God bless our homeland Ghana, goes the National Anthem of our beloved country. Ghana as an independent state will be celebrating her 50th independence anniversary in march next year. 50 years of our independence has brought numerous challenges our way. We have lived under various leaderships. We have lived under a near one party rule under the UGCC, survived coup d?tats, and experienced multi-party rules. Many freedom fighters have lost their lives for the worthy cause of achieving progress for Ghana.
But most important of all since 1992 through 1996, 2000, 2004 till this day Ghana has challenged the world and proven to everyone that true democracy can thrive on the soils of Africa and when the world talks of democracy in authentic Africa, Ghana is number one. The recent Afrobarometer report attests to this fact. There is no doubt that our democracy is thriving and will continue to grow because Ghanaians are getting enlightened every day about the democratic system of government.
However at a time when Ghana is nearly half a century old, where do we stand? One school of thought says we have not achieved much compared to countries like Malaysia which gained independence around the same time that Ghana did. This school of thought attributes Ghana?s lag in development to bad leadership and mismanagement, and advocates that we re-think our attitudes as leaders of a democratic country in Africa.
Another school of thought argues that considering the troubles we have been through as a country Ghana has done what Napoleon could not do by having ensured that democracy, free education, economic development (though slow), freedom of speech and expression, and press freedom take root in Ghana. This extreme is of the view that we have come this far by operating within our means, contending that though there is room for improvement, there is hope for the future.
I am not here to give a verdict on who is right or wrong regarding the two extremes of opinions that I have expressed. My main concern is about Ghana?s immediate future. What I mean by immediate future is what happens to Ghana in the next 50 years, how it starts and with which president it starts. President Kufuor can definitely be counted out because he is going. His second term ends in 2008. But the focus of this article is on who leads Ghana from january 2009 after Kufuor is gone.
If I may ask, who leads Ghana from january 2009? Ghana?s leader from 2009 is certainly among a number of candidates I choose to describe and examine here record by record. One of them will surely emerge as Ghana?s next president but the question is who?
To begin with there are two major political parties capable of winning elections in Ghana, at least for now. These are the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). I take a look at the NPP potential candidates followed by those of the NDC.
Some big names who are nurturing presidential ambitions on the NPP side include the current Foreign Minister Nana Akuffo Addo. Nana enjoys an enviable legacy because he is known to be a reputable lawyer. Nana is the son of an ex-president of Ghana and a seemingly performing Foreign Minister in Kufuor?s government. These are definitely a plus for him. On the down side Akuffo Addo is known for his role in the famous or infamous (depending on how you look at it) 1995 Kumi Preko demonstrations that led to some loss of life on the streets of Ghana?s capital city of Accra. With his witch-hunting spirit he assumed the position of Attorney General and Justice Minister in the Kufuor administration and almost immediately established the infamous Fast Track Court which was seen by the majority of Ghanaians as an instrument to divide the nation. Nana Akuffo Addo has been a successful legal practitioner who is of his time, no doubt about that. The eloquent Oxford graduate has won many court cases to his credit. Nana is a good lawyer, to say the least, but would he become a good president for Ghana in 2008/09? Former editor and publisher of The Ghanaian Chronicle Nana Kofi Coomson says it all. ?Akuffo Addo cannot be trusted with the presidency?. Folks Kofi Coomson is a credible man. I met him on two occasions at Valley Beach Hotel in Takoradi and I?d like to meet that man again and again. He is a personal friend to Nana Addo, but because of the love he has for Ghana he is warning us not to gamble the presidency into the hands of Akuffo Addo. Simply put Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo is certainly not our man for 2008.
The next on the list from the NPP side is Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo. Personally I respect this man. He is a great family man. His daughter Abena Osafo Maafo (Yomay as we are used to calling her) was my school mate at Apam Secondary School. Abena is such a cool lady with talent and self respect and praises her father for her progress in life. Mr. Maafo is relentless when it comes to hardwork. He has been a successful businessman though his background is engineering.
However I want to be as objective as possible on issues regarding the presidency. Mr Osafo Maafo would be remembered for having supervised the demise of the then Bank for Housing and Construction (BHC). In governmental circles his legacy is the Finance Minister who was demoted to Youth and Sports Minister and subsequently sacked. He presided over the attempted acquisition of two international loan offers which were later found to be fraudulent deals. I believe Ghanaians, as enlightened as we are, have not forgotten the nerve breaking stories we read on the IFC and CNTC (aka Hair Salon) loan scandals that cost Mr. Maafo his cabinet position as Finance Minister. Finally Ghanaians would agree with me that Yaw has nothing more under his sleeves that we have not seen. He has run out of ideas. This man is a bad manager. Ghana is too big for him to handle.
NPP names like Kofi Konadu Apraku (sometimes you don?t know whether he wants to speak like an American), Vice President Aliu Mahama (poor him), Nkrabea Effah Darteh (failed in advance when he declared he may soon start defending drug traffickers), Prof. Oquaye (Ei asem oo, being a president is not like milk and fruit) and Allan Kyeremanteng (trying to jump the queue ahead of the so-called gurus), can forget about any presidential ambitions for now, for reasons beyond the scope of this article. They basically do not stand the chance.
On the side of the NDC names like good old John Atta Mills, Mahama Iddrisu, Eddy Annan, Arthur Kennedy and Ekwow Spio-Garbrah are circulating as potential candidates.
Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu is an honest man but the reason he cannot pull his weight is because he represents the old order. Ghana?s experience with old chaps like His Excellency J. A. Kufuor is something everyone wishes will never happen again. This is a fast moving world and we need leaders who can move along accordingly, and not travel round the world for the sake of travelling and per diem benefits. Unfortunately Alhaji is not one such leader for the changing world order.
I wish somebody will take the trouble to advise Mr. Eddy Annan that it takes more than money and ?paper-weight? rhetorics to lead a nation. He does not even have the personality and the charisma for it. How does he intend to present a convincing manifesto or campaign message judging by the boring manner in which he talks? Lord have mercy. Eddy please stick to your leasing business.
I respectfully do not want to spend quality time talking about Arthur Kennedy because I am of the opinion that he may not want to throw away money for nothing. I guess he is drilling and preparing himself for 2016, not 2008. He is just a small toad in a big pond.
John Evans Atta Mills. Hmmmmmm! This man is a respectable academic with so many good books to his credit. Many well-meaning Ghanaians have benefitted from his expertise as a lecturer in law. His excellent performance as Commisioner of the IRS is undoutedly everything to write home about. Everybody admires him for his academic achievements. However it has become apparent to the electorate that he is the one candidate that has never been charismatic and will probably never be. It is simply not in him. The way he talks on the campaign trail is of serious concern to many. In fact he hardly impresses the majority as a presidential figure. He has lost two elections for the NDC and is still asking for another chance. Goodness prof, every election you lose costs your party and the nation four more years of mismanagement and corruption on the part of NPP government officials. I advise Professor Mills to leave the race before he proceeds to suffer another disgraceful defeat at the hands of the NPP.
Professor Mills as NDC presidential flagbearer is a piece of good news for the NPP. Even the most inexperienced NPP candidate is likely to beat him because of his pronouncements in the past. And a word of caution to those who advocate that Mills has been marketed and that the electorate is familiar with him. The electorate is familiar with him for his inability to deliver the goods and therefore can easily eliminate him from the race. That is what happened in the last two elections. Mills was not marketable even when Rawlings was in power. Finally it must not be forgotten that Professor Mills carries an indellible stigma. He said and I quote ? I will consult Rawlings 24 hours a day if I am made the president?. Why should he be made president if as an academic he cannot strategise to lead the country? This hasalways been the NPP propaganda weapon against the professor and I bety you they will use it next time around. Or has he become his own man now? Hellooooooo!!!!!!!!
Former Communications and Education Minister Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has plans too, to contest for the NDC flagbearership. Spio?s decision is of particular interest to the Ghanaian masses who believe that Ghana needs a young, dynamic, broad minded, intelligent, eloquent but above all charismatic leader to usher the country into the next 50 year milestone. Spio has been branded by a few as an arrogant man who feels big in his shoes. My investigation has shown that it is the opinion expressed by a few who do not know him well. Rather people who are close to him speak of him as a humble, jovial, down to earth, kind person who will sacrifice everything for his country. It is these characteristics coupled with his spirit of Pan-Africanism that compelled Ekwow to leave the World Bank to work for the African Development Bank. It is his competence that led President Kufuor to recommend him for the position of CEO for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO). This man is the first black to head the organisation and he represents Ghana as well all over the world. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is a self-made man who is not money-conscious. He left over 100,000 dollar salary to work as a minister of state for a considerable number of years. He is everything from finance, through communication and journalism, education, law, business economics and energy, to social charity, international relations and diplomacy. If this man wants to be the next president of Ghana, the masses would vote for him massively. The NDC should think deep and give him the flagbearership. He is the one candidate who can beat any NPP candidate hands down. No NPP candidate is a match for him because he is a star at his peak who appeals to the young, the old, the learned, the poor, the rich and the man on the street.
The trends are being followed. Mother Ghana and her children are attaining to higher heights in political, economic and social maturity every minute. The prospects for development and progress are good. The future is bright and Election 2008 promises to be a test case for real democracy when Ghanaians will not only be voting for party symbols or old legacies but on the lines of thoughtful burning issues and leadership tendencies. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.
Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.
