body-container-line-1
03.03.2011 Feature Article

Nana Akuffo-Addo Versus President Mills on Maturity

Nana Akuffo-Addo Versus President Mills on Maturity
03.03.2011 LISTEN

An aide to the President, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, says President Mills would not hesitate to invite Nana Addo for talks on critical issues of National interest if he {Nana Addo} begins to exhibit signs of political maturity and leadership. Vanderpuije went on to say “President Mills invited ex President Kufuor for talks due to his experience as a former President of the country and finds no reason why President Mills should engage Nana Addo for talks, who's (sic) political experience is limited to a ministerial position under the erstwhile Kufuor government.”

So let us compare the two men on maturity
On the green side is President Mills who, in spite of his academic background, cannot read a simple speech written for him by boys he used to teach. He was shaking like a leaf when being sworn in as president in early January 2009. The limelight of the presidency is so much bigger than him that pronunciation of simple words like “economy” has become a problem for him.

On the blue side is Nana Akufo-Addo whose eloquence and articulation has become the envy of the entire NDC. One reporter from South Africa, upon hearing the two men debate Ghanaian issues during the run up to the 2008 election declared that “this election should be called off; that Fela – the NPP guy – is so far ahead of the bunch that it is not even a contest.”

On the green side is President Mills who begged for the position of a vice president after his predecessor Vice President Akaa had been brutally beaten up by none other than President Jerry John Rawlings. Anyone with class would not take such a position but Mills begged for it and was given.

On the blue side is Nana Akufo-Addo who, after losing to then candidate John Agyekum Kufuor in the NPP nomination, dusted himself off and rolled his sleeves to work tirelessly to help his former competitor win the presidency.

On the green side is President Mills who, despite apparently harboring reservations, meekly signed an ECOWAS declaration to remove Ivorian President Gagbo by force if the latter does not honor the result of the elections in his country. Mills would later return to Ghana to stab ECOWAS in the back by declaring his support for Gagbo.

On the blue side is Nana Akufo-Addo who traveled the continent to negotiate peace deals in trouble spots such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote D'Iviore. After those ground work behind the scenes, he would step back and allow President Kufuor to take the limelight and pen those deals into declarations.

On the green side is President Mills who travels to China on a state visit at the time when all presidents are supposed to be in New York City for a United Nations conference. As if that was not bad enough, the Chinese Premier traveled to the United Nations conference leaving President Mills in China to play around with kids. This is the same President Mills who fell asleep during a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister in Tokyo.

On the blue side is Nana Akufor-Addo who chaired a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York and was dazzling in doing so. This is the same Akufo-Addo whose record of leading the fight against Dictator Rawlings to return our country to democracy, and his resume of Attorney General and Foreign Minister makes President Mills pre-presidency resume of teaching a relative joke.

To crown Nana Akufo-Addos superiority over President Mills in terms of maturity, he elected not to ask for a recount of the votes in 2008, as was his right, when the final verdict placed him a mere 40,000 votes or 0.23% short of winning the presidency. For someone who was ahead after the first round, Nana could have prolonged the election, but elected to concede and preserve peace in Ghana. Contrast that class to a president who uses the State of the Nation address to attack his political opponents.

So the next time these NDC loose mouths decide to speak words they obviously do not understand, they must check the facts. The record is clear even to primary school pupils in Ashanti Region that the one most fitting of the presidency is Nana Akufo-Addo, and not the one in The Castle whose own appointees overrule his decisions everyday with impunity.

body-container-line