Open letter to President Akufo-Addo on his second term

Akyem Bonfa Youth Activist, Kumi Gabriel has written to remind President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his re-election, appointees, and the dire need to courageously weed out the bad ones, and replaced them with dedicated, loyal and competent hands to effectively prosecute his second term agenda to propel the New Patriotic Party to break two-term cycle.

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Dear Sir

Your 2nd term; decisions on appointments etc should reflect how you want Ghanaians to remember you.

Congratulations to H.E President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for a well-deserved victory manifested in the massive endorsement from the Ghanaian people; the expression of which appears to being thus far, a very fair appreciation of the remarkable and incredibly good works, magnanimity, and sensitivity to the concerns of the ordinary Ghanaian people.

Sir, soon after polls, and the subsequent trickling in of electoral results, a recurring refrain has been that, Nana Akufo-Addo won the 2020 elections on his own forceful effort and records. In some quarters, the narrative although strained, is that, if you had relied on the National Executives of the NPP or your appointees, they would have disappointed you. These, narratives, it seems to be gaining popularity among the Ghanaian people, however that, it is not lost on us that, you were competing with a former President of Ghana and with a bit of history, a second term of every incumbent is hardly fought. That notwithstanding, it seems reasonably proper and justified to congratulate you for chalking up such an enviable victory of over 51%, a record the formidable obstacle to your government, the NDC for that matter, has struggled to get closer since 1996 elections.

Indeed, the shocking record of the NPP in parliament, would reflect the refrain, supra. As rightly put by yourself “…for this is the first time in the life of this Republic that a President from one party will be obliged, by the exigencies of the moment and the will of the people, to work, in all sincerity and co-operation, with a Speaker of Parliament from another party.”

There is no gainsay about the mutual respect and friendship between the venerable Speaker Bagbin and yourself, however, the absence of the usual confidence and enthusiasm that characterizes having a speaker of our choice cannot be lost on us. Nonetheless, it is within the expectations of Ghanaians that you do even far better than you have done in the last 4 years.

Sir, unhelpful for the serenity, that your clear focus, needs is the recent unjustified arrest of our media space, being a washed with monotonous stories by sponsored proxies of ungrateful immediate past appointees in their selfish pursuit of what seems like “embarrassing ” and “harassing” your authority as the President of Ghana to retain their paymasters, whom the just ended 2020 election’s results had exposed the incompetence and ineffectiveness in their discharge of duties owed to Ghanaians over the last 4 years.

Critically, unlike your first term of office, prior to which you characterized it with that unique arrangement as you aptly captured it, “the social contract” somehow similar to Thomas Hobbes’s earlier authority; this term of office which legally and constitutionally represents your very final term of office as President of Ghana, presents to you an important opportunity to leave a lasting positive impression about you in the mind’s eye of Ghanaians.

Significantly, it deems right, to respectfully call on your excellence self, to reflect on this term of office as, “how you would want to be remembered by the Ghanaian people after you have long gone.” This remembrance is, thus, to borrow the legal parlance, “proprietary,” in the sense that the “how your remembrance would be,” inevitably and continuously attaches to your record in governance. Indeed, the Ghanaian people are very much concerned that, you will stand firmly on your grounds as they have known you all this while, and your sense of assertiveness as known by the Ghanaian people should reflect in the character of appointees who will become, for want of a better word, AGENTS for you. Essentially, you would be their principal. To the Ghanaian people, we view your appointees as trustees holding the mandate on trust for our equitable interest. Thus, Ghanaians, like you, Mr. President hold a right against your appointees whereas, your appointees owe a duty of fidelity and fiduciary to Ghanaians and your excellence self.

Effectively, the Ghanaian people are expecting that, you are not going to succumb to that unreasonable pressing pressure from paid media practitioners and unnecessary demonstrations and protest all pointing at the doing of worthless bidding for their insatiable and ungrateful bosses. There seems every reason to appreciate past appointees like Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who efficiently delivered the FREE SHS which reflected in the votes we garnered from 2020 elections. Yet his name seems loudly silent in the media, perhaps because he believes he has delivered and does not need to pay any media practitioner to do his bidding or hyping. The same is true for some other well performed appointees.

It is, in this light, that, it seems worrying and disappointing, seeing attempts by some appointees who ought to know better, but would stoop this low to engage in such unethical conducts of getting their proxies to forcefully design portraits of their paymasters and congratulating them in such a manner as if the President has no authority to whip the fire or the hire. What is the intent of these past top government appointees? Why would they engage in such acts which put the Presidency on not a good image? If indeed, they have performed creditably like the NAPO’s, why would they need journalists to hype them? Surprisingly, the journalists are so incompetent that, they do not even hype their good works but just their names.

Ghanaians voted for a President Akufo-Addo who has an independent of thought, firm mindedness and a decisive leader. We urge you, that, your appointments, soon to come, should be one which reflects the productivity level of your past appointees, the experiences of new appointees, the image you’ll create in the mind’s eye of Ghanaians, and crucially the corporate image of your party.

Sir, it is worth noting that, this is your government. It is you Ghanaians are going to remember to credit and benefit with kind words or to harangue with burdens of criticism. Fortunately, you have the benefit of hearing the words used to describe your predecessors, some of whom are alive and others dead, in many cases long dead. We have no doubt about the fact that, the same way you’ve learned from others and even sometimes quote them, you would want to be learned from by your successors and to be quoted widely as well. Move on, set a high standard to the admiration of the Ghanaian people.

Let the Ghanaian people remember you as one of the best President we have had.

God bless and guide you!

Long live Ghana!

Yours ever,

Kumi Gabriel. A Bonfa

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