Voices In The Diaspora On Nana Akufo Addo’s Government

The Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo: Photo credit - Ghanaian media

The best part of investigative journalism is listening to the voice of other people to know their opinions and to share their views. Ghana is for all of us; it’s therefore, our responsibility to build a better Ghana for the sake of our children.

In my recent visit to the United Kingdom, I tried my best to listen to a few Ghanaians over the present state of affairs under the government of the New Patriotic Party. In Ghana, many think Nana Akufo Addo is not doing well, while others think Ghana now has the best leader after John Mahama.

Looking for Ghanaians residing in the United Kingdom is not all that easy. They work very hard during the day and those engaged in night shift work were also asleep during the day to get enough energy for the next night shift.

However, I was able to get four Ghanaians and two other Africans from Zimbabwe, and this is what they said:

According to Mr. Solomon Hammond, in London, many Ghanaians are not only difficult to deal with but also unfair and impatient. They are not giving any support to Nana Akufo Addo’s government, in this way, they don’t appreciate whatever he is doing. Once you don’t appreciate someone’s effort, whatever he does even if it’s good becomes hate.

Ghanaians must remember that whether NPP or NDC is in power, their presence creates an impact politically and economically. Thus; if Ghanaians who don’t like Nana Akufo’s government try to sabotage his efforts, it will definitely affect every Ghanaian, including the saboteurs.

Therefore, instead of putting pressure and insults on Ghana’s presidency, they must allow him to do his job and in the due course, time will tell if he did well for Ghanaians or he failed. I am not interested much in Ghana politics but at times we need to acknowledge the fact that Ghana is our country.

The second person, I talked to was my classmate in Accra High School, Mr. William Turkson. We arranged for this meeting which took place at one of the restaurants at the Victoria Train Station in London.

According to him, every Ghanaian government in power leaves with many problems behind. Therefore, Nana Akufo Addo will not find it easy to fix those problems sooner.

However, Ghanaian leaders often don’t think of the country’s future when executing projects. That is what has affected Ghana most. If the government constructs durable roads in the country which will last longer than twenty years, that road will only need a maintenance but since the roads are not durable, money which the government have to use for a new project will be made available for a new contractor to repeat the construction of the same road which previously had cost the government millions of cedis.

On what projects do the Ghanaian government provides funds? That is very important because each year, university students graduate looking for employment. Therefore, how beneficial are the projects to the graduates? This involves adequate planning and wise utilization of our resources to create employment, for everyone because the unemployment rate in Ghana is very high at the moment.

Joel: Okay, Willie, tell me what you think about Nana Akufo Addo’s government?

Mr. William Turkson: I think the man is doing his best but the majority of Ghanaians have no patience. When watching a football match many criticize about a waste goal or penalty but they can’t do better assuming they are playing. That’s how some Ghanaians are. I will not criticize Akufo Addo because it’s not simple and easy to be a leader in a country called Ghana.

From London to Poole and Bournemouth
After London, I travelled to Poole, then later to Bournemouth, 174 kilometers from London and a coastal resort town in Dorset County, in the south-east part of England.

In Bournemouth, I met two Ghanaians, Yaw Micah, and Bismark, and two other Africans, Henry, and Nancy, from Zimbabwe.

According to Mr.Micah, President Akufo Addo is inspired into politics by his father but has no experience as a leader. He lacks the ability to find solutions to problems Ghanaians are facing and it seems he is concentrating and wasting his time on what’s not important, the reason Ghana is in a really bad state at the moment.

No matter how a government tries if they couldn’t satisfy the needs of the people you’ll turn out to be a failure. That’s the image of Akufo Addo at the moment. Nana Akufo Addo is heavily depending on China for miracles in Ghana, yet it has never occurred to him to send Ghanaians to study in China towards the country's development.

Bismark seems not interested in the Ghanaian government and, therefore, wouldn’t talk much. However, he told me that his plan is to find a good sustainable business to settle in Ghana. His idea reminded me of a similar decision I made in which I lost 10,000 Euro in Ghana.

I made it clear to him that most bad countries operate on bad judiciary system, thus; the law doesn’t work, even though it exists. If the judiciary system in Ghana isn’t corrupt, a traditional chief wouldn’t have sold a land to more than one person and continue to enjoy impunity.

Henry, the man from Zimbabwe, seems to be more like a comedian. According to him, “All African leaders have the same mother and father; else they wouldn’t have much interest in corruption."

"They all have something in common, ‘corruption.’ Fighting corruption in Africa has never been successful because the fighter is also corrupt,” he stressed.

Then the last person, who was Nancy, also lamented over “the Methuselah African Leaders, who want to die in power." The sweet taste of power, greed, and corruption wouldn’t permit them to handover. "With such kind of leaders ruling the continent, Africa’s future is very bleak," she said.

Dear readers, as Ghanaians, our thinking can never be the same because the opinion of others differs. As I said earlier, I tried my best to listen to more voices but I had only a few. I hope you'll enjoy it. Wishing you a happy weekend.