Opinions of Sunday, 9 April 2017
Columnist: ghanapoliticsonline.com
When Ghanaians decided to reject Akuffo-Addo at the polls in 2008; it was for a very good reason that the majority of Ghanaians took that bold and wise decision not to have a Leader who would destroy the unity of this dear nation of ours.
In 2009, when the mandate was given to the good Professor John Evans Atta Mills to manage the affairs of State, it was not an easy task for him to defy the clamour for reprisal attacks on the NPP after the unacceptable manner in which John Agyekum Kufuor and his NPP misconducted themselves and unwisely harassed members of the NDC between 2001 – 2008.
IMG_2701It was so sickening the manner in which John Agyekum’s regime harassed and mentally tortured members of the NDC government who worked with Jerry John Rawlings, and under normal African political circumstances, President Atta Mills should have revenged when the NDC won in 2009 but that did not happen for very good reason.
I actually recall how lots of us NDC supporters had to gather at the “Kawokudi Junction” office of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) because Kufuor’s regime unwisely decided to ‘invite’ former President Rawlings for ‘questioning’ because the latter had used the phrase “positive defiance”, to advice NDC supporters not to sit idly by and allow the Kufuor regime to use gestapo tactics to attempt to destroy the NDC.
I can also not forget the senseless manner in which the Kufuor regime stormed the Regimanuel Estates home of the then former Vice President Atta Mills (when he was in Canada on an academic assignment), and harassed Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills under the silly guise that then former Vice President had stolen state vehicles that needed to be retrieved.
Absolute nonsense!!! At the height of Kufuor’s regime’s attempt to demonise the NDC, the likes of, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, Mr. Dan Abodakpi, Mr. Victor Selormey, Mr. Kwame Peprah, Dr. Sepa Yankey and co, were thrown into jail for purely political reasons.
In the case of Tsatsu Tsikata, he was not only picked up from his normal Sunday Church Service around the British Council Office, but was also thrown into jail on a day that was not scheduled by the court for judgement to be given.
I recall the speed with which the then Presidential Candidate of the NDC, Professor Atta Mills, rushed to the court premises after news broke that Tsatsu had been handed a jail sentence in flagrant abuse of the laid down justice delivery procedures of Ghana.
As the Head of Communications/Media Operations Officer for the Campaign Team of Candidate Atta Mills, I accompanied the NDC Presidential Candidate to the court premises and I can NEVER forget how distraught Professor Atta Mills was when he had to watch his very close friend and Advisor being thrown into a police vehicle and driven off to go serve an unacceptable jail term.
President Atta Mills and KokuAfter we returned to the Osu Kuku Hill Campaign Office, Candidate Atta Mills asked to be left alone for a while and I am sure he shed some tears at the evil manner in which Tsatsu Tsikata was thrown into jail just because the Kufuor regime wanted to jail Tsatsu “at all cost” to score very wicked and cheap political points.
In spite of all the harassments and torture the NDC suffered at the hands of the Kufuor NPP regime, when Professor Atta Mills got sworn-in as President on, January 07, 2009, he decided that NEVER again should innocent Ghanaians suffer because their political party has lost political power.
For the records; it is not the case that President Atta Mills wanted NPP criminals to get away with their criminal conduct. No way!!!
What President Atta Mills wanted to prevent; is the unnecessary harassment of innocent Ghanaians for purely partisan political expediency.
As mentioned earlier, President Atta Mills had to stay firm and strong in order to defy the clamour of certain sections of the NDC for reprisal attacks on the NPP in order to “make them dance to the ugly tune of their wicked music they played when they took office in 2001”.
As Head of Communications at the Seat of Government and a Presidential Aide, I know how President Atta Mills had to stay mentally strong in order not to allow the new NDC Government to “whip” the NPP and make them pay for their sins.
It was a tough political decision to make; and it took a tough and steely Leader like President Atta Mills to resolutely stop the NDC from visiting mayhem on the NPP.
Honestly, I must admit that if President Atta Mills had not reined us in, some of us would have really had a field day making sure that the NPP had a huge dose of the bitter pills they forced down the throat of the NDC in spite of the fact that President Rawlings handed over power peacefully to President John Agyekum Kufuor.
For the sake of not dividing the nation; President Atta Mills had to live to his billing as the Asomdwehene (King of Peace), in order to ensure that the NDC Government moved away from the “politics of vindictiveness”, to the “politics of inclusion”.
In pursuance of his deep desire to lead a peaceful nation, President Atta Mills declared that he would be “Father For All”.
Atta Mills the peoples choiceI know it for a fact that, some NDC persons never forgave (and have never forgiven), President Atta Mills for declaring himself “Father For All”, and not allowing the NDC to exact its pound of flesh after all the wicked and evil things that the Kufuor NPP regime hang around the neck of the NDC when it lost power in 2000.
After the 2012 General Elections, President John Dramani Mahama also continued on the same path of uniting Ghana and did nothing to make NPP members feel like slaves or second class citizens.
A certain Nana Akuffo-Addo is now the President of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana, and this dear country of ours has been cruelly divided along wicked partisan and tribal lines and from the look of things, it will take centuries for this country to blight partisan political lines and forge ahead with a common sense of purpose.
Since January 07, 2017, Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana is experiencing an UNPRECEDENTED level of the “politics of divisiveness”.
The attempt by President Atta Mills to build a culture of the “politics of tolerance and inclusion”, has been reduce to the “politics of gross intolerance and exclusion”.
Since January 07, 2017, not a single day has passed by without the ugly news of Akuffo-Addo wickedly sacking Ghanaians from their jobs and replacing them with NPP apparatchiks.
Since January 07, 2017, not a single day has passed by without Akuffo-Addo’s goon squads taking the laws into their hands and unleashing lawlessness upon innocent Ghanaians.
nana-addo-campaign-tourSince January 07, 2017, not a single day passes by without Akuffo-Addo making it very clear that he is more concerned about his family and friends than the majority of Ghanaians.
Since January 07, 2017, not a single day passes by without Akuffo-Addo making it very clear that he is more interested in pursuing an Akan agenda rather than pursuing a Ghanaian agenda.