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General News of Friday, 18 January 2013

Source: Ghana Daily newspaper

Pastor Ofei Tasks John Mahama

A former resident pastor of the nation’s most powerful radio station, Radio Gold, has tasked President John Mahama to ensure that the perceived one-man show that featured in the Mills administration is booted out without delay.

Writing in his popular column in the Ghana Daily newspaper, Pastoral Records, Pastor Alexander Ofei argued that the perceived influence by the Ahwois was dangerous as it created cracks and division within the NDC as a party and government.

‘The second problem the president would be faced with is wrong people trooping to the seat of presidency in a bid to lobby for positions,’ he wrote.

His article titled ‘Concentrating on the real issue’, the Man of God adds that ‘this can be very dangerous as many who troop to the seat of power in search of positions in times like this are many a time very bad people with very selfish intentions. Some go there with charms and amulets, some with lies and grand deceptions whiles some bribe people close the president all in a bid to secure positions and power they will latter turn around to use to destroy the government.’

The full text of Pastor Ofei’s article is reproduced below;

CONCENTRATING ON THE REAL ISSUE

Folks it’s about two weeks now since the opposition New Patriotic Party petitioned the Electoral Commission and the president contesting the validity of the results of the just ended December 7th elections. Subsequently they boycotted the inauguration of the president, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama. They have also sponsored a lot of bad press against the elections accusing the Electoral Commission of conniving with the ruling party to rig the elections; not even considering the collective damage it does to the democratic credentials of the nation.

They don’t even stop there; they also go on to threaten fire and brimstone if their candidate, Nana Akufo Addo is not declared president of this nation. Many have condemned this unpatriotic behavior of the NPP and are worried sick over their recent conduct. I have not been too worried about all these developments as I am more concerned about what I consider the real issue at hand; Good Governance!

I believe good governance is what everybody should be worried about in the incoming administration of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama. After all that is what we all voted for. The cacophony of noise coming from bad losers will not make the economy become better or solve the numerous problems this nation is faced with. Folks this is why this week I have decided to concentrate on the real problems that stares this government in the face rather waste my time thinking about issues that are really not important.

If His Excellency President Mahama should fail in his bid to give this nation a bloody good form of governance, then the opposition New Patriotic Party will not even need to worry should they lose their case in court. They will only need to be patient for four years which is just around the corner to come back to power. This I believe is what should bother anyone who truly loves the president and the ruling party.

The first problem this government needs to tackle in order to command the clout with which to rule this nation successfully is to deal decisively with the perceived one man show that characterized the Atta mills administration. Many have described that administration as the best ever in this country. I beg to differ! I strongly believe that that administration could have done better if the perception of the government being controlled and virtually run by the Ahwoi brothers and their cohorts had not been there. In fact it is not the perception alone being there that mattered but the fact that it could be true as many you speak to don’t only testify to that fact but are so passionate about it.

I strongly believe this was responsible for the many cracks the party suffered whilst in office, and rightly so. As a matter of fact any party that has its leadership hijacked by a few unelected people will suffer the same fate. This is because any party after electing a leader expects that the elected leader will hold power in trust for them and ensure that leadership does not stray into strange or wrong hands.

The danger here is that anytime one is elected into office the process in which he was elected can rightly be described as a consummation in part of an agreement between the elected person and the electorates based on certain leadership qualities and principles embodied in the person. That agreement becomes whole and complete when the elected person lives to the tenets of such an agreement. When power strays into wrong hands, there is the tendency that the new person would operate completely different leadership styles contrary to what the electorates bargained for and will therefore make nonsense of the earlier agreements entered into by the electorates and the elected person.

The second danger it posses is that when power gets into the hands of people who did not risk their resources or reputation to acquire that leadership position, there is also the tendency to misuse that position even to its detriment simply because they have nothing to lose if it is lost since they invested nothing to come by it. In summary I have a lot of confidence in His Excellency John Dramani Mahama to hold his forte and keep the party and government as strong as ever and pray he will do just that.

The second problem the president would be faced with is wrong people trooping to the seat of presidency in a bid to lobby for positions. This can be very dangerous as many who troop to the seat of power in search of positions in times like this are many a time very bad people with very selfish intentions.

Some go there with charms and amulets, some with lies and grand deceptions whiles some bribe people close the president all in a bid to secure positions and power they will latter turn around to use to destroy the government. My advice to the president is that after any rainfall, when the lights are turned on in the evening, many flies come around; some will fall into your eyes if you open them wide without care, some will fall into your food and destroy it whilst some end up littering your home. It is only very few ones who come and go in peace.

Please Mr. President, watch them when they come with all the sweet stories, they might be the Achans who will bring down your government if you are not vigilant. In fact nowadays you will even see those who will laugh when nothing is funny and force to make jokes that they alone enjoy. They are looking for what they would eat and if you just go ahead and give them what they want, they will end writing gargantuan letters when they fall out with you. With all due respect, “shine your eyes” Mr. President.

Another dangerous phenomenon that rocked the last administration is the inability of the then government to swiftly relieve non performing officials of their posts even when it becomes so glaring that they have become embarrassments to the government. One bad nut is enough to spoil the whole soup. It is better to remove them early to save the soup. The people of this country do not owe anybody any debt in the spiritual realm that needs to be paid back through bad governance being foisted upon them by bad government officials serving as their spiritual creditors.

Anyone who starts to mess up should be shown the exit so as to make room for those who are prepared to do the work. Another group who even annoy me so much is the number of government officials who use their bureaucratic offices to orchestrate political agendas.

For instance can anyone explain to me why the serious intermittent electric power outages just before the elections have all of a sudden stopped just after the elections? Have the problems that brought about these intermittent power outages all of a sudden disappeared? Jobs are hard to come by these days so anyone who cherishes his political party or affiliation more than the job that feeds him and will therefore sacrifice that job for it through the sabotage of the government that employs him does not deserve that job and must be kicked out in a very big hurry.

Finally Mr. President the Elections are over it is time to face reality. Advice those that you appoint to be modest in the promises they make. What is important is making the promises you can keep and keeping them. It is more honorable than making many empty promises and not keeping them. Let all hands be on deck and make sure that this government succeeds.

All the Arabian kings should come down from their high horses. The party belongs to all. It is a hard fought battle and every hand is needed to make success a reality for it is only then that the cacophony of “all die be die” noises will be drown. To me that is the real issue. See you week. For all comments; pastoralexofei@yahoo.co.uk