It was like the second coming of the Elephant family. Party faithful jammed into the Nima residence in Accra, of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to hear his long awaited declaration.
Unlike many such events, the followers were confident, way ahead of the event that the man who led the Busia-Danquah-Dombo tradition into the Presidential Elections of this country on two occasions and narrowly missed the boat on both occasions, would contest for the third time.
What made the Nima Declaration exciting for followers of the New Patriotic Party and most neutrals in national politics is that with the government of President John Dramani Mahama failing the average Ghanaian big-time, the notion out there is that the NPP, under a dynamic leadership offered by Nana Addo, stands a very good chance of rescuing the boat from completely sinking.
To the party faithful, Nana Addo has the knowledge and the experience to return the Elephant to Government House. There are many neutrals out there too who see in the 2012 Presidential Candidate of the NPP, an astute politician to deliver this country from the woods.
Both the party faithful and neutral observers were never disappointed. Digging into his repertoire of political speeches, Nana Akufo-Addo identified this nation’s major problems as leadership that promises without delivering.
In his opinion, numerous unfulfilled promises were weighing down on the country’s development effort and leading to a complete loss, especially among the youth, of the confidence offered by leadership and the political dispensation.
If people could mount platforms and make promises they know they could not fulfill merely to win power, only to abandon the promises, there is a looming danger that our democratic dispensation could be undermined.
The Chronicle would like to believe that the return of Nana Addo into mainstream politics is good for the country. One of the most articulate orators of our time, Nana’s presence on the political platform would continue to excite followers of the political game at home.
We hope and pray that the return of the 2012 NPP Presidential Candidate on the political platform would put President John Dramani Mahama and his administration on their toes and shake them into delivering on their many promises.
Politics is all about making life comfortable for the citizenry. Under this administration, life is rather threatening to be brutish and short.
The crunching power outages are squeezing the very life out of the little industrial hub opening to the Ghanaian. The steady fall of the cedi is also affecting the quality of life in a more threatening manner than first thought.
In most homes at the centre of the earth, feeding the family is a tall order. In the words of Nana Akufo-Addo, at his declaration in Accra yesterday, “the depressing reality is that corruption is costing the nation jobs…the school feeding programme is starved of cash…contractors are not being paid…salaries are in arrears… ”
It tells a lot about mere promises that with encircling gloom, President Mahama looked at the people of Ghana in the face and said in his State of the Nation last month that “in spite of the short-term challenges we face, our economic fundamental remain sound and our mid-term goals are bright.”
He did not provide any solution to the myriads of problem his administration has created through naked corruption and cronyism. We hope and pray that the return of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would put the moribund administration on its toes while we await the official coronation in January 2017.