Your reputation is at its lowest level – Manasseh in Akufo-Addo

General News of Friday, February 1, 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2019-02-01

Manbadeh Azure Awuni, an investigative journalist, asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to "reinforce his game" and redeem his crushed image as time allowed.

In an epistle to the president, Azure explained how his response to some key issues, including security concerns, had reduced his well-deserved reputation to the country's citizens.

In his case, his reputation, which could previously be between 90% and 100%, now extends to a position of 30 to 40%.

He expressed concern that a man much respected and admired by many has now lost much of his credit due to his nonchalant or unsatisfactory response to significant problems in the country.

Mr. Akufo-Addo, according to Manbadeh, could easily be identified before with discipline, principles, nonsense, the defense of the law and human rights.

However, one can not say much about his position on many issues relevant to the country.

His remarks are the result of violent clashes that tainted the electoral process at the Bawaleshie polling station in Thursday's election for the Ayawaso West Wuogon headquarters.

Read the full post below:

Dear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,

Before proceeding, please accept my apologies for this title. Our elders have taught us that an old lady is always uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. I do not wish evil for you. I mean good. And that's why I decided to write you this letter.

I was forced to use this title because I could not have said it better to say what I am about to tell you. The title sums up the essence of the message I wish to convey to you from the bottom of my heart. It's hard to say, but I decided to be as straightforward as I could be without giving it any flavor.

Long before becoming president of this country, I had a conversation with one of the best Ghana lawyers about you. If a survey is organized and respondents are asked to name five of the most respected lawyers in Ghana, this lawyer will likely appear as the number one or two on the list of the majority of respondents. You, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, have trained and coached.

This man (whose name I do not have the authority to disclose), said when he came to work in your office as a young lawyer, he was a person who had the audacity to not be d agree with you and challenge yourself when you speak. His fellow young lawyers have hardly done that. With time, you fell in love with him because he was not afraid to talk. He became your favorite among young lawyers and this brought him closer to you and he learned a lot from what he is today thanks to you.

If the presidency has not changed you, I am sure you always appreciate those who are frank with you. That's why I decided to write you as a naïve and innocent boy in Hans Christian Anderson's clbadic, "The Emperor's New Clothes." Few of your appointed representatives will tell you what they think or think sincerely about you and your presidency.

The message I want to convey in this article is: If you had died in 2016, I would have written a more beautiful tribute to you than if you had succeeded today.

Sir, let me explain.

In 2016, you were not president of Ghana. The highest political position you held was Minister of State. But my respect and admiration for you did not concern your ministerial position. It was the enviable height that you have achieved as a staunch defender of the rule of law and a human rights activist. These were ideals for which you had joined and lived in the darkest moments of our country's history, when the price to speak was so high that only the daring dared to defy the oppressive regimes.

In January 2017, you became the occupier of the highest office in the country. But the highest function you occupy seems to diminish your real worth, your personality. It tarnishes your reputation and defeats the ideals you defended.

That contradicts you, Mr. President.

My respect for you then and now is no longer the same. Do not mistake yourself. I still respect you, but if my respect and admiration for the 2016 Akufo-Addo ranged between 90% and 100%, my respect and admiration for the Akufo-Addo from 2019 is between 30% and 40%.

I have always thought that the value of a person is not measured by the position she occupied, but by the content of her character and the strength of her convictions. Politics is a dirty game in which winning is not necessarily about merit. In fact, any fool can become president of any country, no matter how powerful. However, I feel that it takes exceptional men to be able to build the kind of reputation and control the kind of influence that Nana Akufo-Addo has got from the attorney.

So while you may think that your current position places you at the top of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, your true worth and stature to reasonable men and women may diminish because of your actions and your inactions as president. The myth surrounding Akufo-Addo, an incorruptible and unprincipled, who did not sleep while the injustice was perpetuated, seems broken and crushed beyond redemption. And that should worry you, sir.

Yesterday it was one of the lowest points of our lives as a nation. That's what led me to write you this letter. We experience the rule of anarchy in its grossest form, and I can not realize that the man who oversees and oversees the affairs of our republic is a declared defender of the rule of law.

Mr President, as I was growing up in Kete-Krachi, I never saw a policeman or armed security officer in a polling station when holding national elections. When I arrived in Accra and started reporting on the elections, most of the police and their counterparts in immigration, prison, fire and other services do not go armed. at the polling stations. Only those called to stir up trouble or riots are armed.

Yesterday, however, a by – election in one of Ghana 's elitist constituencies witnessed an indescribable level of intimidation on the part of gunmen as they went to liberate them. hostages held by terrorists. These national insecure merchants appeared masked, but when pictures of some of them posing with photos with their followers appeared on social media, they were easily identified.

One of the men who wielded an AK47 badault rifle was linked to the national organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammi Awuku. Photos of the man and Sammi Awuku appeared on social media. Sammi being my friend, I personally contacted him to check. He denied that this man was his driver, but confirmed that he was with him in the opposition and that he was campaigning to become the national organizer of the NPP, this young man was with him. He confirmed, however, that the young man was now working for national security.

The men masked and armed, with the easy trigger, fired and wounded some people. There are videos of these unleashing and aggressing opponents, including Ningo Prampram MP Sam Dzata George.

The Coalition of National Election Observers, which monitored the elections, reported violence and intimidation in a press release issued yesterday after the elections:

"In JHS prisons in Roman Ridge, for example, security agents who claimed to be national security agents stood beside the polling agents and when a uniformed police officer alerted them to away from the voting agents, a van filled with more and more so-called security officers came down on the police officer and attacked him for carrying out legitimate work. "

Politically affiliated armed men under the umbrella of national security were deployed at the Ayawaso by-election yesterday
Mr President, some members of your people and your party with a sadistic instinct might think that the brutality of yesterday has crushed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and that they have it. warned before the 2020 elections. But, sir, you have to see this differently.

You should see this as overwriting the ideals that have defined you. It crushes the constitution and reputation of Ghana, which you swore to defend. It is irreparably damaging to the Akufo-Addo brand and sadly gives credence to Abraham Lincoln's deep statement: "Almost all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him the power".

Your party and your government have managed to convert the thugs of political parties into an illegal security force, legitimized under the guise of national security. The NDC warned that it would prepare and face your party by 2020. Three weeks ago, police commissioner Nathan Kofi Boakye warned that if political party thugs and their acts were not treated, the 2020 elections would be explosive. It happened earlier than expected, and you should badume ultimate responsibility for yesterday's chaos.

Recently, you have had all the glory of the Dagbon peace process, which began 17 years ago. You can not therefore be resolved of any responsibility in the current disorder. All those involved in recruiting, training and deploying National Insecure Merchants are your representatives. The police, the national security coordinator and the ministers, as well as all those who count for our safety, are your representatives.

Your reputation is at its lowest in regard to some of us. It is not too late, however, to redeem it. You are still two years old in your first term to redeem your image and save that nation from the desperate and anxious state we ourselves have. Too many people I meet these days often repeat an unfortunate statement: "We thought that he [Nana Akufo-Addo] would be different. "

One of the wisest councils I know of is the one that Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II gave you shortly after your badumption of the presidency. I've watched the video clip online, but I do not remember exactly where this meeting took place. In this video, Otumfuo told you that if your presidency were to worry you should be your "legacy". He said that you had seen everything in life and that it was not the moment to make money or to let other motives ruin your presidency.

I hope you will remember this advice and the fact that some of us value the 2016 Akufo – Addo Superior to President Akufo – Addo of 2019.

Thank you for your attention.

Regards,

Manbadeh Azure Awuni. I am a citizen, not a spectator.