Ramon Osei Akoto: Should Ghanaians Be Wary

Posterity will not forgive Ghanaians for allowing a crook like Jerry Rawlings to rule Ghana. I say this because I believe this has set a negative precedent whereby any coxcomb thinks he can get up one day and become the President of Ghana. I listened with anticipation when I heard that a vivacious young man by the name of Ramon Osei Akoto was going to run for the 2004 Presidential elections. As a young man I said to myself, this is good for Ghana and a victory for our young democracy, because it was the first time a young person of his caliber was going contest for the highest position of the land.(Rawlings was not elected in 1979) That was a good inspiration for all of us.

I started raising eyebrows about this guy when I read his speech at legon. My suspicions were validated when (Mr. I don't have the patients to wait for another four years), out of frustration, lambasted the President of Ghana and gave him an ultimatum to resign from the presidency by May 13th, 2005, for what he called lying and imposing economic hardship on Ghanaians. Not only did Ramon have the audacity to call on the President to Resign, he also issued some threatening remarks about what is going to happen in Ghana if Kuffour does not resign. After careful review, I have reached the diagnosis that Ramon is suffering from a disease called "Rawlingsomiasys." This is when [people] get up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning and without thinking say some of the most ignorant and obtuse things they can come up with; all in the name of free speech. On a more serious note, his assertion that Ghana is heading towards destruction and war is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know what this guy does in private life, but my advice to him is to keep his day job. He is out of touch with reality and is very far from being a politician. Who ever advised him to enter politics did him a huge de-service. What he does not realize is that, Ghana is endowed with some astute politicians and statesmen, this makes it very easy for the public to filter out the fake ones like him.

I listened in on Joy FM's "SuperMorningShow" on 19th Apr, 2005. Ramon Osei Akoto was a total disappointment on the show. Not only did he not offer any rational justification or motive for his ultimatum and subsequent threat to the President, he also resorted to verbal attacks against the presenter. At one point even suggesting that journalists are deliberately shielding the President. Asked what his next action will be if the President does not resign, he replied, " we shall see." This is a sign of a very frustrated individual. May 13th , is around the corner, we shall surely see what this scumback is going to do.

Fellow Ghanaians, we are really taking this "free speech" too far. If Mr. Osei Akoto made those statements during the PLDC era, it would have been tantamount to planning to topple the government and he will be languishing in jail by now. We have to realize that the democratic environment that Ghana is enjoying is very young and so we should all work tirelessly to cement it. We are becoming too conceded. Look around west Africa alone, almost all our neigbours have or are going through some very difficult times whereby the peace and freedom of its citizens cannot be guranteed. Until one looses his/her freedom and have to fight in order to get it back, we will never appreciate the value of it. Ask yourself: why did those few Sudanese people from the Darfur Region pass through all those countries just to get to Ghana? They know Ghana is no paradise economically, but yet they still came. Their ultimate goal was to attain peace and freedom. These people were hungry, they had no pla ce to stay, and no money, but their only hope was that once they get peace, everything else will fall into place, eventually.

Yes there are economic hardship in Ghana and so are other countries. We should not be too impatient, to the extent that we even want to wish anarchy for our country. We sometimes think it is going to solve our problems. We need to disabuse our minds from the notion that the government is deliberately imposing economic hardship on the country. That is absurd. It is high-time Rawlings and his like-minded thinkers, such as Ramon and Kwasi Pratt Jr., stop their idiocy of spreading lies and animosity among Ghanaians. These are the same people who are going to drive the country into chaos. I will advise Ramon to go back and read the Proverbs 22:8, which he quoted. He needs that more than anyone, but obviously he lacks the foresight to conceive the consequences of his actions.

God bless Ghana and save us all.

Freddy Kyeremeh
CT, U.S.A.

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