Former President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday said it would be wrong for anybody to hold that African politics is still tottering.
?We are matured politically. We may not appreciate diversity in terms of party affiliation but that cannot be said to be a lack of maturity on the part of Africans as we strive to consolidate multi-party democracy,? he explained.
Mr. Kufuor, known in politics as the ?Gentle Giant?, made the comment at his residence in Accra when independent presidential candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah aka JOY, 44, paid a courtesy call on the ex-president to seek his blessing for the December contest.
The former president said he respected the decision of people to contest elections as independent candidates but believed they could do better in a political party system.
?Our constitution recognizes the role of political parties in a multi-party democracy and also makes room for independent candidates and in some countries like Benin, independent candidates Yayi Boni managed to compete and defeat established political parties twice,? he said, adding, ?But in many more countries, you find that you need the parties to survive.?
He said the task of governing ?is so awesome and complicated that it cannot be one man?s business?.
?No one can claim to do it all alone. You have to have a team. Anytime I get a platform, I remind people that it is not just the one personality; no matter how good that person may be?You need to know who are with you,? he noted.
On the presidency, President Kufuor said, ?It is not a throne you ascend. It is the people?s seat. You do not get to it by birth?You get to it by convincing the people that when they entrust you with this responsibility, you will deliver.
?Anybody with the right to vote carries some of the power and you need to convince them so that the majority would go out and vote for you to become president.?
?My advice to you is to find a party. You cannot say that all the parties are bad?You have to have a balance between parties to opt for where your viewpoints are shared.
?Go out, talk to the people, try to convince the electorate. Should you not get it, don?t lose heart?Just revisit your plans and work out your blueprint.
?Given what I am seeing, I believe you would do far better in a party than go do it all alone and if you become convinced, the advice I would give you is to join the NPP,? he said.
He commended Mr. Osei-Yeboah for appreciating his works, saying, ?I want to thank you for acknowledging that I also served this country. I thank God that I still feel relevant in our political discourse.?
When he took his turn, Mr. Osei-Yeboah said, ?I am here this morning to tap into your expertise because you have very rich experience and anybody aspiring to be president cannot ignore you.?
He bemoaned the way Africans treated their past leaders, saying, ?I think that you (Kufuor) and Rawlings have something we can learn as Ghanaians as we strive to consolidate our democracy.?
?This election in particular has a lot of apprehension. We were in that state in 2008 but there was a key that you held that gave us peace. We were astonished that Ghana was not plunged into a state of chaos. I strongly believed that you were there and you knew the secret to peace and unless you give us that secret, there is that tendency that by our words, actions and inactions, we might plunge this country into chaos in this election,? he stressed.
Mr Osei-Yeboah added that political ideology did not matter to him since he was introducing what he called ?appropriatism?, which he interpreted as ?doing what is appropriate for the people?.
?I don?t see the reason why as a leader you have to lock yourself up in ideological corner in doing simple things for the people,? he noted.
He also said that the independent presidential system would be good for Ghana because it helped to reduce election-related tension.
By William Yaw Owusu
