Sir, Do you Really Want to be President of Ghana?

Sir,

Pardon me for my impudence, for not properly introducing myself, but I have known about you for a very long time, nothing amorous! As a young lass and football enthusiast, I watched you play for the Ghana Academicals with some of my all-time favourites, Prince Addy, Willie Evans and the recently departed Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (May he rest in peace). Many years later, I dealt with you on a professional basis and in some social circles as well. So much about familiarity and the personal before you begin to guess my age.

This is more of a follow-up of the article “ I Will Make Akufo-Addo President ”, written by my good friend, Angelina K. Morrison. Later, I offered my tuppence in "Nigeria fires the Sparks” on Ghana's woefully over-bloated electoral register and how with just a simple freely downloaded Open Works Access, it could be proven to the whole world that that document is not fit for purpose even in Africa of the twenty-first century! I know you and the other political party leaders have not bothered to take up the challenge. My promise to come after you still stands, though.

I have been moved to write today because of a conversation I had with an elderly Ghanaian friend last night. Fortunately, they had electricity for a few hours, which enabled our uninterrupted conversation.

Sir, in addition to Angelina's proposals and suggestions, there are some few things I believe can easily propel you to the high office of President in January 2017. In fact, under the present circumstances, the presidency is yours to lose, and lose you will unless you begin to do things differently from today.

As an African-development oriented Ghanaian, I have come to the conclusion that the only way we can come out of our present morass on the continent is to ensure one-term presidency for all thieving and incompetent leaders for the next twenty years. I and a few 'sisters' from across Africa have sworn to make it happen, unless our leaders begin to buckle up. That was the reason for my article, “One down, 99 to go.”

Change your modus operandi
Firstly, do not hinder your party executive from setting up your campaign headquarters at the party headquarters. You have tried running your campaigns from your home or office on two occasions and it has not worked. Perhaps you could let your party gurus run it, while you coordinate it from your office or home. That will surely give you the time and space to go out to meet the people and learn from them first hand.

For your information, there are many Ghanaians peeved with some of your unbearably arrogant relatives. Ironically, these are not even real blood relatives, mostly “akyemkwaa” nephews, nieces and “blas!” If those guys are half as smart as they want the rest of us mortals to believe; why don't they go down on their backsides to do some real work? Why can't they spend some time to generate a cleaned-up electoral register, for instance, along the lines that I have suggested?

In fact, I have a job for them: send them out to all the regions of Ghana with tape recorders; let them ask anonymously what the people think of X, Y and Z among your followers. They would then identify themselves and ask further questions. If they are men with balls between their legs and women with breasts upfront, they will return to Accra and hand over their recordings to you, to show how much damage they have been doing to your cause over the years.

Extend olive branches
Secondly, extend an olive branch to all your perceived “enemies” real and imaginary, within your party. Begin by calling a meeting of all factions within your party. Unfortunately, factions exist in all human organisations and institutions, including all political parties around the world, and I don't believe your party is an exception. Let one of the elders of the party chair this meeting. Go out of your way to embrace everyone that ever contested any position whatsoever with you. Let them know that as a sportsman, you have always been competitive, but in a fair and friendly way, and according to the rules. However, if there has ever been a misunderstanding anywhere no matter how trivial, you seek reconciliation in the name of “Enterprise 2016.”

The next move is to reach out to the rest of Ghana and all Ghanaians everywhere. Ask for forgiveness for any penalty, corner or free kick that you ever miskicked as a footballer. Ask for forgiveness for any courtroom performance that ever appeared to another person as being aggressive. Finally, ask for forgiveness for any remark you ever made in private or public, on a political platform or church setting that might have been misconstrued by one section or other of Ghanaian society. Then declare an open door to ideas, through radio and television, the print media and especially social media.

Establish a dedicated “Twitter” account to receive suggestions, opinions and even total nonsense from all and sundry. A smart IT person can design it in such a way as to weed out obscenities and unwarranted insults on your person and even “enemies”. Try to spend a few hours every day reading through this special account and replying to as many as possible. I am sure Madam's help will be handy in this direction. You will be surprised at the quantity and quality of information you can glean about the happenings in all corners of Ghana, from ordinary Ghanaians of all walks of life.

Speak on behalf of Ghanaians
Thirdly, begin to speak earnestly on behalf of the hapless Ghanaian taxpayer. Dr Bawumia's occasional exposure of unrestrained borrowing and its detrimental effect on the national economy is commendable, but Ghanaians need to hear it from you every day - morning, afternoon and evening. They need to hear from you why 1000 Ghana cedis in the pocket diminishes in value every day. They need to hear clear and unmistakable plans for fixing the economy, the health service, the environment, education, uninterrupted supply of electricity and water, for every citizen everywhere.

Ghanaians need to hear your plans for combatting the nauseating levels of corruption that threaten to drown our country. It is not enough to promise to lead a crusade. You need to spell out in clear terms what will happen to any member of your government who engages in inflated procurement, for instance. Ghanaians need to know how your government would use the laws of the land to retrieve all monies that have been illegally and corruptly paid to undeserving Ghanaians and foreigners. There have been enough commissions and committees, which largely further deepen the losses with unrealistically long sittings. There is the need for REAL action.

Our education system is a total disgrace for a country that once prided itself as the Star of Africa. I read somewhere today, that a young lady who had been first nationally in Science and Mathematics went to compete in an international Science and Mathematics fair in South Africa and scored zero in both subjects. That is a matter for national mourning, not one for weak excuses by officialdom. Your last major policy on education “Free Education for all till age 18” was a wonderful idea, but it did not seem to have been put through any rigorous costing. That needs to change.

Programmes development
You need to begin a well thought out and well-coordinated programme development for 'Enterprise 2016'. There is a certain prolific writer, college professor upstate New York, possibly one of your distant relations, who churns out two articles every day of the week, fifty-two weeks a year. I don't know how he manages to combine that with his teaching job, but since he obviously still holds that position, he must be juggling along quite well! His articles are generally good, but many are quite intimidating to your opponents and sometimes, plain off-putting to non-committed Ghanaian voters. And those are the people that can make your presidency a reality.

You need to put this gentleman and others like him, to productive work. Task him to produce a blueprint for the complete revamp of Ghana's education system. Our judiciary needs fixing too, and so are the oil, mining, cocoa and manufacturing sectors. I personally know a Ghanaian patriot who, with a bit of cajoling, can be very useful to task forces for petroleum, mining, environment and solar power extension to every corner of Ghana. If you give yourself the next six months to implement these and other relevant suggestions, you should be able to hit the campaign trail by early next year.

Our group of “African One-Termers” has already concluded that Ghana's current president is certainly one of the one-termers on the continent, and trust me, if you “play your cards right”, we are ready to enter the trenches and the open gutters to battle on all fronts.

I shall return with my beaded rattle, God willing.

Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected], or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.