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Opinions of Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Columnist: Eli Dokosi

Congrats Akufo-Addo; but what would your presidency bring?

Greetings Nana, I believe congratulations are in order having polled 117,413 of the total ballot cast representing an overwhelming 94.35 per cent to beat your two other contenders Alan John Kwadwo Kyeremanteng and Francis Addai Nimo. Your victory I should say was never in doubt although the margin of victory is what really surprised many.

With this victory you have the mandate to lead your party the New Patriotic Party once more in a general election in 2016 having already failed to beat the NDC’s Professor Mills in 2008 and the current president in 2012.

But it is your beautiful wife, Rebecca Akufo Addo who signals me that something is different this time. It is her renewed faith in you and the cause. I can’t help but notice that milady as you affectionately call her has true conviction about you winning the 2016 elections, I have never seen her immersed in your political campaigns as she is now, full of pure smiles and showering you with precious affection and nutrition. I can only imagine what joy there was in your home the night you sealed your victory.

Pardon my manners; I am Michael Eli Dokosi, a Ghanaian journalist and a humble African who keeps an open mind. Truth be told some have written you off and others still scoff that beating Alan is like passing a JHS test but always faltering to deliver the SHS level but be rest assured that although I do not share your political ideology because am an Nkrumahist I offer you my respect because but for politics you would be hailed in any home, village, town or country for you have (bo bra) lived life to the fullest.

Generally times are tough and even tougher in our beloved country, the causes are many but the big question has always been what would a Nana presidency offer? What can Ghanaians expect from you as president?

You have been an MP, attorney-general and foreign affairs minister so you surely have certain solutions to the myriad of challenges we face in this country but let’s ‘break kola’ and share wisdom, as the elders say no man is a fountain of knowledge. Allow me a fellow citizen to draw your mind to a few concerns you can address to win the hearts of the citizens you seek to govern.

Kindly take note that if your presidency would initiate moves to have the agreement which allows for only 13% of oil revenue to be reserved for Ghanaians whiles the rest is flown overseas by the foreign oil companies is changed, posterity will judge you right for the bold move.

Should a Nana Addo presidency scrap the Foreign Exchange Retention Agreement which allows foreign mining companies to keep 98% of their export revenue outside the shores of the country in favour of an agreement which gives half or more to the state that would truly be phenomenal.

Any president can be build roads and import a few buses here and there but should your presidency disregard the naysayers and revamp the rail sector, boosting it with fast trains and expansion of the rail lines such that Ghanaians would prefer to use trains for intercity transport, that would be a legacy to bequeath the next generation.

A Nana presidency which co-opts Apostle Safo’s inventions, facilitating the patenting of his creations and building a complex where his prototypes would be transformed into usable gadgets that Ghanaians can use and be proud of would cement your iconic status.

How about a Nana presidency dedicating itself to making solar energy the default power source in the country such that new settlements would automatically have solar power as their energy source especially up North where your association with the people is never in doubt especially when you have your residence in Nima, a home I had the opportunity to visit when you launched your campaign in 2008.

Would a Nana presidency cause the second industrial revolution in the country after Nkrumah, where this country would work again thanks to the creation or revival of industries to cater for virtually every need of the country? I hope your presidency would see the urgency in supporting the textile, agric (poultry) and housing sectors so that the unemployment situation in the country could be reduced and human dignity preserved such that Ghanaians would fail to see the attraction of buying and using the used panties, brassier, boxer shorts and singlets of Europeans despite the health risk they pose.

Nana should you pursue the Pan-African and African Unity agenda with vigour bearing in mind Nkrumah’s words “we unite now or perish” such that we draw closer or attain it in your presidency you would be up there amongst the greatest. Given that you speak ‘francais’ and ‘anglais’ effortlessly you have an urge in taking a historic position in continuing the work of Nkrumah yes Nkrumah, the man you know too well is the benchmark every politician must measure his or her political worth by. Should you manage to consolidate our economies and armies as well as administration, posterity will smile on you.

Nana, I hope you don’t mind my referring to you simply as Nana, lest your overzealous disciples draw their swords for aside Nana being your name, it also stands for ‘opanyin or onukpa’ (elder) so bear me out but I trust you have the answer to end the ‘dumsor dumsor’ menace, extend potable water to every home, ensure the security of the state by devising an effective way of protecting our land, sea and air borders irrespective of friendship.

Nana, please be informed that our hospitals and medical facilities are under stress, its rather shameful for patients to have no choice but to lie on the floor because of inadequate beds at the wards, the medical facilities themselves are inadequate not to talk about the disproportionate number of medical personnel who man the facilities.

As you might be aware Nkrumah’s silos have been converted to churches for the most part meaning we hardly produce enough to reserve some for storage. I trust your presidency would look at the agricultural sector critically since a well performing agric sector means a healthy economy.

Of course your critics who still abound say you have nothing good to offer, even though I don’t share your ideology, I have an inkling that should you win there 2016 elections would want to leave a legacy for the next generation considering that you would not have won the elections on a silver platter. You already have been dragged through the mud because of your desire to be president and the journey can only get tougher before you get the opportunity to serve the good people of this country.

Pay no heed to the talk of arrogance and substance abuse claims, all that is history, there is no new information there but do watch your ways and your perceived friends, after all they have been the ones behind the damnation revelations.

Nana, do ponder over these things I have shared with you, perhaps our paths would cross again but till then send my regards to ‘milady’ and the children and continue to be the optimist that you are, who knows you could become Ghana’s oldest president in 2017. Cheers Nana, Shei Nana.

I remain,

Your Fellow Citizen and the Humble African (Apologies to Culture).