Akufo Addo Still Has Baggage For 2012 -MP

News Desk Report
Even though, it has never been in doubt that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Mr. Williams Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, if mistakenly elected President of the Republic of Ghana will bring the wrath of God upon Ghanaians, recent revelations by his party member published in this month’s edition of Africawatch Magazine is enough justification for the good people of Ghana to retire the 68-years-old overambitious politician, come December 07, 2012.
In an interview published by Africawatch’s Gertrude Ankrah Seyram, Mr. Cliff Johnson Aboagye, a former chairman of Ghana’s National Road Safety Commission and a devoted NPP member, confesses that his party flagbearer’s arrogance led to his defeat in 2008.
Much as Cliff Johnson Aboagye tries to be fair to Nana Akufo-Addo; with strenuous effort advertising how reformed he has become after his defeat 4 years back, he never hid the truth of how arrogant his flagbearer is.
According to him, his party leader has studied the shortcomings that contributed to his defeat in 2008, and has taken corrective action to become more appealing candidate in this year’s election.
“Four years back, Akufo-Addo’s accent and gestures portrayed him as being arrogant, but those flaws have all now been addressed. “For example, in 2008, when Nana spoke, it was as if he was a foreigner”, Mr. Aboagye told the Africawatch Magazine.
“The way he sat with legs crossed, were all seen as he, being arrogant, but now when he speaks, you can understand him”, he added.
Though, he tried to convince Ghanaians of their perceptions about his leader, indicating that his style of sitting has changed, his is no longer seen exhibiting his arrogant gestures and; could be heard when speaking as well as working very hard to demonstrate that he has learned some lessons from his failed 2008 bid; Honourable Kojo Adu Asare, NDC member of Parliament for the Adenta constituency in the Greater Accra region, disagrees with him; stating that Akufo-Addo still has excess baggage as far as this year’s election is concerned.
Also in an interview with the Africawatch, the NDC MP indicated that Akufo-Addo’s main problem is not about image but rather credibility and trust, which has made it difficult for voters to accept him.
According to him, the NPP indeed had tried some image-tinkering for its flagbearer in the last elections, but it did not work; so the latest changes may have scant influence on the December 07 elections.
“Let’s not forget about allegations of drugs, hanging around his neck. In 2008, the NPP had a problem with how Nana Addo presented himself in public, so party leaders met a few times to change his image”, Adu Asare recalled.
According to him, a decision was taken that Akufo-Addo appear more in smock as well as an order, not to be “dwarfed” by people walking with him, with an agreement that he should not be surrounded by tall people on the campaign platform.
“All these were strategies adopted to ensure that people would buy into his image; and yet he lost”, the NDC MP told Africawatch Magazine, saying, Akufo-Addo has excess baggage around him.
It would be recalled that Mr. Julian Assenge and his Wikileaks brought to fore some damaging allegations about the NPP flagbearer, critical of which was his bad womanizing habit and his ability to heavily smoke wee and wakes up in the morning with thick clouds around him.
In fact, one agrees with Honourable Adu Asare and at this juncture calling on the NPP flagbearer to speak to those allegations as captured in the Wikileaks or forget it.