Akuffo Addo Has Little Understanding Of The Ghanaian Situation

If what took place at Mantse Agboena on Saturday February 18, 2012 was anything worth noting, I am convinced that the rally was organised purposely to rain polemics on the sitting President, His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills than a forum to convince the public of alternative policies of the opposition New Patriotic Party [NPP]. Mr. Akuffo Addo is indeed not an option worth considering in the 2012 general elections.

Maverick NPP member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, was at his uncouth best , and described the President in very unprintable diction which I shudder to repeat. As if that was not enough, the NPP MP threatened that irate NPP supporters would “lynch” any police officer who dared intimidate them. That declaration exposes the defects in the conscience of our law makers who swore to defend the constitution yet are the very ones threatening law enforcement agencies with mob justice.

Kennedy Agyapong’s threat should not be taken lightly in the light of recent events. His name has popped in connection with some drug related activities lately and he seems to have taken the judgement debt debate a bit more personal as a negotiating chip in case the police swoop on him any moment soon. He insulted a colleague Member of Parliament last week on live Television and described his a s a “fool”, “an idiot” and a “wee smoker” when his colleague challenged him on some falsehood he was spewing on the show.

Kennedy Agyapong was the same man who described the Chief Executive Officer of the Multimedia Group, Mr. Kwesi Twum, as a drug baron somewhere last year and when he was threatened with a law suit by the latter Kennedy Agyapong begged Mr. Twum and withdrew the damning statements. I wonder how the same company finds Kennedy Agyapong credible enough to sit on live television with documents he allegedly which could not be verified only to rain insults on anyone who disagrees with him.

At the Mantse Agboena rally, Kennedy Agyapong pulled up some new documents allegedly commissioned by the President and launched a scathing attack on the person of His Excellency the President to justify what he claimed to have had or seen.

The Inspector General of Police must take those threats seriously and move quickly to arrest Kennedy Ohene Agyapong for him to produce the so-called documents which he claimed was a grand design to subvert the constitution of the Republic of Ghana. He must equally answer for the threats he issued on behalf of the NPP to personnel of the Ghana Police Service.

The Youth Organiser of the party. Anthony Karbo was no different in charging the youth of the party to be militant and attack anyone who intimidates them in the course of the electioneering campaign. These alert signals feeds into the belief that the NPP has a hidden agenda for power sharing should the results be called for Professor Mills.

The Flagbearer himself was totally off mark this afternoon during the rally. He arrived more than 3 hours late to the rally grounds as typical of him. It is worrying that Mr. Akuffo Addo , since his election two [2] years ago, arrives late to many public events both within and outside the country. This attitude is most unfortunate especially from a man struggling to become leader of a nation as Ghana.

Mr. Akuffo Addo accepted the challenge from the National democratic Congress [NDC] that the character of Flagbearers will make a lot of difference in the choice of Ghanaians come 2012. Disappointing however, was his rather evasive definition of what amounts to his “character” viz a viz that of His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills.

www.dictionay .com defines “Character” as the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. It is also defines as “moral or ethical quality; qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity or reputation”.

It is obvious from the definition stated above that Mr. Akuffo Addo’s caution of his preparedness for the debate on his character should carefully avoid his personal life, both public and private , but should be limited to fuel prices, economic management, judgement debts, agriculture.

Many expected him to use the opportunity to respond to Hon. Twamasi Appiah’s invitation for him to be tested for drug addiction to put to a permanent rest the debate on his alleged drug habits but clearly steered off those grounds. He also avoided the on-going debate on the missing 77 parcels of cocaine that disappeared when he was in the NPP government.

Akuffo Addo claims that President Mills’ character was evident in his failure to reduce fuel prices, put money in people’s pockets, manage the economy and to reduce the cost of living. Even if we should indulge the NPP in these thematic areas of the debate, they would fail on all counts.

President Mills made good his promise of reviewing some taxes on petroleum prices prior to his election. He did that through parliament by taking away some tax elements in the Petroleum prices build up. He did not only stop there, he went ahead to review prices on Petroleum products even more recently upon consultation with stakeholders and labour unions in the country. President Mills equally increased the VAT threshold making it possible for more people to be captured in the tax basket while reducing the taxable income of workers in effect putting more money inside the pocket of Ghanaians.

It must also be placed on record that the government for the first time, granted tax vacation to companies that failed to meet their VAT obligations thereby giving them opportunity to register and begin on a clean slate.  The facts do not support Mr. Akuffo Addo’s claims that President Mills has increased fuel prices to the highest level unknown in Ghana’s history. That is completely false and a figment of his clouded imagination.

His Excellency President Mills upon taking over power on January 7, 2009, inherited an economy best described as being in a state of coma. Inflation was in double digits and economic growth was barely 6%. The daily minimum wage of the public sector workers as of March 2008 was GHc2.25.

As of today, there have been massive improvement and growth in our economy reflecting across all sectors of our national life. In the world today, Ghana has the fastest growing economy with greater prospects in the oil and gas sector. We have jumped from 6% economic growth in 2008 to 13.6% as of today.  Ghana has sustained and maintained single digit inflation for the longest period since 1972 and that is highly commendable.

Daily minimum wage has been increased from GHc2.25 in March 2008 to GHc4.48 as of February 2012 in addition to the successful implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy that has improved the lot of public sector workers in Ghana. It is therefore misleading for Mr. Akuffo Addo to suggest that the President has left holes in the pockets of Ghanaians and has not done much to improve the lives of the ordinary citizen.

Same improvements could be recalled in other sectors of the economy including the health sector, agriculture, education, energy, infrastructure and many more successes directly attributable to the efficient management of the country under the able leadership of President John Evans Atta Mills.

Mr. Akuffo Addo states that he is committed to peaceful elections but on the other hand he stands aloof and claps while the youth of the NPP and his executives threaten Ghanaians with the incidence of attacks, brutalities and outright violence if the NPP is rejected again at the polls as happened n 2008. Ghanaians are clear in their minds what traits to look out for in a leader and on his own score card, Mr. Akuffo Addo does not come anywhere close to the values , intelligence and pedigree of the Candidate of the NDC.

Power sharing is an option the NPP is considering and in doing so has employed the tactics of threats and intimidation against their political opponents and the law enforcement agencies.

Allegations of drug addiction and womanizing still hang over the NPP Candidate like a sword of Damocles threatening to collapse the entire NPP campaign. This has been worsened by a recently released movie of Jarreth Merz on the 2008 Elections; “An African Election” in which Mr. Akuffo Addo was clearly caught on tape touching a married woman in her private areas.

Facts they say are sacred and the character of the NPP candidate cannot be one that could be a role model for our generation let alone could be pass for a leader of a nation like Ghana. His attempt to define “Character” to suit his whimsical caprices buttress our conviction that Mr. Akuffo Addo is a man lost to truth and who cannot be trusted on any day to make cogent presentations on the Ghanaian situation be it on a political platform on in a small townhall meeting in Texas , USA.

Indeed the 2012 elections would be based on character of the candidates and the scale is heavily tilted in favour of President Mills to pass the mark. Mr. Akuffo Addo should be reminded that it was in recognition of the gains made under President Mills’ leadership that International Organisations as the East African Magazine recently graded President Mills highly among three [3] other African heads of states on a continent marred by violence,corruption, poverty, diseases and wars.

Ghana again, jumped 12 points from the 2011 Global Prosperity Index released by Legatum Institute, to score 78 out of 110 countries in the world and the third [3rd] in Sun Saharan Africa only after Botswana and South Africa. The ratings were based on a number of factors including wealth creation, economic growth, personal wellbeing and quality of life.

All these point to the fact that Ghana’s economic and social growth did not come by any form of explainable coincidence but through implementation of well thought-through policies and government programmes aimed at improving the lives of the good people of Ghana.

As for the insults rained upon the NDC and President Mills , they should not only be ignored but the NPP must be exposed for their penchant for spewing lies and fabricating documents to promote the lies.

President Mills stated clearly on January 9, 2012 during the “Editor Forum” that insults do not win arguments BUT logic, agility and facts do. It is a wise counsel to Mr. Akuffo Addo and the NPP who appear to have lost focus on the Ghanaian situation and clearly avoiding an issue-based campaign.

We will discuss the character of the two candidates in this election and in doing so we shall put on the table the public life, experience, intelligence, actions and inactions of both candidates to offer Ghanaians the clearest opportunity to know those who wish to lead them.

Akuffo Addo has lost understanding of our situation as a country on the path to economic freedom in our lifetime and he does not come across as a serious person in whose hands Ghana’s destiny should be entrusted.

God Bless our Homeland Ghana.

God Bless President Mills.

Felix Mawulolo Amegashie

NDC Youth Activist.