President Nana Akufo-Addo
By Appiah Papa
If you believe what people close to him say, President Akufo Addo is one of the nicest people one could ever meet. He is supposed to be kind, friendly, generous, humble and above all, incorruptible. Others, however, have had reason to describe him otherwise - as a tense, bitter and arrogant individual who actually believes in the all-die –be-die mantra and is not averse to occasionally looking the other way while people close to him violently assault his opponents.
They point, for example, to the 1996 parliamentary campaign in Kyebi, when people close to Nana Addo were said to have pursued Mr Owuraku Amofa, who had actually lost an election to Nana Addo, out of town, and set fire to his office.
Personally, Nana Akufo Addo had never made any real impression on me positively or negatively till the very last NPP rally at the Trade Fair site last year. At that rally, I saw a seventy two year old man, who had spent the previous few months touring every nook and cranny of the country, deliver a most energetic and powerful plea to the people of Ghana to give him a chance to serve, amidst the singing of “oye oye!” Believe me when I say, that that was the first time I began to see Nana Akufo Addo as a potential president.
Since assuming the presidency, however, I have seen another side of the man - a relaxed, affable, jovial man who is increasingly casting himself as a father figure for all of Ghana. These days, it appears one can’t make any headway politically without uttering the magic words – “that is how Nana wants it done”
But then I asked myself why this side of Nana Addo never really shone through to me all the years he had been campaigning for the presidency? Had I been brainwashed into selective blindness by NDC propaganda? I would doubt that very much because I am one person who takes everything politicians say with a pinch of salt.
His charisma was simply not coming through. In fact, I believe the 2016 election was as much won by Nana as lost by the NDC. Any party, that boasts of personnel like Fiifi Kwetey who impudently told Ghanaians they really needed to be whipped, that asks Ghanaians to tighten their belts and pay astronomical electricity tariffs, that puts taxes on condoms and cutlasses while spraying top of the range V8 cars around like confetti, that rebrands buses with millions of dollars and dishes out new contracts to NDC financiers even when they have bills yet unsettled, was bound to lose an election.
But then I watched a documentary on Nana Akufo Addo, in which Gabby Okyere Darko explained, that Nana is very shy about doing things that most other politicians would do, often insincerely, to attract attention and sympathy. He said, that if you asked Nana Addo to pick up a little child for a photograph, he would refuse because “it was contrived”. Ahaa! That explains it a bit. He did not believe in the cheap but effective little tricks in politics. He stuck, quite stubbornly, to his ideas and vision.
“Ebenezer, thus far has the Lord brought us!” I have been totally gripped by Nana Addo’s speeches. His deliveries have been excellent, and while the contents have often been controversial, I don’t believe that is anything to cause him any undue headaches. I heard him promise to protect the public purse. I heard him promise Ghana was again open for business.
I heard him ask all of us to be citizens and be proud once again to be Ghanaians. I heard his rallying call to the people of Ghana, inspiring us and motivating us to rise up and follow him as he led us to the Promised Land. That is what I heard in his speeches, and believe me, these are often more important than accurate figures or historical facts.
It was all going so well, till Nana Addo, probably against his better judgement, decided to appoint 110 ministers and Mr Mustapha Hamid raised his comical head above the parapet. I have regarded this man as some comical character since in the latter days of the 2016 election, right in the middle of a press conference to announce the discovery of an apparent attempt by then President Mahama and his brother to bribe Mr Bugri Naabu with a V8 vehicle, suddenly stopped and started crying.
“Oh don’t cry!” People could be heard saying in the background. The man apparently loved Ghana so much he had been terribly traumatised by the bribery allegation to the point of shedding tears. Ridiculous! I have never taken him seriously since.
But as I was saying, he appeared on the scene, initially to tell Ghanaians, that there had not been any confusion in appointing two men to occupy the same post at NADMO except that the men had not known what they had been appointed for. Good one there.
He continued with a series of bumbling attempts at justification of the 110 ministers till Nana Addo had had enough. He organised a press conference in his office to, rather unsuccessfully, attempt to explain his motive. After all, he was part of the NPP that had so viciously condemned previous governments for appointing even fewer ministers.
But near the end of the interview, he was asked, and I don’t know whether that question was planted or not, why he chose to drive his 2007 BMW instead of better presidential cars. And that brought his charisma to the fore. He expressed surprise at the age of the car and said he had not even noticed it was that old. He said he was happy to have a car that took him from one place to another and was not really fussy about cars.
I knew then, that stories about his incorruptibility were probably true. What a breath of fresh air from the guy beside me who took an expensive Ford Expedition, and who knows what else, from a Burkinabe contractor applying for contracts in Ghana and managed to convince himself and the CHRAG, that he took it in the interest of Ghana; for me and you and generations yet unborn.
I look ahead of me and I see the Black Star of Ghana in the sky, ready to shine again and inspire the rest of Africa, until, as Osagyefo said, the entire mentality that Africa is a land of total darkness has been completely eradicated. To achieve this, we have resoundingly booted out a corrupt government and appointed a seventy two year incorruptible man with a vision for rapid transformation of our country. He is a distinguished lawyer who has, all his life, fought for good governance, democracy and human rights.
And yet, sadly, I look to my left and I see the Invisible forces or Untouchable Forces if you prefer, wallop a senior police officer right at the seat of government while armed soldiers and police looked on. A warrant has been issued for their arrest. I do not envy the person tasked with arresting men who beat up their fellow man in front of armed security officials and simply walk away from the seat of government.
I look to my right and I see the Delta Untouchable forces, a marauding gang of thugs trained by the NPP under Nana Akufo Addo; men capable of anything, violently manhandle an appointee at the Regional Security Office in Kumasi while all the police could do was take the victim to safety while the gang viciously tore an office to shreds, all in the name of their revered president.
So then I ask myself, who is the real Nana Addo? I simply do not know, and your guess might probably, be just as good as mine.
Papa Appiah