Dr. Adwumwaa writes: Akufo-Addo makes John Mahama looks very COMPETENT

Let’s face it, politics can really bring out the worst in people, especially elected officials. Even the man Americans regard as the greatest politician in history have had qualities that were horrible- or at best, really annoying. George Washington owned slaves, Roosevelt was an inveterate racist, Winston Churchill was a depressive alcoholic, and so on, and so on. Just as every person has things about them that are good and bad, so too do the politicians we elect. Some of these qualities are criminal, terrorising political opponents, appointing family members and friends into his government to steal state funds to build political empires, exerting undue privilege. Others are just personality quirks or traits that some people find irritating.

That irritation is heightened by the visibility and responsibilities of public office. Leadership is about leading people, which includes listening to those on front line, your critics, political opponents and those at different levels of management, and all their meaningful concerns. Our President, Nana Akufo-Addo unfortunately emphasizes his own desires and those of his family members and cronies at the expense of any receptivity or openness to what these persons have to offer. Continued unwillingness to hear or respond to concerns meaningfully is the reason why Ghana is so polarised with many conflicts and problems down the line, as well as resentment, disillusion and attrition.

It is all about excessive self aggrandizement, stealing of state funds, nepotism, self interest, lying, inconsistency. He has created secret sets of rules for different parties and make things up or waffle as we go along without any genuine discussion. Facts available and happenings in the country show that the President doesn’t have a guiding ethical core that informs his decisions. He is so disconnected to the extent that he cannot or refuse to see toxic officials poisoning the environment. The President has surrounded himself with a small cadre of YES people who parrot and mirror themselves completely, leaving everyone else to feel like the uncool kids in JSS at best, or in line for the chopping block at worst. The man Ghanaians described as a true democrat has started bullying and harassing his political opponents and critics. He has become very abusive and belittling to all critics, using foul language, threats, or coercion.

What I am saying is that those who expected things to be otherwise should stand up and say so. But too few are doing so; instead, for motives that are part emotional, and part coldly national, they find reason to defend the President and a party that have constantly disappointed. Thus Ghana has slipped into a truly absurd dynamic. Various people who should know better, but who now feel committed to defending their absurd choices since 2016, will defend every rot. Slowly but unquestionably, this complicity, silence and outright support for the less progressive instincts of our ruling establishment , from those who know better, is causing our slide into an ALSO-RAN country. I want to say this with all sincerity that the country has been overtaken by the state of insecurity. There is no safety anywhere and I believe that nobody can count himself as safe unless those who have state apparatus with which they are protecting themselves. Ghanaians are no longer safe ; journalists and ordinary citizens are being killed, maimed, terrorised, intimidated every day. The situation is very alarming. Look at his ministers and the persons he has appointed to head state institutions including the security agencies. I wouldn’t want to talk about the competence or otherwise of heads of security agencies and other top state officials because they were appointed by somebody. If you appoint somebody to do a job and he shows manifest incompetence and you failed to remove him, you are part of the incompetence

Many Ghanaians including myself seem desperate to get rid of Akufo-Addo, a man whose tenure has been plagued by gaffes, unforced errors, incompetence and a puzzling cluelessness that seemed to point the challenges with his age. It doesn’t look good for him. The groundswell of support that his opponent John Mahama has enjoyed so far is a stunning rebuke to someone that in 2016 was seen a Messiah. Ideologically, I am for the right so have soft spot for the Npp. I voted for the Npp in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections. I wrote articles promoting the parties ideals and virtues in some popular newspapers. I have taken this position because of happenings in the party and Ghana. Today, John Mahama, his predecessor, who was described as incompetent by the President, his Vice and anti-Mahama elements, is riding a wave of popularity as many remember his policies fondly. Akufo-Addo makes John Mahama look very competent. In many ways, Akufo-Addo is the face of many things wrong with governance in Ghana. Accountability is sorely lacking. Money remains a corrupting influence and many Ghanaian intellectuals, think tanks, journalists, writers of stature, especially those who fought the Mahama administration are now part of the corruption and incompetence that defines governance in Ghana. Many of them are on the payroll of corrupt politicians and eagerly write their talkinridiculous. As far as I am concerned,  the allegation that the President and his government is corrupt and incompetent cannot be assailed and it is very clear. I said it in my previous interview with a Kenyan Newspaper. It is not possible that the only people who are corrupt or committed an offence are those who are not in the Npp, that is ridiculous. Now we are a country that publicly rewards those who steal from our coffers and those who committed on video, human right violation,and then sends them on television and radio shows for petty political gains. Yes, this government is doing what it is capable of doing. But not the way they told me it would.

Maame Adutwumwaa (Dr)

Kenya (Nairobi)