Akuffo Addo and Prez Mahama need to define themselves

Kojo Tamakloe

I wanted to buy a car the other day , but before I got there I had a list of what kind of performance standards I wanted. I questioned sales person after sales person as to the attributes I wanted . There was no emotion just what I will call value for money . It was funny because the last interview I attended , after the HR had explained the corporate culture had turned round and asked ‘ why do you think your are the best fit and what will you be bringing to the table”?
Just as in the purchase of the car I was not keen on what rivals could not do or did wrong but on what the car could do and its history, so the HR was not interested in what faults other candidates had but what I could do for the company . I started with a vision which they wanted me to explained and also expand on what and how I intended to get there . They also wanted to know what I had done in the past and what were the results . How then could I use those experiences for my new role and assignments?
The race for presidency to my mind is the same. We the voters are consumers or purchasers or in the position of the HR who is looking for a candidate with the best fit. It is for the candidates to therefore sell themselves to the consumers . So what do we hope for or are asking from candidates?
History Both candidates now represented their constituencies . What was their effectiveness and what difference did they make in their respective constituencies?
Then they were both cabinet ministers so we should be able to compare their visions and the way they translated these into action plans that resulted into action. Again we can then see the records they left behind and therefore see what they can do in the future . Unfortunately Nana Addo is handicapped by not having a VP experience
One or two things come in mind though . When the Ghanaians mostly Akans were murdered by Gambia in Gambia , Nana could not do anything but Mahama did . Then when the war in Cote D’Ivoire started Nana wanted a war with CIV , but the other used a peaceful method . Surprisingly Nana did not declare a war on Gambia , a country of 1.6 million people
Intellect It is said “ small minds talk of people, (gossip), average minds talk of events , but great minds talk about issues” . The visionary leader will have a great mind and so be able to discuss issues. That also reflects in the kind of people surrounding the person. Guys, let us closely watch the advisors and close associates of these leaders. My man Nkrumah surrounded himself with great minds and so his vision was great , Martin Luther King, George Padmore, Marcus Garvey, advisors from the UK , where he studied, Prof Abrahams, one of the best brains produced by Ghana, The Joe De Grafts, and creative minds like Prof Ephraim Amo , P C Gbeho ,who composed the national anthem and Kofi Antobam an artist extraordinaire who decorated the Parliament House
It is the same way Flt Lt Rawlings surrounded himself with a lot of brainy people. People may hate him but the hole from which Ghana came was not a joke. Ghanaians lined up even for toilet paper and if you travelled outside you were mocked . Today we argue about who is more Ghanaian. I met one of them in Nairobi , Kenya and I spoke to him asking if he came from “ Ogya”? . I had a big snub , though I was in a Joromi shirt . Funny we met again that evening in hotel 680 , in central Nairobi. He asked me if I was not ashamed . My reply “ of what? Ghana? “ . I have a dim view of Nana’s close associates of Jake , Karbo, Ken Agyepong, Ursula Owusu , and people like Akadu Memsema, Okoampa . Some may have PHDs but what they write about is not about issues but about people. Always JJ and Kofi Awoonor. That is gossip and that portrays a low mental status. Compare with The Odikro , Prof Lunga, Abeeku Mensah, Joojo Wilson , Otchere Darko of London , Nii Thompson ,Mr Bannerman, Dr Saka , Ade Sawyer and other interesting writers like Lola Washington, and Emma. Ghana has brainy people but are silenced by the empty headed looneys, who throw insults at everything. We need such people to come out and they must come out because that will be a crime because in them lies the salvation of Ghana and Africa .We have killed Prof because he could not stand the foul mouth noise of the empty barrels . It should not happen again . Let us always remember, “they came for the communist, and I said nothing. Then they came for the socialist and I said nothing. Then they came for the Union leader but again I sad nothing . Then they came for me but no one said anything because there was none to say anything”
Future . Where do these people want to lead us? How will they achieve their aims and vision?
Basics Food security. What will they do for the country to attain food security? Must we continue to produce what we do not eat and import what we eat ? When can we get food sufficiency in items like maize, rice, cassava products, plantain, fruits, sugar, tomatoes, meat and fish and reduce the import of wheat for bread
Education. Should we continue to churn out semi literate clerks, lawyers, pen pushers at the expense of other skills that will be more easily employable. ?We cannot for ever continue to look down on artisans and farm and agricultural persons . Unfortunately we have some of the persons who want the clerk type even unable to communicate in basic English. I was with a Chinese man watching television and watching Ex Prez Mills funeral and some of the people interviewed could not respond to questions in basic English. The China man told me how despite the population of 1.5 billion in China, they are making efforts to learn English due to its wide spread use . We need to be able to compete Globally
Foreign Policy . “ No one is an Island” is a common adage. We live and are part of Africa . More closely West Africa . Do we want to be part of it or part of the West? It is important we find policies that make us part of ECOWAS and the AU and thereby reap the benefits . That calls for education to eradicate our xenophobia . Under this will also be regional hospitals , airways, and shipping lines . We spend a lot of money going to South Africa , UK or USA for treatment . Can we not save ourselves the money by pooling our resources together in these areas
Industrialization. I whine and moan about the 400 odd factories and some structures like GNCC, Workers Brigade and the State commercial farms abandoned after 1966 and closed by the NPP fore bears the PP. They destroyed the foundation that was laid. The least that could have been done would have been to consolidate after careful analysis the ones most likely to be profitable. But everything was written off an “ communistic” , whatever that meant and now we go to china for shopping . Even the “ hard working “ USA got their Olympics attire from these “ lazy, wait for government handout” Chinese. Worse they have lent to USA a lot of money in spite of all their laziness . We need to separate out doctrinaire slogans or ideologies from what will work. That is the simple logic behind Nkrumaism . What will work for Africa and our local conditions . Today we need to start with a think tank , that will generate and identify areas that will make us competitive and go in these areas .
So the question is dowe move forward or backwards ? These are the choices between Nana Addo, Prez Mahama, Dr Sankara and Mr Nduom . Our choices should be objective based ,not subjective

Kojo Tamakloe is an Nkrumaist and Pan Africanist , who believes it is through the application of Nkrumaism that Africa can over come its under development