Ask Salifu Ali

Former President Kufuor is very much known for trumpeting his achievements
whenever he gets the least opportunity. It is something that is very dear to
him. His mantra is “If nobody will praise me, I will also not sit back and
praise myself”. In fact ever since he left office, Kufour has on a number of
countless occasions hammered home any role/s he had played in helping to abate
any political crisis especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such has been the
situation since Kufuor left office almost two years ago.
Mr. Kufuor has been deeply rooted in helping to resolve the political crisis
that has engulfed Ivory Coast for the past six years when he was in office.
Kufuor is known to be a “friend” of Laurent Gbagbo and flew to Ivory Coast
several times during his tenure to help in brokering peace. Gbagbo on the other
hand came to Ghana several times when Kufuor was in office to seek counsel from
him.
Therefore, it was natural for Kufuor to call Gbagbo on the phone when the former
used his country’s constitutional council to overturn the presidential election
results in his favour. But something odd happened when Kufuor called Gbagbo on
the phone. In his own words during his interview with the Joy FM’s Super Morning
Show, the ex-president informed the world that he had personally tried to talk
to Gbagbo directly but has not been successful.

Explaining further, Kufuor stated that he had left messages with the Aides de
Camp of Gbagbo but to date Gbagbo, has not bothered to return Kufuor’s calls.
And Kufuor was so happy to share this diplomatic snub information with Ghanaians
and the world at large? I cannot believe this. I could not help in shouting, “Oh
no, please shut up. Do not expose yourself. Do not let everybody know that you
have been snubbed”.
If Kufuor called Gbagbo and he refused to talk to him, what Gbagbo is telling
Kufuor is “To hell with you”. It also means he does not care a hoot about who
Kufuor is or the kind of “help” Kufuor gave to him in the past. It means he had
snubbed Kufuor: Short and simple. And this information is something Kufuor
should never have let out of his mouth. But as usual, since Kufuor has the
penchant of praising himself when he gets the least opportunity, he may have
released that information with the hope of trying to impress upon Ghanaians and
the world at large that he too is also trying to help in the mediation process.
Kufuor perhaps wanted everybody to know that he is also deeply involved in
helping to counsel Gbagbo to do the right thing by ceding power to the
presidential election winner Allassane Ouattara. But in so doing he blew his
cover by exposing himself to the world at large: That his words mean nothing to
Gbagbo. Kufuor made us to know that his much trumpeted diplomatic skills do not
carry any weight. And that he Kufuor does not even deserve just a return phone
call from Gbagbo who is hell bent on stealing the elections from his opponent.
This diplomatic snub should drum home to Kufuor that as a prominent personality
in the country it is not every time and in all situations that he should try to
“blow his own horn.” It is time he let other people do the talking for him by
way of trumpeting his achievements. Too much showering of self-praise will
expose Kufuor to the rest of the world, and to the embarrassment of his party
and supporters. A word to a wise…………….
salifuali@rocketmail.com