reason for hope to our brothers and sisters on the continent. We have no excuse to still be where we are! Absolutely no excuse! You can blame colonialism and neo-colonialism and all the other external vices (and they may be legitimate blames) but internal corruption, lawlessness, and lack of long-term vision, among other reasons, are the greater culprits. We need to be passionate about doing the right things. The next administration needs to truly fight corruption, nepotism/tribalism; raise the standards of education, especially in math and science; and utilize the abilities of Ghanaians everywhere. Let us be serious about doing the right things!!!
God bless Ghana!
Charles E. Appeadu, Ph.D., CFA