Signals being picked by The Catalyst indicate that France is putting measures in place to support the presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, to defeat President Mills in 2012 to serve as punishment for Ghana’s refusal to support Alassane Ouattara, the man being hailed as the winner of the polls in La Cote d’Ivoire.
Though the deal has not yet been brokered, this paper has learnt that some contacts have already been made and the NPP will be counting on France to get logistic and financial support to beat the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when the battle lines are drawn in 2012.
The French connection has been necessitated by France’s unhappiness at Ghana’s alleged tacit support for Laurent Gbagbo, the embattled President of la Cote d’Ivoire who has come under severe military and media attacks from the West using the UN as a legitimate cover.
France’s loss of control over the West African nation’s resources has led to a serious military and media attack on Laurent Gbagbo, following disputed elections in 2010 that the West wants the world to believe was won by Alassane Ouattara, a strong ally of France.
Prior to the current impasse in Abidjan, France and its allies had sought to use the African Union (AU) against Gbagbo but the likes of President Mills objected to the continental body’s use of force to oust their colleague. This did not go down well with France which is also on a similar mission in Libya.
For refusing to engage Ghana, a strategic country to France in this conflict, in attaining that aim, President Mills has turned into France’s enemy and the best way to deal with him is to ‘remove’ him from power through legitimate means. Nana Addo’s ambition of becoming president falls in line with this agenda, thus the alliance.
Taking advantage of his links with France during his days at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Akufo-Addo, our sources say, is engaged in talks with some friends at the helm of affairs in Paris to seal the deal. He is using the trump card of a good relationship between his unlikely government and the three other allies of France, Togo, Burkina Faso and la Cote d’Ivoire to buttress his appeal for support. France has an umbilical link with its three French-speaking allies but Gbagbo’s tenure is denying it of the full benefits from that alliance.
Ouattara’s assumption of power, coupled with Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency, if it ever happens, would benefit France in many ways, especially with Ghana’s discovery of oil in commercial quantity. La Cote d’Ivoire also has oil in commercial quantity. Interestingly, la Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana are the world’s highest cocoa producers; they occupy the first and second spots respectively in the production of cocoa in the world.
Western countries have in these recent days taken their desire to control Africa’s resources to another level with an unprecedented haste in interfering in the continent’s internal matters, using the United Nations as a cover.
The recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, the rebellion in Libya and power struggle in la Cote d’Ivoire are all believed to be remote acts of some Western countries led by France and the U.S. France exposed its direct involvement in the Libyan conflict by recognizing as the legitimate government, a rebellious movement that is struggling to contend with the superior military power of pro-Gaddafi forces.
Taking a cue from former President Kufuor, who was reported to have asked for and received support from his colleague Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-president of Nigeria, to win the elections in 2000, Nana Akufo Addo is desperately looking from any source to win the 2012 elections to register his name on the list of presidents of Ghana. Unfortunately, age is catching up with him, so 2012 is seen as his last chance of fulfilling that dream. At 68 years, Akufo-Addo would be too old to be chosen by the party in 2014 for the next elections in 2016 so observers and analysts believe 2012 remains his last chance.
His recent call on supporters of the NPP to adopt any violent means (all did be die) within their reach to fight the NDC, is seen as a sign of desperation.
Many international observers perceive a subtle attempt by the West to re-colonize Africa through the so-called ‘peoples power’ that keeps on metamorphosing from one status to another. In Libya, what started as a protest, turned out to be a war between Gaddafi forces and opposition forces strongly supported by the U.S and France.