By Fadi Dabbousi
Dr Hila Limann of the People’s National Party (PNP) emerged winner of the elections and was, subsequently, sworn in as the President of the 3rd Republic. Barely three months into his third year as President of Ghana, on the 31st of December, 1981, Junior Jesus struck again! JJ roared over the radios, “This is a Holy War!” I am still musing over the holiness of a war that he fought where the status quo worsened beyond redemption!
The third Republic was, officially, strewn into the chides of angry history! Now there was no reason to be reasonable! All hell broke loose! Common sense took to flight, and wickedness became the order of the day! Hunger struck and killings continued unabated. Torture became an endeavour to practice the latest techniques in sadism and thirst for blood. Life became a rollercoaster of barbarism plunging the country into a bottomless abyss until, finally, democracy was restored in 1992, albeit a sham by all means, that propelled JJ back to power, this time as a civilian, having retired from the military for the purpose!
Thus, the 4th Republic was birthed.
The very essence of the coups that JJ Rawlings organised were thrown to the dogs by corruption that crept into every aspect of governance. It festered so badly that it became rooted in everything to the point that every institution suppurated, taking along wisdom, loyalty, patriotism and all the values we are known for as Ghanaians! Then, Ghanaians decided that enough was enough! John Agyekum Kuffour became President on January 7, 2000, with a landslide win over Prof Atta Mills of blessed memory! He applied wisdom to break Ghana’s fall, and it worked very well. The economy was turned around and advantage was taken of every situation to make things work in our favour!
After putting Ghana on the pedestal of freedom once more, bringing true meaning to the statement of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaians made a drastic mistake by bringing back a “chip of the old block” in the form of JJ’s National Democratic Congress, the NDC! In my entire life, I have never seen such wicked corruption, theft and embezzlement of the national coffers as manifested by the ascent to power of the NDC. It started well with now President Atta-Mills. He did well. He was not a thief! He was neither corrupt nor disloyal to the nation, although many saw that his Vice was the official racketeer of the State!
Then he died (or was killed) in a mysterious way! Let’s not go into that for now, but in future editions, we shall describe in detail the conspiracy theories that abound and the most plausible sequence of events that led to his demise/murder. May his soul rest in perfect peace. What a gentleman he was!
John Mahama was sworn in as if in a rush as His Excellency the President even before the body of Atta Mills had the chance to cool down! Why was he in a hurry? What was his motive? Was he hiding something? Anyway, John manipulated the Electoral Commission to suit his agenda, the same EC that he bastardises today because the rigging machinations of his NDC Party have been culled by the new Commissioner, Mrs Jean Mensah. It seems to me that he suffers from cognitive impairment of issues. This is the same President who refused to sack Madam Charlotte Osei, an obvious NDC sympathiser, for flouting almost every electoral law in the book and for doing everything possible to machinate his reelection in 2016, which was almost impossible given the margin of defeat. This is the same President, who superintended over the scam of the century by purporting the flight of two million guinea fowls to Burkina Faso to feed which Ghanaians are still waiting for to return! He is the same President who allegedly inflated the cost of projects like the Circle-Dubai interchange, Kasoa bridge, and Ridge hospital! Nevertheless, he was ousted with the filth of his babies with sharp teeth, aptly described as such by the founding father of the NDC, JJ Rawlings! Even JJ, despite his misgivings, was disgusted by the corruption of Mahama’s people that he referred to them as “Greedy Bastards” and “Babies with sharp teeth”!
Then Came His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Just the mention of his name invokes blessings upon Ghana for nurturing such an illustrious son of the land!
Now, here is the real deal:
He hit the ground running upon assuming the presidency. He had often proclaimed that he was in a hurry to make Ghana great again. True to his word, he found ways to clear some outstanding payments due which were left by his predecessor, President John Mahama. Unfortunately, relentless thefts and freebies given to his party folks and indiscriminate spending on NDC elections using the national coffers soon started to squirm out into the open. The NPP government was taking shock after shock as the scrolls of the previous government were being rolled out. The national and international debts were staggering beyond imagination.
Nana Akufo-Addo is known not to complain. He hardly does especially when he is riddled with problems that need immediate solutions. He managed to turn the economy around in a brief period as he initiated his social intervention policies, the most notable among the hundreds is the Free Senior High School. Mind you the interest on the billions of US Dollar loans procured, indiscriminately, by John Mahama had to be serviced, and that further quaked an already fragile situation.
Unknown to the world was that the biological mutation of a simple flu virus into a killing machine had been generated and was, supposedly, planted in the Chinese city of Wuhan by foreigners suspected to be Americans. Anyway, before long, the whole world was infected. Of course, Ghana was not exempted. An extreme measure was inevitable, and so, the President announced a two-week lockdown of the country. All borders were shut while marine and aviation activities came to a halt. There was an eerie silence that reminded me of the evil days of the AFRC and PNDC of which the NDC is an offshoot.
Of course, Ghanaians, being the sympathetic people that they are became motivated to distribute food to the needy. All in all, it served as a two-week holiday for the nation in which President Akufo-Addo ordered water to be free to all households and that continued for about one and half years. Electricity, too, under a specific threshold was given to Ghanaians for free while those who consumed above that limit were charged 50%. That continued for six months or even more. No President across Africa showed their nation such love and devotion. Americans did not receive any utility aid or federal benefits. Europe saw no such empathy. Most nations across the globe did not get love from their leaders as Ghanaians did from Nana Akufo-Addo. No sooner had covid subsided than war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, which created pandemonium across the globe. The cost of food skyrocketed and so did that of medicine and essential services. The rippling effects have had a near-debilitating effect on Ghana. The government struggled to keep her head above the rough waters. Akufo-Addo, who stayed until past midnight almost every night in the office now was present around the clock to ensure that he reversed the status quo. Of course, the opposition NDC and their supporters by way of mental configuration hardly mean well for Ghana. They agitated to score cheap political points. Sensible people who make up the majority of Ghana’s population were annoyed that the commotion was unwarranted especially now that all hands were required on deck. Alas, John Mahama showed leadership, albeit, in hoodlumism rather than statesmanship, I regret to say!
Yet, something that has bothered me for years is the incautious and injudicious pronouncement made by the latter former NDC President to the effect that Ghanaians have a short memory. I seethed with anger when I heard it, but after contemplation, and given the current discourse of some people, including the ungrateful NDC persons, I am inclined to believe his statement after all.
Yesterday, the 27th of February, 2023, the radio was set to Ahotor fm 92.3 in a vehicle immediately next to mine. The presenter, I do not know who he was, was shouting at the top of his voice that China was coming to take over major State installations because Ghana was indebted to her, citing events in Uganda where the former had taken over Nyerere International Airport while other installations in some African countries were going to suffer a similar fate. What the rascal did not understand was that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not heartless like President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC lot. Has he soon forgotten that Mr Mahama had caused significant losses to the State with such despicable Energy contracts that ensured the payment of hundreds of millions of US Dollars in wasteful money to private power producers, a large chunk of which, allegedly, went to his pocket or the pockets of his assigns? What did Akufo-Addo do? He cancelled many of those contracts that had loopholes in them to avoid judgement debt and renegotiated others. How much money did he save the nation? Billions of dollars!
Besides, Nana Akufo-Addo is an astute lawyer and one of the finest brains contemporary Ghana has ever produced. In addition to that, he is, extremely, loyal to the Motherland and will not allow the belligerence of foreigners to disenfranchise Ghanaians, so be rest assured that neither China nor any other creditor country can take over State installations. There are sensible and insensible Presidents, and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is beyond sensible; he is astute and an ace negotiator!
