Kufuor Storms Castle

Mills invited Kufuor

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday honoured a rare first-time invitation from his successor, President John Atta Mills, prompting speculations about the agenda of the close to two-hour closed-door meeting.

What could have passed for an ordinary meeting between an incumbent president and his predecessor dominated the media landscape with the ferocity of a bushfire when word about it became public, given its novelty.

This was not time for protocol breaches and President Mills when he was signaled about the arrival of his guest, whom he had invited at short notice, quickly descended from the upper level of the Castle to usher him in.

The rarity of the occasion saw Castle staffers stretching their necks to savour the spectacle of the immediate former president shaking hands with the incumbent president.

It was perhaps the second visit by President Kufuor to the Castle after he left office in January 2009. The first visit was when President Barack Obama of the United States visited the country in July, 2009.

The National Security Coordinator Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Chief of Staff Henry Martey Newman, Secretary to the President James Bebaako-Mensah as well as Frank Agyekum, Kufuor's spokesman, sat in during the meeting, DAILY GUIDE learnt.

According to sources, Communications Director to President Mills, Koku Anyidoho was excused from the meeting.

It would be recalled that Lt. Col. Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd) soon after the NDC administration assumed office, sacked Mr. Kufuor from a building that the former president hoped to use as his office, claiming it belonged to National Security and describing it as a 'Safe House'. To date, no alternative arrangements have been made for the former president.

Both statesmen were at their humorous best as the Castle press corps looked on expectantly with the host opening the floor with, 'Welcome to your former office'.

His guest responded: 'It is our office', as their hands clasped in a spirit of nationalism.

For many who were privileged to witness the occasion, they could not subdue the temptation to recall the campaign trail rhetoric in the run-up to the last polls in the country.

President Mills did not hesitate to express gratitude to his guest for honouring his invitation at such short notice.

President Mills said: 'I want to welcome President Kufuor to his former office. I invited him so that we discuss matters of mutual, national and international interests, pure and simple.

And I am happy that at such short notice, President Kufuor has accepted my invitation. And I am sure we will have some very fruitful discussions.'

Both host and guest addressed the Castle press corps about the general agenda of engagement leaving out the confidential fine details before the doors were closed on the media.

While President Mills hoped for a fruitful meeting, his guest described the engagement as private and centering on national interest.

The two of them, Kufuor said, were joined by the national interest whose management, he noted, should be underlined by decorum and circumspection.

'I am sure the two of us are joined by the national interest, which must be managed with necessary decorum and circumspection,' he said.

It was the outgoing Director of State Protocol, Ken Kanda who opened the floor with the traditional Akan convention of stating, 'all is peaceful, you have come. May we know your mission?'

At the end of the engagement, former President Kufuor fielded questions from the media about his impression of the meeting which he summed up thus: 'I came on the invitation of the President for us to review the national situation and also to discuss a few things between him and me.

That's all. What I will say is that the discussions went on in a very cordial atmosphere. We talked frankly and cordially'.

When asked about his comments on the 'all die be die' remarks by Nana Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the NPP, he directed the probing journalists to the source. 'Why don't you ask him,' he said.

With national and international issues forming the terms of the meeting, too broad and bereft of details, the media could only conjecture areas of coverage in the epoch-making engagement, one of which is the ex-gratia to the former president.

The ex-gratia issue is a major outstanding matter on the plate of President Mills who pulled the brakes on its payment to his predecessors, ordering another look into the subject.

There are others who think that the two statesmen dealt with the overheated political engine of the country as politicians constantly jumped at each other's throat at the least provocation.

The two personalities could have discussed the roles they can play to douse the ensuing political flames which are considered harmful to the country's nascent democracy.

The Mills/Kufuor meeting comes on the heels of the protocol breach occasioned by the President failing to acknowledge the presence of former President Kufuor and the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, during his State of the Nation Address last Thursday.

The omission sparked an expected political furore on the political plane but the President quickly apologized to the two personalities.

By A.R. Gomda