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| President-elect, Nana Akufo Addo |
"When I say
NDC, you say no abaabasɛ. NDC, no abaabasɛ. Then, the third one, you say
'hweeeeeeeeoooow' [that, supporters whistle]," there was President John
Dramani Mahama addressing teeming supporters.
Indeed, Ghana’s
2016 election was one of fun and would forever be remembered. While the
National Democratic Congress were telling the New Patriotic Party (NPP) they
were not going back, Nana Akufo Addo, then NPP’s presidential candidate and now
president elect of the Republic of Ghana, was saying goodbye to President
Mahama from somewhere.
"John Dramani
Mahama, bye byeeeee! Bye byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" The other contesting
presidential candidates did not quench the fun-fire. Yes. The Progressive
People’s Party’s Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, for me, scored the highest mark for the
fun game.
"Every year
Bole Bamboi road, JJ Rawlings. Bole Bamboi road, Kufour. Bole Bamboi road, Atta
Mills. Bole Bamboi road, Mahama. Ah?!" Dr. Nduom asked at one of his
campaigns.
But like the lizard’s excreta, the
fun game was marred with some provoking jabs.
"The
president said I was sleeping, I thank him. The people in the Western Region
and all those who use those roads there will know the one who is peddling
falsehood. If the roads were good, would they have included it in their
projects?
“Let me ask you;
do you see anything near good roads? Do you see that most of the roads are in
good shape? We should not be deceived by these falsehoods," said Nana
Akufo Addo.
He was addressing a
rally at the Achimota Station in the Okaikoi North constituency on Friday, August
19, 2016, and would respond to President Mahama’s claim that he [Nana Addo] was
sleeping in one of his tours to the Western region, hence, his inability to see
the good roads there.
After months of
intensive campaigning, the dust has settled and Ghana has finally chosen a
leader to steer the affairs of the nation for the next four years.
Our president-elect,
Nana Akufo Addo has enormous responsibilities to undertake as Ghanaians have a
mountain of expectations from his government. Having campaigned and probably
won the election based on promises, the nation looks forward to the NPP
effecting that ‘change’ they called for.
When, after, the Electoral
Commission’s Chairperson, Charlotte Osei declared Nana Addo the president
elect, what I heard many people at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle jubilate about were
the free SHS promise, one district one factory and improvement in the health
insurance scheme.
Whereas these may be a
few of the NPP’s promises the Kwame Nkrumah Circle celebrants were happy about,
there are those who look forward to seeing our economy grow tremendously. The $1m per every constituency and the creation of jobs cannot be
forgotten as we were similarly told not to forget the GYEEDA and other
scandals, under the NDC government.
However, I strongly
believe Nana Addo will have a very smooth tenure of office if he follows the
exemplary footsteps of Tanzania’s president, John Pombe Magufuli.
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| Tanzania's President, John Magufuli |
Mr. Magufuli, prior to
being elected as president, had campaigned to crack down on corruption, promised
to tackle the endless power shortages Tanzanians face, and to exploit its gas
resources for the benefit of the nation.
The BBC reports
that Mr. Magufuli portraying himself as a poor man’s son had reached out to Tanzanians
to better their lives.
"Our home was
grass thatched and like many boys I was assigned to herd cattle, as well as
selling milk and fish to support my family.
"I know what
it means to be poor. I will strive to help improve people's welfare," he said.
So, what happened
after Magufuli assumed the position of a president in Tanzania in less than a
month?
Social media was awashed with messages
of Mr. Magufuli’s announcement that there would be no celebration of Tanzania’s
Independence Day on December 9. Why? His reason was reasonable. It would be
shameful to spend huge sums of money on the celebrations while people were
dying of cholera. Resources would rather be channeled to productive ventures.
At his official visit to the Muhimbili Hospital, in Dar
es Salaam, Mr. Magufuli seeing the hospital’s horrible
state, ordered over 200 million shillings marked for “parliament parties” be
used to pay for beds for patients who either slept on the floor or shared beds,
the sapeople.com reports.
Subsequently,
the governing board of the Muhimbili Hospital was dissolved and got a new team
in place, and within days broken MRI was fixed. A cut from $100,000 to $7,000 as an amount for
his inauguration party had the extra money being sent to the hospital.
More so, the announcement of a ban
on all foreign travel by government officials and ordering these officials to,
instead, make regular visits to rural areas to look at how to solve and improve
the lives of the ordinary Tanzanian cannot be over emphasized.
This is the man many call as the
Bulldozer for he abrasively acts upon his words. Still on his assumption, in
less than a month, Mr. Magufuli suspended the Tanzania Revenue Authority’s
chief and other officials as irregularities were recorded at their office.
This is the shining example Tanzania
offers a Nana Addo government. Our president elect must be able to not only sack
corrupt officials but imprison them when the law courts find them culpable. This,
President Mahama failed to do and even infuriated Ghanaians by releasing the
Montie 3. Simply because he has that power to do so.
Our president elect must let his
ministers and appointees understand that they cannot live the life of New
Yorkers, in Ghana, while many people wallow in poverty.
Our president elect must either
scrap or restructure government policies that are drawing us back as a
developing country. The National Sanitation Day, for instance, must be
restructured. The idea of calling on people to sweep and clean their
environment on the first Saturday of every month is sickening.
Here, we end up filling the same
gutters we cleaned just a day after the clean-up exercise. Malaria must be a
thing of the past if the Americas and the Europes have drastically achieve this
feet. Why can we not ensure sanity by fining people who litter
indiscriminately? Could this not be a source of income for the nation in
solving some of our numerous problems?
There
are a lot that could be said to Nana Akufo Addo but in a nutshell; I wish to say
that per his status in life, this is not the time to create, loot and share. You
have everything that could be said of every successful man.
Becoming
the president of Ghana is just an addition to your feat in life, I guess, and
you must, however, not ‘play’ with Ghanaians. Do not take this for granted.
Work to write your name in the good books of our country.
Dear,
Nana Addo be reminded of what former President JJ Rawlings wrote to you in
congratulating you. That, the people elected you “President because the
electorate believes you have the ability to confront these challenges [the
nation faces] and lead the country with fearlessness, humility and honesty.”
I wish you a prosperous
term of office. Long live our motherland, Ghana.
The writer, Solomon
Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with 3FM 92.7. Views expressed here solely remain
his opinion and not that of his organisation.
Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Aniwaba
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