Story by: Samuel Ablordeppey

‘’It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we
gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember
that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives
us integrity’’- Francis Bacon English Lawyer and Philosopher.
Growing up in a Christian home one of the popular verses I familiarised myself
with was ‘’good name is better than riches’’ and it had and still have very
positive impacts on me and all who believe in the substance of the verse from
the bible.
That is why in every organisation or institution people with integrity and
‘unquestionable’ character are given responsible and sensitive positions to
manage.
I once picked a stroll to some pub around circle the centre of Accra, to while
away time, but as a journalist my ears are always open to gossip and
title-tattles. So in the pub I overhead a group of young men believed to be sad
members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), whose main concern was how
to disabuse the minds of Ghanaians and make them believe that their presidential
candidate Nana Addo is not a drug baron as alleged but a presidential candidate
with an impeccable credibility to lead the country.
I heard them say among themselves ‘’ we have sat down and allowed Nana’s image
and credibility soiled to the extent that it is almost irreparable’’ They raised
issues of cocaine, wee, arrogance and other vices as the Achilles heels of the
man who wants to be president.

Though they contended that the allegations levelled against him aren’t true they
believe also that it has come to stay and the ordinary Ghanaian believes it’s
true.
Former editor of the Chronicle Newspaper and a staunch member of the NPP Kofi
Coomson, corroborated the fears of Ghanaians who also stated in an interview
with Radio Gold around the 2008 campaign period that it will be wrong for Nana
Addo to be president by categorically stating that ‘’I can’t sleep if Nana Addo
is made President of Ghana, he is dangerous character’.
As if what Kofi Coomson said wasn’t enough, other political stalwarts like the
leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP) Kofi Wayo and others have
challenged Nana Addo to make his blood available for cocaine test, if he
believes the allegations are false.

But if Kofi Coomson who was close to the man and perhaps knows the man more than
the electorates said he can’t sleep if Nana Addo is made President. Thus, who
will dare vote for such a man, with whom many believe he is not fit to lead the
blessed country called Ghana.

I believe that if issues of integrity and credibility are going to inform
electorates choice of who leads the country, then I dare say per talk of town
and my personal survey that it will be a ‘cool chop’ for President Mills come
2012.
It is pretty obvious that the trouble confronting and hunting Nana Addo and the
NPP is the image of President John Evans Atta Mills.
In his recent visit to Chinaand Japan, President Mills made Ghanaians proud via
his sincerity, honesty and humility and above all his insatiable trust in God.
These traits won him and his nation a lot of admirers including business
partners and investors.
A business mogul in China told me in Beijing that ‘’Ghana’s President is a man
that comes across as a clean leader that can be trusted’’
At his recent meeting with the editors forum for which the president stood for
close to two and half hours at the castle, the editor in chief of the New
Crusading Guide Abdul MalikKwaku Baako and other ‘senior’ journalists described
the President’s image as a positive one good enough for the development country.
He said ‘’ Ghana does not need a boisterous or Western Cow boy type of
President’’ which meant to suggest that the President’s image is unquestionable.
But question really is who the cow boy is or boisterous leader Abdul Malik Kwaku
Baako jnr was referring to?
Again, if people can’t sleep should Akuffo Addo win the 2008, can they sleep if
that man wins the 2012 elections? Or you rather think a decorated monkey is
still a monkey. Hahahaa.
Though the 2012 will be keenly contested between the NDC and NPP on achievements
and all that, one key issue that needs to be examined is about the image of the
personalities vying to lead the country, it is a relevant and a legitimate issue
that should not be swept under the carpet. What kind of leader does Ghana need?
Should the electorates cast their vote for a man of peace or a cowboy leader?
leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP) Charles Kofi Wayo praised the
president for his moral uprightnesswhich he described as unimpeachable. Adding
that ‘this is the first time I have seen an African President that I have little
hope in’’ Kofi Wayo.
If the inference by kwaku baako to the extent that Ghana does not need a
boisterous and a western cow boy kind of president is anything to go by, then
President Mills is several ways ahead of Nana Addo and obviously Ghanaians
prefer a God fearing leader to ‘’a boisterous and vindictive one’’.
Fallout from my survey suggested that Ghanaians are happy with the leadership
style and humility of the current president, and also praised him for maintain
the democratic sensibilities of the country.
But the question a lot of the people I spoke with asked me was whom at all is a
Western cow Boy who is trying to be President of Ghana? But maybe my senior
colleague Abdul Malik Kwaako Baako Jnr will have the answer. Won’t he?
In a recent Press release issued by El-Vatt Association a multi-tribal
grassroots think tank association described President Mills as ‘’a father of
Ghanaians without regard to ethnicity, religion nor party affiliation’’.
The association commended the president for choosing humility over pomposity,
people centeredness over self- centeredness, transparency over fraudulence, and
development over ostentation and above all choosing the truth over falsehood
deceit.
On one occasion in Japan a man for the purposes of this article I will call him
‘Japan Burger’ at the function where President Mills met with the Ghanaian
community in Tokyo, Japan Burger said, ‘’Ghana’s President is a true man of
Godthat must be respected and supported to transform Ghana even if it will take
sixteen years’’.
Perhaps Japan Burger had taken notice and counted the number of times the
President mentions God in his speech and his demeanour. It is of a fact that
President Mills apart from political experience has a great advantage over his
opponents and that is ; his gentle spirit, humility, trust in God, the aura of
honesty and sincerity that surrounds’ et al, and obviously these and other
personal features and the high morality he exhumes is the nightmare of Nana Addo
the presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party.
The question that will be on the lips of Ghanaians in 2012 electioneering
campaign will be the issue of either voting for a man touted as God fearing and
genuine or someone who people have said is morally unstable.
Ghanaians will have the opportunity to exercise their democratic right by voting
for their choice president within the next two years, but I remember a question
a tro tro driver posed just recently on my way to Adenta, we will vote surely,
why not? but whom shall we vote for?
John D. Macdonald once said, ‘’Integrity is not a conditional word. It does not
blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself,
and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never
will’’.
Integrity is the watch word, and all seeking political power must as a matter of
urgency try and cultivate it. But to some irrespective of what they do ‘YE NIM
OMU FIRI TITI’
samuelablordepey@yahoo.com