Nana Akufo-Addo
The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has hit back at President John Mahama, saying that the latter has a poor understanding of the national constitution.
According to the NPP leader, if Mr Mahama had bothered to read the Constitution, he would have apprised himself of the fact that the President of the Republic does not have the power to destool a chief.
Nana Akufo-Addo was responding to a comment made by President Mahama while campaigning in Suhum in the Eastern Region that “Nananom, if he (Akufo-Addo) becomes president and you criticize him, he will destool you.”
This remark by the president, according to the NPP flag bearer, points to the fact that he (president) has no campaign message, and has therefore, resorted to the politics of scaremongering and untruths in his bid for re-election.
Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking yesterday at the Assin Central Constituency on the last day of his three-day campaign tour of the Central Region.
“Does our president understand the laws governing our country? Has he bothered to read our Constitution? No president has the power to destool a chief. Ghana has gone past the era where a sitting president could destool a chief. Judicial Committees of Traditional Councils are the only ones who can destool a chief, and not a president,” the NPP standard bearer underscored.
According to Nana Addo, as far back as the 1960s, his father, then Chief Justice, Edward Akufo-Addo, as Chair of the 1969 Constitutional Commission, enshrined in that Constitution that ‘The institution of Chieftaincy is guaranteed under the Constitution,’ a provision which subsequent constitutions have incorporated.
This, the NPP leader explained, is the reason why chiefs are debarred from engaging in partisan politics, and at the same time, governments barred from meddling in chieftaincy affairs.
“Thus, as president, you should be abreast with the Constitution of the Republic, and have it at your fingertips. President Mahama can’t even read and understand the Constitution. He just gets up and makes unfortunate comments,” Nana fumed.
Nana Akufo-Addo explained, “I have so much respect for the chieftaincy institution. My ancestry, including my late grandfather, the Okyenhene, Nana Ofori Atta I and my own mother, who became the queen mother of Kyebi, means I have respect for the institution. I am not the one coming to disrespect them.”
The NPP flag bearer continued, “He (President Mahama) says when I become president, I am going to drive away Muslims resident in Zongos, amongst other things. He will never say to the people what his vision for them is or his record. Even at the launch of the NDC manifesto, all he (President Mahama) did was to talk about me. He had to be prompted before remembering that he was to talk about the contents of his manifesto.”
Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his belief that recent utterances by President Mahama, coupled with his actions and inactions over the last eight years, point to a president who appears to have little understanding of democracy.
The NPP standard bearer noted that the comment by President Mahama to the effect that continually changing governments for new ones stall development is another case in point.
“If changing governments was bad, why did he and his party agitate for the changing of the NPP government in 2008, which was doing much better than the current NDC government? Changing government was good for him in 2008, but when the time has come for Ghanaians to change him in 2016, it’s now a bad thing,” Akufo-Addo charged.
Nana Addo explained that it was for good reason that Ghana’s Constitution directs that elections be held every four years, affording the electorate the opportunity to review the record of the incumbent and if dissatisfied, bring in a government that will do a job for the wellbeing of the citizenry.