Kufuor Shall Be Rememered For Total Freedom-Odoi-Sykes

Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada His Excellency Mr. Samuel A.Odoi-Sykes has said in Toronto that Ghana is now a very free country and ‘President J.A. Kufuor shall be remembered as the one who brought total freedom to Ghana.’

This, Mr. Odoi Sykes said has led to the stabilization of the economy and international respect after the initial difficulty of power assumption by the Government. Within the next five years when the ‘economic house is put in order, Ghana could be compared to some of the leading Asian economies.’’ He added.

The former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party was launching the American cloth edition of Between and Faith-A Biography of J.A. Kufuor, which was organized by the book publishers, Africa World Press of Princeton, New Jersey, with the sponsorship of some Ghanaian businesses in Toronto and the support of the Ghana High Commission.

Mr. Odoi-Sykes explained that President Kufuor demonstrates an abiding commitment to democratic route to power and that young people with ambition should read the book and know how to acquire power.

‘The election of December 2000 marks a watershed in Ghana and after Kufuor it will be almost impossible for the military to intervene in the politics of the nation. He deserves a second term.’ He told the audience.

The Canadian President of The Toronto Economic Development Corporation, Mr. Jeffrey D. Steiner in a keynote address said the election of December 2000 was important not only for Ghana but Africa as it set an environment for prosperity and development in Africa.

Mr. Steiner, who described President Kufuor as a statesman before he became president, said, the first four years of his presidency “needs to be celebrated but efforts should be doubled in business and export of commodities.” He explained that there are many Ghanaians in important positions within the business sector in Toronto and should therefore form joint ventures with their Canadian counter-parts.

Mr. Steiner said change which include reduction in corruption the world over could be fragile but sustainable economic and political change which Ghanaians deserve take time as was seen in the economic development in Asia.

The author of the book, which will be used for a political science class this year by Indiana University in the United States is, Mr. Ivor Agyeman-Duah, founder of the Centre for Intellectual Renewal in Ghana that has published other political literatures on Ghana.

He explained that there is always a motivation for writing anything and argued that political biographies should be part of the political culture in Ghana. If assessment of leaders out of power is an ideal form of biographical exercise, its imperative equivalent is for people to know their leaders in the first place he said.

According to the author who is head of public affairs at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC, ‘People are interested in what their leaders are doing now or can do for them today then the verdict of history…Advanced democracies have centuries of tested democratic cultures that are stronger then individuals leaders and their talents. If even they perpetuate their security by reading and knowing who their leaders could be, then it is imperative for Ghana and infant democracies to ensure that presidential biographies are as important as putting a vote in a ballot box. That seeming act of democratic dispensation could be meaningless if you do not know the person you are voting for or what his capacity is.’

Prof. George Sefa-Dei, Head of Education Department at the University of Toronto said, every history ought to teach us something. Success and failures should strengthen us because history is important.’ It is not what you are called that is important but how you respond to the call.”