A humble call on Dr. Abu Sakara to reflect over

I have been longing to sketch a call of a sort that will tickle the conscience of Dr Abu Sakara Foster to reflect on his posture and open political commentary that suggests a silent antagonism between him and his brother, President John Mahama. I think after watching his show, “The Key Points” on TV 3 this morning, I am inclined to come forward with this call this way.

Dr. Abu Sakara is one of Ghana’s finest academicians, politicians and above all, a career technocrat in Agriculture, who has seen and perhaps experienced all the stages of life at 64. Perhaps, one thing that the internet might not capture is the fact that he’s a pure Gonja royal from both the Kpembe traditional area (maternal) and the Bole traditional area (paternal).

In Kpembe, Dr. Abu Sakara is partly from Kanyase where his mother’s father takes his appellation from and maternally from Sungbun. In fact, his mother shares same parents with the late Hajia Fati Jawula, former Ambassador to Denmark under John Mahama’s administration. The late Yagbonwura Doshie from the Sungbun gate is a maternal grandfather of Dr. Abu Sakara. This is what makes him a pure royal from Kpembe. His father, S.S Sakara was from Kakulase in Mankuma, a pure traditional community in the Bole traditional area where Gonjas lay their Kings (Yagbonwuras) to rest. Coincidentally, John Mahama is a grandson of Mankumawura Adama. So, when you see the fine academic making cogent arguments, just know that he’s doing so partly as a Gonja royal.

Dr. Sakara, you made this comment when addressing students in UDS on November, 18, 2015, when you called out Martin Amidu at a time he was at usual height of his agenda to pull John Mahama and Northerners down. “I urge all of you to avoid stereotyping; you should never stereotype because it is the basis of prejudice that will later be applied to you and that is why I was saddened to hear the statement that has been made to suggest that because of some reasons, there will never be another northern president in the next thirty years. I think that is the most unfortunate statement.” In fact, I was proud to be associated with you as a tribesman, although, that pride is being watered down by the day, with your posture and public commentary in recent times.

In 2008, what inspired most of us from the Gonja Kingdom to get active in politics was the fact that, on that panel for the Vice Presidential debate, you sounded brilliant and convincing just like your brother, President John Dramani Mahama. Luck shined on us again in 2012 when both of you were up again as Presidential candidates on same platform. A Gonja couldn’t be any proud at the time, seeing two Presidential aspirants coming from their stock at that crucial period in our political history. It indeed played back the memories of the days of J.A Braimah from the far Eastern bloc of Gonja and E.A Mahama from the Western bloc, staging a fine political opposition in Ghana’s first republic.

In fact, most of us were expecting you to be a principal part of John Mahama’s administration, especially in the Agric sub-sector, not just a minister but, even as a policy advisor. It didn’t happen anyway, but in politics, we know the bulk of the work is mostly done behind the scenes. So, I, particularly thought you were doing something behind the scenes for your brother, John Mahama’s government to succeed. In the end, your critical commentary and conversations about his regime, and the fact that many people saw you as one of the agents of regime change was quite disturbing. Well, anything was possible in 2016, because the NPP succeeded in brainwashing, indoctrinating and cajoling many fine stakeholders and critical voices to believe that John Mahama was indeed the devil himself.

Doc., I had cause one time to comment on your post on Facebook when you took on John Mahama on an issue. I don’t think we as youngsters from the Gonja Kingdom are asking much from you. We are not asking you to change your party like what Edward Mahama did for the sake of Dr Bawumia; we are not asking you to run after John Mahama without your conscience simply because he’s a Gonja brother; neither are we asking you to float about with outright lies and falsehoods like what Prof Martey did to support Akufo-Addo in 2016. What we the younger ones from the Kingdom are asking you to do is to also behave just like Prof Stephen Adei and his ilk. How they played an ostensible middle class and a senior citizen role in support of Akufo-Addo. Although, we all know they were conspicuously biased and most part utterly unreasonable. At worse, just don’t openly dangle your body to suggest you are shifting your weight away from John Mahama, your brother.

I watched you dance gleefully to the Damba tune on that day, 12th February, 2019, at the instance of President Akufo-Addo, at the Flag Staff House, when he, the President, signed the LI, creating the Savannah Region. Prior to that, we all saw your active involvement in the creation of the region and the unwavering support you gave to the government at the time. That was commendable, but I want to know, after 3 years of its creation, are you so proud of the Savannah region beyond its name and administrative structures? Don’t you think you should be leading the charge to call Akufo-Addo out for creating an election winning vehicle other than a development platform out of Gonjaland? Is lamentation in low tone and periodic grumbling enough to get what we deserve?

Don’t you think it is about time you came out boldly to lead the charge for us to follow? It will be justified even if you come out boldly to support John Mahama now as things stand. After all, he was accused of packing his government with his kinsmen, which has become the pivot of this government instead. Who doesn’t know that John Mahama the savior in waiting? I still see you once in a while, try to lump John Mahama and Akufo-Addo together as though they were one and same. Are you fair to your brother, John Mahama?

President John Mahama is your brother and he’s seeking a second coming. You are likely not to run in the next election, given that you are now leading the National Interest Movement, which is more of a movement than a political party. You are a Nkrumaist just like John Mahama. You and your brother share almost everything in common. What he expects from you in these trying times is to amplify your voice in support of his dream to come and change the very structure of the economy you envisaged. Alternatively, we expect you to stand with the masses in genuinely criticizing the current regime and seeking a regime change just like it were in 2016.

Interestingly, one of the central points of your call over this period is constitutional amendments or a total change of the 1992 constitution. On top of John Mahama’s agenda in his second coming is to amend or change the constitution as you are currently fighting for. Don’t you think this is the moment for you to come under one shelve as brothers to work out something workable for this country? Is there something you are not telling us?

I saw how uncomfortable you were in your body language when Lawyer Martin Kpebu went bold and raw on President Akufo-Addo on that show today. Your submission thereof sounded more of a lecture than calling out on Akufo-Addo which I think you should be doing by now. At the most part, you were engaged in blame-sharing and attempting to water down the fact that the current problem is the government’s creation than a structural defect. You were lamenting other than criticizing. You were generalizing other than narrowing your arguments to the government. In fact, you almost fell for the exogenous factors arguments being advanced by the NPP in the wake of this economic mess we find ourselves.

Ironically, under John Mahama, when not too close like this economic mess happened, you all watched or participated in making everything look like it was a government problem. In fact, they made it like a John Mahama creation and not structural defects. At the time, exogenous factors were never part of any economic module. How come today, you want to justify the current self-inflicted economic hardships with an existing structural defect? The youth are watching and we are gradually picking out those who stand by us in these trying times and those who stand against us. There is no middle line in these times of tyrannical manoeuvres engaged in by Akufo-Addo. Anybody who attempts to stand in the middle is against us, and that must be sounded clear and straight.

I am not attempting to regularize or justify tribal politics, but if others did it and it’s become a fresh but acceptable convention, I think you coming home to support John Mahama cannot be described in same parenthesis and make it sound like a novel. You have to come home and support your brother. The ancestors of Gonjaland and the soul of Ndewura Jakpa will be proud to see a Gonja pull another from a ditch and not further his woes in that ditch.

I grew up knowing Gonjas are bold and brave but today, you allowed Lawyer Martin Kpebu to steal the Gonja out of you on that show. You saw nothing wrong with the government and especially Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia’s class of leadership. At a point, you attempted to posit that even if we changed the NPP, nothing was going to change. By extension, you don’t think John Mahama will be any alternative to Akufo-Addo and Bawumia. Was that a fair position to hand to your brother, John Mahama?

It is time for Gonjas to accept one of their own before others will take us serious. It is becoming too heavy to bear the tag that Gonjas don’t like their own. We don’t have to show our hate against ourselves outside. We can pull the daggers in our chambers, but support each other in public. Please, come home, Dr. Abu Sakara Foster.

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