WO1 Joseph Ashitey Hammond, a Ghanaian soldier who fought in the Second World War, has said he has witnessed the performance of all the presidents that have come after Ghana’s independence and can therefore state on authority that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the second-best president ever in the history of Ghana.

In his view, the 1st is Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

WO1 Ashitey Hammond who is also the only surviving 210 soldiers who went demanding for what is due them in terms of their pensions and what were promised them for fighting in the 2nd world war, told TV3’s Johnnie Hughes in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, March 16 that Dr Kwame Nkrumah built several factories and started industrializing the nation before his overthrow.

However, he said, all his projects were discontinued by successive governments.

If these projects had been sustained, he stated, Ghana would have turned into paradise at the moment.

He explained that President Akufo-Addo is the only president after Nkrumah who has demonstrated enough commitment towards industrializing the local economy.

WO1 Ashietey Hammond, 96 years, placed Professor John Evans Atta Mills as the third best president, followed by John Dramani Mahama in the fourth position.

“I have seen all the presidents that have come,” he said.

When Johnnie Hughes asked him which of them will be his number one in terms of performance, he answered “Number one is Kwame Nkrumah, number two is Akufo-Addo. I must be frank with you.

“Nkrumah built a lot of factories but because these people didn’t continue what Nkrumah did that is why we are now where we are. The country went back. If they had continued what Nkrumah did Ghana would have been paradise by now. President Akufo-Addo is the one making efforts now.”

He added “Professor Mills is the third. As far as construction is concerned Nkrumah did a lot but the next person who also did construction is Mahama.

“Rawlings was a solder, I am also a soldier and he is my man but the truth is that there were a lot of bloodsheds when he was trying to stabilize everything but there were killings.

“When something happens and you are the head and so you are the one people will blame. As a soldier, I knew a lot of things that happened but I won’t say them.”