Thursday,
December 5, 2013
When I read the news report
quoting Kwesi Pratt as saying sometime last week that President Mahama risked
becoming the loneliest President that Ghana would ever have had, I dismissed it
as the product of a fetid imagination. I haven’t changed that impression.
I didn’t immediately respond to that
claim by way of any formal writing, but having thought issues over to date, I
have found it proper to react to that claim.
There is no justification for
such a claim; and I state categorically that President Mahama entered the
Presidency a happy man, is happily and assiduously performing his
constitutionally mandated functions, and will end his term a happy and
contented hero.
He has a natural element of
happiness, which every observer can see reflected in his mien wherever he is.
More than that, he is naturally affable, and attractive. He is no repellent. He
will remain a happy and fulfilled person. No need for anybody to press any
panic button to create any misleading impression.
Every condition exists for him to
celebrate his ascension to power through constitutionally determined
parameters, being the youngest in the country’s history to have become the Vice
President and being elevated to become the President (in an acting capacity
when the su8bstantive Atta Mills passed on) and being confirmed as the fount of
authority at Election 2012. He just turned 55. Belated congratulations!!
Of course, Kwesi Pratt is
entitled to his own opinions just as anybody else is. Opinions are nothing but
opinions and will be treated as such; but when they are raised to the point of
being turned into the truth intoto,
they deserve scrutiny of the sort that I want to do.
Right from the scratch, let me
say that what constitutes “loneliness” to one person doesn’t necessarily mean
the same to another. And for Pratt to claim that President Mahama’s loneliness
will be based on his being deserted by those surrounding him (for whatever
reason I don’t know) or that his government’s failures might end up shoving him
to the backwoods as such is worth interrogating.
One man’s loneliness is another
man’s occasion for gregariousness and happiness. How about that?
We begin with simple questions: Why
will President Mahama be lonely? And why should anybody bother his head over his
being lonely? Should he even fear becoming lonely, anyway? How can he even be
lonely when he is surrounded by all manner of people at all times, even when
enjoying the privacy of his life at home?
Of course, loneliness could be
viewed from many angles—physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, etc.
Which aspect particularly does Pratt think President Mahama will suffer from?
As I understand Pratt’s opinion
to mean a “physical loneliness”, I will react accordingly with one definitive
statement that President Mahama will not be lonely nor should he even lose any
sleep if anybody perceives him as lonely or being “isolated”, so to speak.
Let Pratt tell us any of the Ghanaian
Heads of State who had company till the end of his life or who could openly
walk the streets in some contented happiness after leaving office! None
whatsoever!!
Until this 4th
Republic, none (except Afrifa) left office as scheduled (Even then, he was
hauled before the firing squad many years thereafter and shown the exit out of
this mundane life in disgrace!). It was either a violent end to their reign or
something else to show them where naked power lay.
Ghanaian politics is full of much
wiliness and nonsense such that those who don’t have the stomach for it
shouldn’t venture into it. President Mahama has the stomach for it and has
survived thus far.
In the past, some thought that they
had stomachs for it only to end up suffering immense trauma when reality dawned.
Take the Great Osagyefo, for instance, who did all he could, denying himself
everything and serving Ghana and the Pan-African world to the best of his
ability. In Ghana, his socialist-oriented policies sought to level the playing
field to give Ghanaians all they needed to realize their unique “African
Personality” and to hold positions and enjoy the benefits that his
indigenization policy entailed.
Infrastructural development
topped his agenda, and he instilled so much confidence in the Ghanaian that one
might think that there was nothing amiss. All in spite of the machinations of
his bitter political foes.
Unfortunately, the Ghanaian
couldn’t be satisfied, as would be stated by Gen. Albert Kwesi Ocran, one of
the dastardly military officers who overthrew Nkrumah. In his Politics
of the Sword, Gen. Ocran accused Nkrumah of wanting Ghana to fly
without knowing that Ghana hadn’t developed wings at the time. Then, the mass
of Ghanaians who supported the cowards constituting the National Liberation
Council, poured out their hatred for Nkrumah, saying that he had made it
difficult for them to get essential commodities, including milk. Or to live
their lives in peace.
When told, Nkrumah cried his
heart out: “If I had known that it was milk that Ghanaians wanted, I would have
made the gutters of Accra flow with it”. But, alas, it was too late to repair
the harm done to his political kingdom. Woe-begone!! He ended up in Guinea to
end it all in Bucharest, Romania. Even his body won’t be accepted back in Ghana
for burial. But Nkrumah “never dies”!!
Any talk of others? When Kutu
Acheampong kicked Dr. Busia and his
Progress Party out of office on January 13, 1972, he thought he was on a redemption
spree with his National Redemption Council. Unfortunately, his mission
collapsed and his own inner-circle colleagues turned him into a laughing stock,
stripping him of his military honours and reducing him to the ordinary status
of a “Mr.”
Pained beyond belief, Acheampong
made his proverbial utterance: Ghanaians are difficult people”!
Yes, indeed, such are Ghanaians.
They are the “hail him… hail him” today and the “Crucify him… crucify him”
tomorrow type. The loneliness suffered by a Ghanaian leader is thrust upon him
by Ghanaians. The fault is in us, not necessarily in our leaders. We push them
to the brink when we sabotage their efforts and fail to lend the support they
need to successfully implement their agenda for national development. That is
the source of any perceived state of loneliness.
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment