President Kuffour, You Are The Best But You Dropped The Ball

Sarpong, Justice

It's just painful to me to write this article as an ardent believer in what President Kuffour did as the leader of our country. As to who the best President Ghana has ever had, there is no debate about that, Nkrumah to me was the best in sheer economic development in the short time he took to build Ghana but his dictatorial rule is what brought his own downfall and dented his legacy among some Ghanaians. The pecking order then is for the second position and there is no doubt President Kuffour occupies that position and he might even have "bested" Nkrumah if he had the resources that was available to Nkrumah during his rule. So was it important for President Kuffour to have responded to Rawlings kef statement that; "I am the best President Ghana ever had"? Rawlings is a known entity who likes to extol his virtues and sermonize about his fake pious platitudes.

President Kuffour should not have used the words in our Akan language that, "AHWENE PA NKASA" to respond to Rawlings infantile boastfulness because he Kuffour committed a faux-pas when he awarded himself that gold chain medal for being a good President. When he did that, even some of us in NPP were critical of him for praising himself instead of leaving it to Ghanaians to praise him so he has no moral right to criticise Rawlings for doing something similar in a smaller scale than he did. I hate to say this but President Kuffour, we told you so that you made a monumental mistake when you put that gold medal around your neck,that was narcissism on your part.You lost your right to criticise Rawlings, I am sorry."Former President J.A Kuffour described his predecessor's comment as "boastful" adding that Ghanaians are the best people to judge." President Kuffour, you judged yourself so President Rawlings has every right to judge himself albeit a terrible record he left.

Now let's compare President Kuffour to Rawlings and determine of the two who was the best. On GDP, When Rawlings assumed office in 1982, our GDP was 3.2 billion dollars and when he left in 2001, our GDP has gone up by only 600 million to 3.8 billion, in almost twenty years of his rule, our economy did not make any headway. He left with our debt burden being twice what our GDP was, Our debt in 2001 was 7.8 billion compared to our GDP of 3.8 billion. What was the end result? He left Ghana in bankcruptcy hence we have to go HIPC.

Is this what a best President is made of? The tribal divide widened during your rule because you came to power with a pre-conceived idea that Akans were the bogeymen retarding the progress of our country hence your right handman Kofi Awonoor said the political and economic power by Akans, particularly the Ashantis have to be curtailed, that was the beginning of the Asante/Ewe divide, your strategy of divide and rule repercussion is still reverbrating in our midst.

President Kuffour assumed the reign of a HIPC nation with a GDP of 3.8 billion and a debt burden of 7.8 billion dollars but when he left in 2009, our GDP has gone up to 17.2 billion dollars with a debt burden of 8.2 billion dollars, a complete reversal of what Rawlings and his NDC people left in 2001. Our GDP was even revised by the present NDC regime as having been 32 billion dollars in 2008.

President Kuffour left a legacy that even Nkrumah will be proud of. His NHIS, NYEP, MASS Transportation system, School feeding program, the construction of the rail system from Tema to Accra, mass cocoa spraying syatem and other social intervention programs by a capitalist leaning party cannot be matched even by our so called NDC socialist party that left many dead people in its wake with its cash and carry health system.

Even the present Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, has discounted the claim that "Rawlings is the best leader in Ghana" and he is from the same NDC Party as Rawlings.

Our seasoned Journalist, Kweku Baako has this to say in this brouhaha.

"It is in the wake of this controversy that the Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide says what Ex President Rawlings sought to do was to "terrorize the judiciary into submission and set up a parallel judicial system". He revealed that Rawlings' reign could not have been the best regime due to the numerous abysmal activities that characterized his leadership. He further explained that the Ex President's era did not allow public accounts to be audited and as a result, he (Rawlings) could not put into the public domain that his administration empowered Ghanaians."

Rawlings obscurantism regarding accountability and transparency are mere slogans if we compare his record to his empty mantras. For ten good years under Rawlings rule, public accounts were not audited.Rawlings has to thank his stars that, he has been dethroned as the worst President in Ghana by this Mills administration he has a hand in its coming to power.

Justice Sarpong

Houston, Texas