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Opinions of Friday, 8 October 2010

Columnist: Damoa & Antwi

Mills is Set for One Term President

Ghana’s Fourth Republican constitution provides for an elected President to steer the affairs of our nation for FOUR YEARS uninterrupted but not without the usual performance criticisms by opponents and objective-minded concerned public commentators. If his stewardship is appreciated by majority of the electorate, he may be endorsed for a second and final four years term, totalling eight years. It must be made clear to Ghanaians that a non-performing President and his bunch of non-starters cannot be foisted on Ghanaians by virtue any constitutional provision. We are therefore at liberty to oust his regime during general elections after his first four years if we are not pleased and impressed with his leadership. Ergo Prof Mills will definitely be a pace-setter as one term President for the reasons below and many more not mentioned here.
Looking at Prof Mills’ performance as Ghana’s Chief Executive Officer for the past 641 days, not only as someone who has pledged for a better Ghana but as someone who has previously served as Vice President for four years and is supposed to know the nitty-gritty of his job, Mills continues to fumble with his job to the disapproval and condemnation of even his appointee and to the amazement of most Ghanaians who apparently disown voting for him to become President.
Mills has compounded more problems on Ghana than he can solve such as:
• Prof Mills is inherently lazy with Micawberish attitude to his duties as Chief Executive of a nation he has promised to let flow with milk and honey through his hard work. His ineptitude is not just as a result of inherent laziness and pretermission but a combination of ivresse and lack of initiative. His promise for a better Ghana than Ghana under President Kufuor was just a “belly talk” and a lie just to wheedle Ghanaians into voting for him to be President.
• In spite of having been Vice President for four years, President Mills cannot exercise mastery over what he ought to do. Ghanaians are under a regime of discontent characterised by ad hominem politics that could only be fit an uncivilised generation of the hesternal years of antiquity because Mills and his NDC are short of ideas
• The Associate Law Professor has virtually lost strength as a leader of his political party that catapulted him to power hence he is demoralised and has lost grip on his job, evidenced by rebellions and demonstrations against especially DCEs and other presidential appointees. Ghana is in a state of anomie under a government in disarray
• Prof Mills appears not only disinterested in the job as President of Ghana; he is visibly na?ve in approach to his duties. This has invited a series of name-callings inappropriate to his office and image by his own mentor and appointee Rawlings. Party sycophants are very much aware of his ineptitude yet they propagandize his inaction to deliver as meekness. To wit, Mills is directionless with no motivational instinct as a leader and one may wonder why he is still hanging on, not having thrown in the towel.
• By reason of the above, Prof Mills has lost the morale and control to keep his Ministers and appointees on check as expected of any good leadership. Prof Mills can only condone with Corruption and other forms of moral turpitude in public office by creating his own phrase of ‘indiscretion’ to justify various forms of malversation in his government
• The better Ghana agenda he promised Ghanaian voters as candidate Mills has neither been seen nor felt but remains a propaganda mirage best for our imagination and not for reality.
• Ministers, other appointees and officials’ allegiance to Ghana have shifted to party allegiance and what we see in officialdom is incivism.
• Promises to improve education and water supply to the needy as he so claimed remain in limbo.
• Ghana is virtually in a state of stasis with no new growth in any sector of development; all we see around us are those endeavoured by previous administrations with no hope for anything better as promised.
• Every activity has been politicised favouring NDC followers yet he professes he is father for all. Ipse dixit on his swearing-in inauguration in January 2009
Pressure is continually mounting on Prof Mills from within his own party and without. It is most likely that for the first time in the history of Ghana’s young fourth Republican democracy, a sitting President is set to have an intra-party competitor in his bid to remain his party’s flag bearer to contest against his inter-party political opponents for endorsement to lead Ghana for a second and final four years term.
From without, Prof Mills’ performance in the judgement of a greater majority of Ghanaians has been very abysmally disappointing. His administration has been marred with lies, favouritism, tribalism, propaganda, insecurity, corruption, cover-ups, non-performance, depravity, failures, misappropriation of facts and figures etc. Ghanaians are not only fed-up with such a bogus administration, Ghanaians are angst for a change for rather a better Ghana with a better leadership that can only be provided by a better organised political party with a better vision for Ghana to move forward, and that is the NPP.

Adreba Kwaku Abrefa Damoa & Peter Antwi
(London UK)