IEA
Debate: Is Akufo-Addo Of A Sound Mind?
By Nana Akyea Mensah,
The Odikro.
There is no doubt that
the kind of people Akufo-Addo has chosen to surround him, speak a lot
about the man. Same old story of “show me your friend...”! Thus
it came came as no surprise to read a publication from the Akufo-Addo
Communications Directorate claiming, “Akufo-Addo ‘whips’ PREZ
Mahama at IEA debate”. The Akufo-Addo Communications team continue
to commit blunder after blunder, to the apparent approval of
Akufo-Addo himself. So, it is even more appropriate not to ask about
the mental health of those working in the team, but the one who put
them there and continues to applaud their sickening publications:
Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo himself! Indeed, it is very manner and
content of the presentation that even makes some of us seriously
wonder if the old man is not suffering from some form of senile
debility or something worse!
The wild claim that
“Akufo-Addo ‘whips’ PREZ Mahama at IEA debate” is the most
ridiculous damage control strategy they have managed to put up so
far. It diminishes the disappearing credibility of the Akufo-Addo
Communications Team as nothing but a time-wasting propaganda
nuisance. It was so unnecessary, since the debate was not held in
camera, and we all saw what happened. This type of propaganda is not
only tedious and offensive, but makes us question even more
intensely, the mental health of their boss, who apparently approves
of it. A very frank and honest damage control would have done the
trick in explaining away the abysmal failure of Akufo-Addo at the
debate. It would not only have heightened their credibility, but also
raised their own standards. We can tell who whipped who without such
sugar-coated distortions that have no semblance to what actually took
place!
Akufo-Addo's
performance at the presidential debate organised
by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Tamale once more sees
him as an empty barrel that he has been all this while. Indeed some
of us have been suggesting all along that judging from the level of
decibels coming from that barrel that it ought to be empty indeed!
The IEA debate came as a confirmation. This debate gave the Ghanaian
voter the opportunity to see how the candidates presenting themselves
for the high office are able to think on their feet, select salient
points, compose, and deliver their messages within the time allotted
to them. It is a sort of IQ test. It was not just to hear their
policies, but their personal comportment, self-discipline, civility,
firmness, and generosity of character. It
thus serves as an insight into the mental acumen of the presenter.
In terms of personal organization of the time
available, and control over information flow, Akufo-Addo was a
disaster. He failed to compose his answers to fit into the time
frame. There were questions such as the one on health, where he was
asked to provide three main issues he would tackle, he only harped on
the NHIS and could not fully answer the question. This is either a
symptom of a low IQ, deafness, a lack of the ability to concentrate,
a short attention span, senile debility, Alzheimer's disease,
intoxication by alcohol, or high on marijuana, etc.,... Whatever it
is, just as you would not trust a surgeon that is not sober to
undertake a delicate life and death operation, or a drunk pilot from
flying a commercial flight, the good people of Ghana cannot trust
their destinies into the hands of a person who appears so mentally
challenged as to even fail in his own self-presentation!
When you see NPP
supporters praising a flag-bearer of another political party, instead
of their own, then you know there is something deeply wrong. The
earliest sign yet, that the NPP flag-bearer even failed to convince
his own supporters, came from a rather unexpected source, whose
damage control exercise saw him presenting the CPP's Abu Sakara as
the winner of the debate. This rather generous vote to the CPP,
coming from Akufo-Addo's staunchest of supporters such as Justice
Sarpong of the Ghanaweb crowd, is a measure of how badly the NPP
flag-bearer performed. The damage control was intended to attribute
the winner to someone else before someone else gives it to President
Mahama!
In terms of the
paradoxes of the debate, the race was and has been clearly between
the NDC with the NPP as the challenger, but it appears the
performance of the CPP flag-bearer brought the winner of debate
between the NDC flag-bearer and Dr. Abu Sakara of the CPP, with the
NPP relegated to the third position. The debate ended with the two,
President Mahama and Dr. Abu Sakara within the top bracket of winners
and Nana Akufo-Addo and Hassan Ayariga struggling it out as to who
must take the bottom position. Considering the weight of the CPP on
the field, it can be safely argued that the NDC has emerged as a
clear top-dog in this debate. The NPP would have made a big deal out
of this. It is interesting to note that the NDC is not even taking
advantage of it.
As a CPP man, I can
only say I was proud of my candidate, even though I know the race is
between the NPP and the NDC and my political sophistication helps me
to look beyond my CPP nose! Thus the following is focused on the two
candidates of the front-runner political parties. And what I see is
not very pretty for Akufo-Addo. In terms of delivery Akufo-Addo was
only able to beat Ayariga, but in terms of fundamental blunders and
even sounding confused and actually looking so, Akufo-Addo has no
challenger. He was even beaten by Mr. Ayariga on that score! This
raises the fundamental question concerning the intellectual acumen,
or even the mental health of the NPP's Presidential candidate. Like
the Obama team, some of us were expecting some form of
acknowledgement in order to restore their own credibility and to
direct attention to a better chance next time, but they simply
declared Akufo-Addo the winner!
Who do they think they
are fooling apart from themselves? Akufo-Addo's fumbling began within
the first two minutes given to each of the contestants introduce
themselves. John Mahama gave an admirably succinct, refreshingly
fluent, and impressive summary of himself, his work experience,
motivations, and what that has led him to the podium, as the
President of Ghana, and the flag-bearer of the NDC. Dr. Abu Sakara
Forster also made good use of his time, and did justice to the
subject. Mr. Hassan Ayariga was also good at presenting himself. His
composition of his biography and motivations were organized and
delivered within time. Everything was going on well until it came to
the turn of Akufo-Addo. A greeting in Hausa, a relatively long and
disproportionate discussion of his experiences in Tamale, the warm
welcome that both he and his wife had received in Tamale, including
how he enjoyed his work in Tamale, even before mentioning his name,
as the two minutes allocated to him ticked off!
Little wonder he was
the only Presidential candidate who had to be belled-off in the
middle of his presentation. It is like a student who could not only
finish an examination paper, but had also included in the unfinished
work, a lot of irrelevant answers. Apart from Akufo-Addo, all the
other Presidential candidates decently finished their presentations
within the time alloted. You just need to take the
confrontation over the NDPC as just one of the many inevitable
instances, where you can see the wheat from the chaff. The use of the
word "confused" to describe Mr. Akufo-Addo is apt. The
President could even have been harsher, but a more appropriate word
than "confused" is not easy to find, and remain diplomatic
and as civil as possible. Nana Akufo-Addo plainly displayed he did
not even know the laudable reasons behind the minds of the framers of
our constitution.
It
is clear that the over-politicization of the NDPC can spell nothing
but disaster. It is not only a confused person who would take
politics to where politics must not go, but also a person of an
unsound mind. The question was very clear: “The 1992
constitution mandates the National Development Planning Commission to
advice the President of the development Planning of the country among
other things. The criticism is that the weakness of the commission is
the reason for which every four years we take a different turn. What
would you do to make the commission more effective?”
Even the PNC's Hassan
Ayariga, despite all the buffoonery, understood the question and
stated clearly the need for a non-partisan approach to ensure
continuity of the National Development Plans irrespective of which
party comes to power. Akufo-Addo said he was not going to wait for
two years as stipulated in the constitution, before presenting the
NPP development plans to Parliament. His diagnosis of the weakness
facing the NDPC is to give it the highest level of political
leadership. He wants his Vice-President to head it! This
alone speaks volumes! People who say Mr. Ayariga needs to cut his
teeth, are optimistic that the young man will learn as he prods on.
But what do you say to an old man whose teeth has been cut and lost
already, when he fumbles over issues in development continuity
entrenched in our constitution? Refreshingly, all the three other
Presidential candidates emphasised the need for continuity, except
Akufo-Addo!
President Mahama's argument that the NPP’s position does not give room for imputation of ideas and policies from political parties and other interested groups to give the NDPC its national character and its plans binding on all is an A+++. Akufo-Addo scored a clear F here! In a highly competitive debate, you cannot commit such blunders and claim victory afterwards. President Mahama got this very well, both in content, style and delivery:
“Indeed I think that there is confusion in the mind of the NPP presidential candidate in the answer he gave. That is exactly the concern we have in this country: that when a political party leaves government the plans and visions that are instituted are thrown away. And so, if we assume that every four year cycle a government potentially could lose elections, it means every four years we will have a new national development planning framework. And that is why the CRC flagged that issue.”
President Mahama put up a superior performance to Nana Akufo-Addo who struggles for the bottom position with Ayariga! So it was a bit too much of an amateurish political spin to claim victory even when he had lost. Obama came out after he flunk the first debate with Romney. He admitted his mistake, and promised to do better the next time, which he did. Had he claimed victory the first time when he had clearly failed to perform, his second victory would not have been so spectacular. It is the duty of the Akufo-Addo Communications Directorate to be honest with the public, and not to be seen insulting their intelligence. One thing Akufo-Addo needs critically is honest feed-back. The type of sycophants who double as his communications team only tell him what they think he would like to hear. And that is obviously a problem. But in this particular case, if Akufo-Addo is himself of a sound mind, he does not need anyone to tell him that he failed miserably.
The
very fact that he accepts what his communications team is saying, it
tells a lot about how low his standards are. If he himself agrees
with them that he won the debate, it will be a clear sign that we
must keep wondering about the sanity of the man who wants to be a
President of the Republic of Ghana. Even those of us, humble citizens
of Ghana, who want to simply exercise our right to vote are required
by the constitution to be of sound mind, so it is even unthinkable to
imagine a member of Parliament who is of unsound mind, even though
some of the utterances of Kennedy Agyapong are not so reassuring. One
would have thought that the phenomenon would be impossible even at
the level of a minister of state, but to see what I am seeing in
someone who wants to be President, is alarming indeed! Are we safe?
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