Reputation as i keep saying is the cornerstone of power. And people around us, even our friends, will always to some extent remain mysterious and unfathomable. Their characters have secrete recesses tha they may never reveal. The unknowebleness of other people could prove disturbing if we thought about it long enough, since it will make it impossible for us to really judge other people, so people prefer to ignore this fact and to judge others in their appearances, on what is visible to their eyes--cloths, gestures, words, actions etc. In the social realm, appearances are the barometer of almost all of our judgements, and you must never be misled into believing otherwise, one false slip,one bombshell, one awkward or sudden change in you appearance can prove disastrous.
Nana Akuffo Addo as we all know, has all kinds of legends attached to his name, and since the citizens knew little about him, his name evoked awe in ghana politics. He spent much of his time building his reputation knowing that he has ambition to persue and was doing everything posible and at all cost, using his law practice to champion the cause of human rights, rule of law, justice, freedom of speech(Democracy). As we were made to believe, Nana Akuffo Addo was known for giving free legal assistance to the poor and fought for the liberties of ghanaians. He was a member of parliament for Abuakwa, He has served as attorney general and foreign Minister under former president J.A.Kuffour and alot more. He has done alot to merit that powerful aura.
Unfortunately, nothing but the phrase'' all die be die'' has undone all these legendry acts and made Nana Akkufo Addo vulnerable, suffering all kinds of insult,abuse and to some extent being made an object of mockery. Had Nana Akufo Addo remained quiet, the people would not have had the cause to be offended by him, the people would never had known his true feelings, he would have mentained that powerful aura, would certainly have been elected president of Ghana,he would have been able to accomplish his mission and realized his dream to be president. But human brain is the master controller,it contols the movement, functions of every part of the body of which the tongue is not an exception. and if you fail to control the tongue allowing it strain out of its cage constantly, failing to muster it with the master controller, it will cause you grief. And power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.
In the ancient times, In Rusia, It was easy and common for people to connive and put person they hate into trouble which will lead to his execution, and the execution is done by hanging. If the person happens to be lucky and the rope tears, it was seen in that era as a sign of innocence and would be pardoned by the king. And one Caroshev was set up by haters withing the court, when the man ''Caroshev'' was hanged, right away the rope teared up and he fell on the ground, the crowd were happy for him, that very moment, Caroshev rosed up and said to the crowd, you see, this country common tying of rope they don't know how to do it, and report quickly reached the king who was planning to pardoned caroshev but the king quicly changed his mind and said, Ok this time lets teach him how to tie the rope well, and he was hanged the second time and this time the rope was well tied and he died. You see what human tongue can do? words are like saliva, once you spit them out, you cannot take them back.
Now that Nana Addo has come out to say he has regret ever making that remarks, yen Akanfour, all die be die which he could have done long ago to save himself the anger that has led to lots of people going out of his favor, Having claimed to have learn lessons from the past,which he demonstrated during won gbo demonstration by not dropping any bombshell. Is he going to remain cautious and speak when he thinks his words are better than his silents as the media in itself has a way of pushing prominent people to incur the public anger? or he is going to allow seeing crowd to go into his head and be saying anything that will raise questions? Meanwhile, the way NPP has started calling for the broad consultations before choosing the EC boss is an indication that, there is the likelihood that, they will still repeat some of their mistakes which they made prior to election 2012. That is how they started, protesting almost everything and when their calls are heed to, they think they hold the cards and are in control making a whole lots of remarks and never think what impact will those remarks make on the fortunes of already damaged reputations of Nana Addo.
Despite the abysmal performance of the ruling party NDC, despite the corruption, the suffering and the biggest advantage, the Dumsor, yet people are refusing to believe in the cause of NPP, simply because the reputation is damaged and trying to rectify it is like trying to fix pieces of broken glasses. This is the reason for the supreme importance of making and maintaining a reputation that is of your own creation. That reputation will protect you in dangerous game of politics, distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you really like, and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges you. As they say,your reputation inevitably precedes you, and if it inspires respect, a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene or utter a single word. Your succes seems destined by your past triumphs. it is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it.Once it is solid do not let yourself get angry or defensive at the slenderous comments of your opponents-- that reveals insecurity, not confidence in your reputation. Take the high road instead and never appear desperate.
Finally, this piece is not targetting Nana Akuffo Addo but all the politicians and ghanaians in general, reputation is critical and is important in every aspect of life , and for that matter, one has to think of what people will say and act accordigly, perhaps, not caring what others think of you, you gain a reputation for insolence and arrogance and that can work against you. Since we must live in society and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be gained by negelcting your reputations. By not caring how you are perceived, you let others decide this for you. Be the master of your fate, and also of your reputation.

Mohammed Taaju Deen
Tantawayussif@gmail.com