President Nana Akufo-Addo exchanging pleasantries with an official of the Museum of the Bible in Washington
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been sharing amazing real life stories far away in the United States of America (USA), asserting that his strong faith in God has shaped his professional life as a lawyer and politician.
He said this has heavily influenced his vision for Ghana and Africa’s transformation, and noted that he is a Christian in politics, who is unashamed of asserting his Christian faith as part of his political calling.
Speaking at the inaugural Africa lecture organised by the Museum of the Bible in Washington, USA, President Akufo-Addo stated, “It is this faith, and this belief in God’s power to transform difficult situations into beacons of hope, that has animated my vision for moving Ghana to a situation beyond aid, and putting the country onto the road of self-reliance, sustained progress and prosperity.”
He added that “this faith is also the motivation for one of the major projects, which I have described as a priority of priorities, which we are undertaking in the country, the construction of the National Cathedral of Ghana.”
“The National Cathedral and Bible Museum of Africa are, thus, being developed as Ghana’s gifts to the Christian community worldwide. That is a ‘safe space’ to organise key National, Regional, and Global Christian activities,” President Akufo-Addo disclosed.
Legal Playground
According to him, there are times someone’s experience and intellectual rigour would not get him or her prepared for the vicissitudes of the legal playground, and that “on such occasions, it helps to be able to hark back to your faith and maybe the sound of your mother singing that ancient hymn.”
“Who is on the Lord’s side? It helps to be on the Lord’s side, when you purport to seek or arbitrate for justice among humans,” he sang the hymn.
He disclosed that the critical part of his Christian upbringing was that Christianity was a way of life and that an everyday experience meant far more than going to church, adding that it was obligatory in the “Ofori-Atta and Akufo-Addo homes.”
“My own parents, as you can imagine, were staunch Presbyterians. I was baptised a Presbyterian, and became an Anglican, much to the vehement protests of my parents, as a result of the secondary school I attended in England.
“Let us say I became enamored with the rituals, daily Matins and Evensong, and the additional Sunday Eucharist, which were constant features of my four-year stay at school in Lancing,” he recalled with nostalgia.
“Often in law practice, things are not quite as cut and dried as they would seem or as one would wish. There would be times when no amount of experience or intellectual rigour would prepare you for the vicissitudes of the legal playground. On such occasions, it helps to be able to hark back to your faith and maybe the sound of your mother singing that ancient hymn,” the President stressed.
Citing sections of Sir Walter Beasant’s legal novel titled: “The Ivory Gate”, President Akufo-Addo said he agreed with the author’s quote that “the solicitor knows more than a Roman Catholic priest and carries greater responsibilities.”
He argued that this certainly helps a lawyer to be a Christian and also have an anchor that steadies the individual to manoeuvre the turbulence of the everyday life of legal practice.
Political Trajectory
For his political trajectory, the President shared his life experience, saying, “The story of my struggles to become president of my country is well known. My experiences have been a testimony of God’s love, and a vindication of the words of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the Gospel.”
“According to St. Matthew 19:26, which says ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’. It took three tries between 2008 and 2016 for me to get elected. By which time, the popular catch phrases of ‘Akufo-Addo cannot be President; God does not want Akufo-Addo to be President; Akufo-Addo is short, and does not have the stature to be President’ had become so prevalent. You have to be firmly rooted in your faith to have had the courage to persist,” he pinned.
President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that he committed that third election campaign to God, and indicated to the Ghanaians “the Battle is the Lord’s.”
“By God’s grace, I won a famous victory against an incumbent President by a gap of nearly a million votes, the largest margin of victory for two decades. And, by the same Grace, I won re-election in the December 2020 elections, and I am now in my second and last term as President,” he narrated.
By Ernest Kofi Adu