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A political office, in the developed and civilized nations, is always seen as an honour and opportunity to serve one’s nation and leave a legacy that the successive generations will be proud of. Occupiers of political office in these civilized nations seek for positions with the sole purpose of putting in-place measures that will ensure better living standards for the generality of their people.

This is why we live in Africa but can talk, vividly, about people like Winston Churchill, George Washington, Mahathir Mohamed and so on. These are individuals who have used the opportunity given them by their people, to completely, turned around the living standards of their people, for the better. But, when it comes to Africa, our leaders use the power of political office to rather lord over their people.

Before Naadu granted that interview to BBC, I had been habouring some personal feelings about her, as regards her human relations and attitude towards members of Atta-Mills’ family members. There is this speculation that Naadu Mills is someone whose attitude is not welcoming and that even the only child of her husband (Atta-Mills) is not allowed into their matrimonial home.

I am aware that Naadu has no child of her own, and that is even the more reason why, she should have, in our African context, been very much welcoming to people, especially, children. As the wife of the president, Naadu’s entire needs are being catered for by the ‘kayayes’, ice water sellers, ‘truck’ pushers, coconut sellers and those petty traders who have had to suffer the humiliation of having sexual intercourse with city-guards in order to get back their seized items. Even, that recent bogus trip by Naadu to Singapore to commission the oil drilling ship was borne by these very same down-trodden and poverty stricken citizens of this nation.
As a first lady, Naadu is supposed to play the role of a mother of the nation. She is supposed to say things that will bring hope and joy to the people of this nation, anytime she gets the opportunity. This is because her husband Atta-Mills, who raised the expectations of the people of this nation to the high heavens with those illusionary campaign promises during the 2008 electioneering campaign, has totally failed to deliver.

I would like to remind Naadu Mills that it was her husband, Atta-Mills, who, in collaboration with the now defunct CJA hypocrites, made the streets of Accra their permanent abode through senseless demonstrations and criticize every single step of the Kufuor administration. It was her husband who held a placard with the inscription, “Ghanaians are capable of managing Ghanaian companies”, during one of their bogus demonstrations.

Was it not Naadu’s husband(Atta-Mills) who presented his version of the ‘state of the nation address’ after the then sitting president of the republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, who the constitution of the republic mandated to do so, had fittingly gone to parliament to honour that constitutional obligation?
The then Atta-Mills, your husband, engaged in all those acts with the sole purpose of deceiving the good people of this nation and tarnishing the image of Kufuor. And he (Atta-Mills) has succeeded in those acts, and today he is the president. This has afforded you, Naadu, the opportunity to become a ‘parasitic’ beneficiary and enjoying all the freebies under the sun, which is being financed by the sweat and toil of the poor masses of our people. In effect, Naadu, is today, a beneficiary of constant criticisms and senseless agitations against a sitting president and it is therefore very much hypocritical on her part to turn round and ‘spit’ in the face of the people of this nation, by telling us to ‘shut-up’ and not to point out the total incompetence of her husband.
Naadu spoke of her husband(Atta-Mills)having good intensions for the nation so we should leave him alone do his work,basically.Here,I would like Naadu to appreciate the fact that Ghanaians are not magicians to be able to decipher the contents of the president’s cranium. The effects of his visionless governance, are what we see and feel, and are therefore capable of analyzing. And this, I can promise Naadu, that we, the discerning people of this nation who are currently reeling under economic-holocaust as a result of her husband’s incompetent leadership, shall continue to put him(Atta-Mills) under the microscope till the day he leaves office.

Naadu also said Ghanaians must go it easy with their criticisms of her husband since he (Atta-Mills) “is not taking the country anywhere”. This statement can be explained in two ways:

Firstly, this could mean that Atta-Mills is not taking the nation anywhere because he lacks foresight. If that is what Naadu meant when she made that pronouncement, then this goes to confirm the constant agitations by the founder of the NDC (Jerry Rawlings), the operational boys of the NDC, the foot-soldiers and some ordinary Ghanaians that the Atta-Mills led administration lacks vision.
Secondly, if by making that statement, Naadu meant her husband is not going to take personal ownership of Ghana so we should give him the chance to do his work, then, Naadu has insulted the good people of this nation and she must come out and apologize to us. This is because the people of this nation were very much aware, when they went and queued in the sun to vote, that whoever emerged the winner was not going to carry the nation in his pocket as a personal property, but rather, will come up with innovative ideas to bring hope, confidence, and above all, economic relief to his people.
If we were electing leaders to come and take over the nation as their personal property, then, the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, certainly, would have taken Ghana with him into the grave. Therefore, the fact that Ghana has continued to exist after the passage of these predecessors of Atta-Mills, points to the fact that no one becomes a president with an intension of “taking Ghana somewhere” as a personal property, as Naadu sought to tell the decent people of this nation.
Naadu obviously made that pronouncement with intent to insult Ghanaians who are critical of her husband’s visionless leadership. I would therefore call on all the discerning people of this nation to demand a swift and an unqualified apology from Naadu for her gross disrespect for our right to criticize her husband (Atta-Mills).
If Naadu will continue to see every criticism of Atta-Mills, by Ghanaians, as a personal attack on her husband and will come out to respond with such insults, then it will be better for her to advice her husband(Atta-Mills)to either fulfill his countless ‘huhudious’ campaign promises or resign for a competent person to come and lead us. Atta-Mills is not just the husband of Naadu, but also, the president of the republic of Ghana, for God’s sake!!
Even Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of our nation, could not habour any intension of taking Ghana as his personal property. How then, can Atta-Mills, who rode on the back of the worst electoral violence, intimidations and plain skullduggery, in our nation’s history, to become the president, ever dream of taking Ghana as his personal property?
Can you imagine the wife of Barrack Obama, Michelle, standing in front of Americans, and literally, telling them to give his husband a break, because he (Obama) is not going to take America anywhere? A backlash to such a verbal-debacle would be swift and stormy and unqualified apology would be flowing from the White House, to the general populace, like water from a burst-pipe.But,here in Africa, the moment an individual gains access to the presidency, even her dogs can go about biting innocent people at will, and still go free.

This is why I have always held this belief that Africa is certainly not going make any inroads for a very long time to come, considering the insensitive, reckless, irresponsible, incompetent and sheer arrogance of a majority of her leaders.

And to add salt to injury, the wives of these leaders who are suppose to build bridges between the people and their block-head husbands, have rather, decided to jump into the fray and are rather firing-from-the-hip, in desperate attempt to cover up the hopelessness of the kind of leadership their husbands are providing for their respective citizenry.

Justice Abeeku Newton-Offei
E-mail: justnoff@yahoo.com