Ghana President in Waiting?

Is the NPPs Nana Akuffo Addo Ghana’s president in waiting or is he the proverbial ‘KONONGO KAYA,’ standing over the load, not picking it up while preventing other viable NPP presidential candidates from coming forward to pick up the mantle of leadership and lead the party to the promised land? Is Nana only going to see Canaan and never set foot on its soil?

It is an undisputable fact: Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo has been exceedingly and tactically brilliant in stifling potential intra party competition ever since that faithful December day in 2012, when he was declared the looser in Ghana’s Presidential election.

While some of us expected him (Nana Addo) to don the cloak of elder statesman and take a well-deserved seat on the party’s council of elders; Nana Addo and his cohorts decided to ask Ghana’s Supreme Court to throw away roughly 4 (four) million Ghanaian votes so he could become the de facto president elect. The reader can google the article titled “Farewell! Nana Akufo Addo…”

Then on August 29, 2013, their supreme ‘lordships & ladyships’ under the stewardship of ‘lord’ Atuguba rendered a predictable verdict to Ghanaians and the world: “The siting president John Dramani Mahama was duly elected.”

Subsequently, Nana Akuffo Addo accepted the verdict and “all die be die” effectively became “all lost na lost,” be it from KOKUROMOTI (thumb) power of voters or from opinions of Supreme Court judges. With that Nana appears to be a double looser so how does one conclude that he has been tactically brilliant?

Well, Nana’s brilliance lies in control, party control. Modern parties usually divorce their flag bearers after an electoral loss – some of those divorces become spectacularly acrimonious. Nana has not just lost an election for the NPP, he has lost two in a row. Yet he is gearing up for a third run on the party’s ticket. The only major party to allow that in Ghana’s history is the NDC and that is because party owner, sorry, my mistake, party founder Ft. Lt. J.J. Rawlings, said so. The NPP has neither an owner nor a single founder hence our marvel at Nana’s effective strategy.

By going to the Supreme Court with a stolen verdict claim, Nana ensured that his party stayed in lock step behind him. For the better part of a year, the party sounded like a broken record repeating the same tired note over and over again. Only Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey (Tarzan) dared dissent and for his effort he has been ostracized.

Nana has been widely praised for accepting the Supreme Court verdict but what choice did he really have? What could a renowned lawyer and former Attorney General of Ghana do after losing a case at the highest Court? Go to Antoa Nyamaa or something? Attempt a Coup D’état in 2013? Nana is no Kamikaze warrior. As an Akan, he knows full well that ‘if he does not die, he gets a treasure.’

Nana’s master stroke lies in his parting words after the verdict. He did not announce a retirement or another Presidential run. He was simply going to wait on God. With that Nana froze the NPP’s 2016 flag bearer race in place. The party and his potential competitors all have to wait for God’s special message to Nana. Meanwhile his appendages (the Jake Obetsebi Lamptey’s) are again gunning for party positions from the constituency level to party chairmanship. With those in place, Nana will clearly hear the voice of God: “Run my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, run!”

Fellow Ghanaians, make no mistake. Nana is running for the Presidency again. Those in doubt can follow the conduct of his surrogates. Last week the Ghanaian media reported that an aide to Mr. Alan Kyeremateng claims that he, Alan was readying to lead the NPP to victory in 2016.

Immediately, former MP, Mr. P. C. Appiah Ofori went on an anti-Alan Media bliss with some ridiculous attack. According to PC, even Ghanaian cassava farmers were going to mock the NPP if Alan became the flag bearer because he lacked managerial skills. Reportedly, Alan, as the Minister for Trade and Industry, Private Sector Development and President's Special Initiative was charged to use innovative ways to create starch for export from cassava while yielding 10,000 Ghanaian jobs as by products. And he failed! Ladies and gentlemen, there lies the heart of PC’s case. Any man who failed to produce 10,000 jobs from cassava starch, cannot be President of Ghana: Period!

P. C. Appiah Ofori did not stop there! He went on to rubbish one of the NPP’s talking points about stolen elections. He revealed that the NDC did not steal the 2008 election after all. It was President Kufour’s LOVE FOR ALAN that caused Nana Addo and the NPP to lose that election. Go figure! Who knew President Kufour’s love was so toxic? What revisionist history? Ghanaians remember Alan, the runner up in 2008, selflessly endorsing Nana in the 1st round instead of contesting him to a 2nd round of primaries.

Yes, Nana lost in 2008! Dr. Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe, Jr. PHD, the doyen of the Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo’s cheerleading ad nauseam; himself has confirmed what PC Ofori told the world. His eminence who channeled PC Ofori in an earlier writing and called Alan Kyeremanteng a dimwit has come around to challenge (his distant family member) PC’s Toxic Kufour Love Theory. Writing under “Kufour’s Kiss of Death?...,” Okoampa spins his own yarn, blaming Akan lack of desperation for Nana’s 2008 lost.

It has been a long 5 year road (2008 to 2013), thank God, the sham of the stolen 2008 election is now gone. Somebody should call the prolific Adofo Rockson though. He did not get the memo. In “Stop this Nonsensical Factionalism within the NPP,” he writes on Ghanaweb that Nana Addo, who he calls DAVID, THE SLAYER OF GOLIATH, has been winning all elections but has had his victories stolen from him. David and Goliath in the Bible fought only once and David’s victory was not stolen, women sang his (David’s) praises on the streets. Have these people written their own Bible too?

Some of Nana Addo cheerleading ad nauseam argue that the third time was the charm for candidate Mills and so it will be for Nana. Others argue that 4th Republic Ghanaian electorates always boot a party from power after 8 years. Both arguments fail to take into account that in 2016, the NPP challenger will be contesting a sitting President. This was not the case in 2000 or 2008.

Written and submitted by L. Kojo Yeboah, Raleigh NC: USA