President Nana Akufo-Addo
Tempo: The rate of motion or activity. – Webster’s Dictionary
Life has taught me so many things which I would like to share with you today. I used to get very angry when people who do not matter insulted me. I went to bed with anger anytime I was confronted with upstarts who tried to treat me like dirt. In fact, I sometimes lost focus on whatever I was doing and spent precious time thinking about the behaviour of those nonentities.
When I came to realize that I had gained enough recognition, visibility and respect in relevant quarters, I decided to treat those guys with ordinary contempt. The Akans say if you play with a poppy, it licks your mouth. I came to realize that they were vexation to my spirit and the best thing to do was to ignore them and concentrate on the core things that I intended to do. It saved me a lot of time to concentrate and get on the right foot. It is like writing an article. If you allow yourself to be distracted, you’ll feed worms. Throughout my adult life, I have never yielded to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. I cut through all the nonsense and get moving.
When you are the president of a nation, it’s like being a general. You have to be in charge, instill confidence and tell the people you rule that good days are ahead. Sometimes a president acts like a conductor in an orchestra. The conductor is the one responsible for the tempo, performance and teamwork. Undoubtedly, President Akufo-Addo possesses these qualities. That is why he continues to chalk up one success after the other. Too many noises are made behind him on a daily basis but because he knows where he is going, he keeps his tempo. Today, the good people of Ghana have come to know that the NDC apparatchiks continue to act like cynics who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Having lost power to the NPP, the NDC wants the President to do everything at the same time. In fact, they want all the promises to be fulfilled at a go. What they do not know is that we all have different ways of accomplishing things. Some people deliberate for a long time and then move quickly, while some people make a quick decision and then take a long time to get around doing something about it. What matters are results. The bottom line is clearly the bottom line. It is not always a straight line to achieve the results we are looking for, but rather a series of efforts that will add up to experience and achievement. Just look at how many years scientists will work towards a discovery and you will understand that patience is one of the ingredients for success.
The President has told Ghanaians that he is in a hurry. That to me is the right thing to say to a people who have been taken for a ride by the immediate past corrupt government. You get in, get it done, get it done right and get out, period! Throughout the adult life of the President, he has been in the thick of events as far as Ghanaian politics is concerned. And he has suffered a great deal during his fight for democracy to take roots in this country. In fact, he knows that when he reaches the top, another wave will no doubt pound again. That is why he is so concentrated and focused. He knows that in no time he will open throttle to shore and that is when his detractors will realize that one doesn’t have to fight the current but let it have its way with you.
MUGABE: The Ex-Convict With Venom
Mr. Mahama and the NDC have not yet come to realize that the main cause of their devastating loss of power at the polls in 2016 was the behaviour of the Montie 3 led by Maase Salifu – the boy from Mosi Zongo in Kumasi. In the run-up to the 2016 general elections, he and his two other colleagues thought they were working for Mahama to retain power but sadly they did not know they were doing more harm than good to the man who showered them with money and other goodies. Their plan was to consistently insult candidate Nana Akufo-Addo and take on anyone who would speak against Mr. Mahama, including men of God. At a point in time, candidate Nana Addo told Ghanaians that no matter the insults, vilification and sheer disrespect, he was moving forward. That was when he started getting the sympathy of Ghanaians.
Many floating voters voted for Nana Addo because of the way Mugabe treated the fine gentleman. In fact, many fine ladies and gentlemen refused to actively participate in politics because of the behaviour of people like Maase Salifu. He became a thorn in the flesh of many Ghanaians, particularly self-made men and women.
Then this guy and his colleagues took the battle to the Supreme Court justices and even threatened to rape the Chief Justice. When they were hauled before the Supreme Court and jailed another mistake that Mr. Mahama did was to organize for NDC supporters to petition his office to pardon the three notorious commentators. When the three got out of jail, it angered discerning Ghanaians and they decided to punish Mr. Mahama at the polls. Mugabe is at it again and Mr. Mahama seems to like his behaviour. This time around, his two other colleagues have abandoned him and he is alone at Radio XYZ, spewing rot and insulting people and boasting that nobody can do him anything. Someone should tell him that the good people of this country will never countenance any idiot who will try to scuttle our flourishing democracy. We have come a long way from the revolutionary era to this era of peaceful co-existence. If Salifu Maase wants to live in peace, he should better make friends with the crocodiles. I wonder who will append his or her signature on a petition to free him from jail when he is caught in the web again. I know many jailbirds who have turned over a new leaf and are respected in public, but sadly Mugabe who still carries the ex-convict tag is shameless. Indeed, he is a disgrace to northerners like me.
But on a more serious note, Ghanaians should not take this Mugabe boy for granted. The guy is out there for business. He is being paid huge sums of money to do what he is doing. When Mahama was in power, he was given a V8 Landcruiser with state security guards so he knows when Mahama comes back to power he will receive something more than that. Mahama is power-hungry and he will do everything to come back to power (a mission that cannot be accomplished).
Sadly, while trying to play smart, our ex-president is not clever enough. Instead of giving Mugabe a green card to use his name to insult people, he should rather get some more respectable persons to do the dirty job that he has assigned Mugabe to do. And anyway, which respectable person will do what this useless Mugabe is doing?
What worries me is that anytime there is a dirty job to do, only northerners are called upon to execute the job. From land guards to vigilante groups, you seldom hear names like Appiah, Manu, Nii Quaye, Allotey, Amegashie, Effah Prempeh, etc. engaged in such foolishness. All that you hear are Mumuni, Issifu, Seidu, Issah, Yacubu, etc.
After the shooting at the NDC regional headquarters in Kumasi which led to the death of one person while the police declared nine suspects wanted, all the names they published were ‘northern’ names.
By Eric Bawah