From Joe Kingsley Eyiah, Toronto-Canada

“A man who wants to do something will find a way; a man who doesn’t will find an excuse.”-Stephen Dolley Jr

It is said that, ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’ How true! That saying underscores the fact that it is always not easy to lead any group of people. Competent leadership requires knowledge, courage, determination, discipline and wisdom. It is prudent to humbly advise leaders when they are going wrong to correct the wrong for the sake of the led. It is in this vein that I would like to appeal to our President John Mahama to stay away from giving accuses for his failed promises to the nation and to work hard to fix the problems facing our nation!

My concern comes from the fact that recent pronouncements by our President have somehow betrayed his competence or confidence in fixing the challenges that confront Ghana. For example, he described himself as ‘managing the power crisis-the dumsor phenomenon-that has plagued our dear nation for a long time now’ and promised henceforth to fix it during his state of the union address to the nation recently. Was that a confession of incompetency on your part, Mr. President? Again, your use of the expression, ‘dead goat’ to insinuate your toughness to the obvious mounting strike actions and street/political demonstrations by some sectors of the Ghanaian populace against ‘your perceived inabilities’ to solve the nation’s problems was not very savory! It unfortunate portrayed you as being ‘dead’ to mounting problems confronting the nation you have been elected to lead based on your campaign of a ‘better Ghana.’ Do you care about a ‘better Ghana’, Mr. President? I believe that you care, being the leader of our nation so do not let your words and actions betray you.
Remember, Mr. President, George Washington once said, “It is better to offer no excuse than to offer a bad one.” A promise is a promise, so Your Excellency, Mr. President of our dear motherland-Ghana, stop giving us ‘bad’ excuses and fix the problems confronting our nation. You were elected for that and I believe you can live up to the challenge if you commit and put yourself fully to it. Come again, Mr. President!