By Richard Quashigah

On Sunday, January 15, 2017, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered a solemn message to the congregation of the Accra Ridge Church seeking God’s favour and divine grace to build a new Ghana.

The President appealed to His Grace to grant him the capacity to summon the Ghanaian people with all their political differences to achieve a common purpose of building a new Ghanaian civilisation founded on a prosperous, fair and just society where government is honest, where the rule of law works for all and where there is social justice.

Indeed, these were refreshing expressions of thought captured in the mood of sincerity by our sermonizing new President. It did not only give the listener the serenity of confident assurance but also the conviction that the people of Ghana made the appropriate choice on December 7, 2016.

Clearly, this clarion call to God and man was not the first of its kind by our new leader. The revisionist tactic of Ghana’s rebirth and a new beginning with unalloyed commitment to ensure a fair and just Ghanaian society where the rule of law works for all has become unending resonance in our new leader’s lexicon.

Pronouncements

In almost all his public engagements since he emerged victorious in the December 7 polls, President Akufo-Addo’s pronouncements seem to set him apart as someone who is an epitome of Ghanaian virtue and who will always do the right thing. However, if one juxtaposes his pronouncements and sermons with the recent seizures and takeovers of public institutions illegally and forcefully by the rampaging New Patriotic Party (NPP) youth, it then raises high moral questions.

Simply put, it is fast dampening the spirit of the many Ghanaian people who were warming towards President Akufo-Addo’s assurances of a fair and just society.

The question is: can our new President be trusted to hold dear the ship of State in a fair, equitable and just manner as his sermons and pronouncements seem to portray? There is no doubt that his outpourings are from a sincere heart, because as it is said: “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” If this holds true of him, then one expects the President to demonstrate that charity indeed begins at home and for him to restrain the hawks in the political vehicle with which he rode to power (the NPP) from pursuing acts that will in turn negate all fine statements he has so far made.

Fair and equal opportunity

A fair and just society will mean fair and equal opportunities in even limited and rare job openings within the State apparatus for every Ghanaian. The details of a story in the Daily Guide of January 7, 2017, page seven, with the headline: “30,000 youths to be absorbed” could send shivers down the spine of the ordinary Ghanaian reader who believes in a fair, just society where government is honest and where the rule of law works for all.

The Daily Guide is owned by the acting Chairman of the NPP, Mr Freddie Blay, and his family, and it has not hidden its identity as the unofficial mouthpiece of the NPP. According to the story publishedby the Daily Guide, “about thirty thousand (30,000) youths are to be trained in the coming weeks and employed as revenue collectors at various tollbooths across the country.” That is very refreshing and assuring.

However, the rub is in the fifth paragraph of the story which reads, “Daily Guide has learnt that an internal memo is being prepared to be forwarded to all regional, constituency and branch chairmen of the party and in the areas where tollbooths are located to compile a list of young men and women who are interested in the job. Assemblymen in these areas will also be requested to submit lists of the youth for the training to begin when government gives the green light.

However, the youth will be required to submit application letters, the source disclosed. A memo is also reportedly going to be sent to the incoming Minister for Roads and Highways to expedite action on this initiative as soon as possible.”

Partisan politics

A critical assessment of this quote indicates that indeed vacancies and job opportunities within the State and public institutions will now be secured largely along partisan political party lines.

If indeed, it is intended that the process of engaging these young men and women should not be politicised, why will a purported internal memo from a ruling political party be sent to all its branches at various levels of the NPP requiring a list of those interested in this type of job? Are these signs of happenings in the new Ghana that we were promised?

Are we likely under the watch of President Akufo- Addo to be witnessing two types of Ghanaians; where one half suspected not to be politically correct will be left out of opportunities the State offers and the other half be absolute beneficiaries because they are seen to be standing on the correct side of the political divide?

This will obviously not be in sync with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which states, “We the people of Ghana will in exercise of our natural and inalienable right establish a framework of government which shall secure for ourselves and posterity the liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity.”

I wish to remind President Akufo- Addo and his NPP-led government that they have the greatest opportunity to deepen the unity and forward march of the Ghanaian people by doing what is right to all and sundry. It is only then that his message to Ghanaian residents in Mali on Friday, January 13, 2017, that he has confidence in his government’s ability to transform Ghana and give the citizen