Britain Marketing Nana Akufo-Addo

For Flagstaff House Ahead of 2016 General Election

To the ordinary mind, Nana Akufo-Addo only left Ghana, yesterday to observe South Africa’s national and provincial elections, which will last for two weeks, but The Herald’s sources in the intelligence and diplomatic circles are of a different opinion.

To them, Britain once again want a regime change, hence has started marketing Ghana’s opposition leader, ahead of the 2016 Presidential elections.

They argued that the selection of the 2012 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to lead a team of election observers from the Commonwealth, to South Africa this month is not a fluke, but a strategy with far reaching implications for John Dramani Mahama’s administration.

They explained that the Commonwealth election observer mission, are mostly led by ex-presidents and Heads of States, who are internationally recognized and respected, therefore, wondered why an opposition leader, who is seeking another mandate to contest the presidency, would be the one heading the mission.

They argued further that South Africa, is a big and respected country, so having Nana Addo, leading that mission rather than ex-presidents Jerry John Rawlings or John Agyekum Kufuor, could not be a mere coincidence, especially so when the same Commonwealth Secretariat sent ex-Malawian President, Dr. Baliki Muluzi to monitor the Swaziland national elections.

They recalled Craig Murray and the “blazing” involvement of the British High Commission in Accra in the 2000 Election, which got Rawlings’ protégé the late John Evans Atta Mills defeated and brought in John Agyekum Kufuor to Government, adding “the British might be up to something again”.

On Monday, March 3, 2014.Nana Addo, was granted a platform by another British body; a symposium organised by the Royal African Society and the Centre of African Studies of the School of Oriental and African Studies – University of London, at the Brunei Suit in London.

That event was chaired by ex-Labour Party Parliamentarian, who is now in the British House of Lords, the respected Lord Paul Boateng.
In a statement dated Tuesday, April 29, 2014, said “Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, constituted the observer mission, following an invitation from the Government of South Africa. Ghana’s Former Foreign Minister and Attorney-General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will lead the mission”.

It mentioned other members of the Observer Mission as Dorothy Pine-McLarty OJ, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica and Sheik Abdul Carimo Nordine Sau, who is the President of the National Elections Commission of Mozambique, constitute the membership of the team.

Speaking on the importance of the elections, Mr Sharma said: “The forthcoming elections are a significant milestone for South Africa. They mark the twentieth anniversary of the country’s first democratic elections, and are the first elections after the passing of former President Nelson Mandela.”

The observer mission, will consider the pre-electoral environment and election preparations. On Election Day, it will observe the counting of votes and the results process and it will determine whether the elections have been conducted according to the standards for democratic elections to which the country has committed itself. Where appropriate, it will make recommendations to the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa for further improvement.

As with all Commonwealth Observer Missions, this mission will function impartially and independently, and will conduct itself according to the standards expressed in the International Declaration of Principles for Election Observation, to which the Commonwealth is a signatory.

Nishana Jayawickrama, Head of Section in the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Political Affairs Division, will lead a three-person Secretariat team that will support the work of the observers.

The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of 53 independent countries, formerly colonized by Britain. The occupant of the British throne –Queen Elizabeth II – is the Head of the Commonwealth.