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Opinions of Friday, 14 July 2017

Columnist: theheraldghana.com

Who is in charge of my President’s food? He is growing too fat for his age

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

I recognize that the shrine of power is never empty, the sort of privileges that comes with it, even makes the gods envious of whoever occupies the highest office of the land.

Ghana is blessed not only with natural resources, but the human resource is comparable to none anywhere in the world.

Aside all the privileges that the number one gentleman of the land enjoys, the framers of the 1992 Constitution capped it for him, by giving him so much powers to do as he wills and leave office covered by a certain immunity.

Some people after reading this article may not like it and may actually question, why, because they love the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, but the reality is that, he is my president too, whether I voted for him or not. I do not loathe him, but as someone who has followed his political journey since 90’s, I feel obligated to draw his attention, his wife and his close associates to what I am seeing.

All over the world presidents, after taking office suffer from the pressure of carrying a country along. It is no wonder why, some of them start graying and losing weight, but not our and my president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Pioneering the affairs of a nation is a great task, never mind that of a country like Ghana with all its complexities and the problems that never goes away.

We talk, yes we do, and we can talk for as long as we have the time, which we also have.

In the midst of all the complains and the whining, all apologies to the deputy minister of trade and industry, Ahomka Lidsey, for the president to have the presence and peace of mind to be growing fat, leaves much to be desired.

I am not a medical doctor, neither do I have any experience in medicine or related profession, but watching my president on television, gives me cause to be worried.

Who am I, I am only a journalist, who cannot presume to be versed in the art of divining a person’s fitness by looking at how big they grow.

I am not equipped to discern the health of an individual by their appearance. You cannot make a credible determination on the basis of someone’s exterior and demeanor. There is no such science.

I am sad watching how big he has grown, since he was sworn into office on January 7, 2017.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is not a private citizen. He is a public servant. Every part of his life is eligible for public interest, scrutiny and interrogation. The only zone of privacy that courtesy requires us to allow him is his sex life.

The watery argument that private lives of our leaders shouldn’t be microscopically scrutinized doesn’t hold water as far as I’m concerned.

What at all is he eating that, he is bloating and looking like he is being decorated. At the age of 72, no human being should be growing fat at the rate the president is.

His situation is even unique, given the position he finds himself. He is presiding over the most lawless administration in the history of the Fourth republican dispensation. Corruption or if you may allegations of corruption is the first and foremost achievement of this administration and to think that, despite all these, the president is bloating, should scare anybody, who has him and his welfare at height.

Doctors advise us not to eat much as we age, because our digestive system, loses its steam, as we grow old, so what are they feeding my president?

Another angle that is worth exploring is that, the president, does not know how to dress, a situation that led to the New Patriotic Party to set up a committee, headed by the late, jake Obetsebi Lamptey, to advise him to dress well.

The president is always wearing oversize cloth, so it could also be that, it is the oversized cloth that portrays him as looking big.

Although, this is a possibility, his chin cannot deceive us, it gives him away.

The president, never sleeps and thinks about this country, he has achieved his life-long dream of becoming president, he has self-actualized, that is why he is growing fat despite the myriads of problems and is yet to fulfill one promise he made to Ghanaians.

If it is food that is making him grow fat, all well and good, but if it is something else we need to know. Nothing about him shows that, he is shouldering any responsibility; we saw President John Agyekum Kufuor, as a candidate and then president. We saw the late John Evans Atta Mills, as a candidate and then President, and how President John Dramani Mahama, suffered the burden of power few months after the death of his boss.

Many Ghanaians are worse off today than they were before he took office, and yet the president doesn’t care. He is only growing fat and travelling like a monarch.

His promise to fight corruption has been discredited by the corruption of his cousins and closest aides and the hypocritical intervention to use state agencies, like the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) as his administrations human shield.

The truth of the moment, which only an ostrich’s playmate can miss is that, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is growing fat for his age.