My campaign encounter with President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo
Ghana’s political system has become almost strangled by the misconceptions, dishonesty and unfounded allegations espoused by the opposing political parties.
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The situation has grown to the level where truth is hard to come by and even harder to recognise in the current political climate.
Political philosophers such as Plato, Machiaveli, Nietzsche and Strauss have argued that unless certain truths about reality, politics, faith and liberal democracy are hidden from the public, society will fall into ruin.
But on the other hand, the extent to which some political activists would go in the attempt to hoodwink the electorate into wrongfully believing that an otherwise credible political opponent is the devil incarnate becomes highly befuddling.
Attack on an astute politician
One politician in the recent political history of our country who has had to suffer the pain of political deception purposefully crafted to tarnish his image, mudslinging, black propaganda and deliberate lies is the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The political mud that has been thrown at this gentleman is not limited to he being called mean, arrogant, divisionist, tribalistic, warmonger, drug addict and senile.
The latest upgrade prior to the December 7 polls was that he was suffering from cancer and that he was weak, frail, always being supported by aides to move about and a host of other allegations.
However, after three months of closely following him on the campaign trail, the evidence that abounds is a pointer to the fact that politics, said to be a dirty game, is not far from the truth.
In Accra, his routine started from his private residence where he wakes up very early to attend to personal things while preparing for a number of meetings planned for the early part of the morning before hitting the campaign road.
By 10 a.m., all is set. The team sets off to the first constituency where there would be a float through the various parts of the constituency and climaxed by a rally.
A very busy schedule
In between this programme line-up are hidden stops and mini-rallies that the local people had planned on their own in the quest to be addressed by the President-elect, then presidential candidate.
From the outskirts of the constituency, huge numbers of party supporters, constituting the welcome committee, would throng his convoy in an exciting manner signalling the start of a buoyant day in the life of a politician said to be cancerous, frail and senile.
His emergence from the open-top of his vehicle was always an indication of ‘no rest till we end’, a kind of policy that characterised the entire duration of his campaign.
Once he emerged from atop his vehicle, the human traffic got denser because the signal would have reached other parts of the constituency that he had arrived.
The journey from the first point begins and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would stand throughout the many hours of travelling through constituencies, paying courtesy calls on chiefs, visiting institutions, stopping at other vantage points, being stopped by residents of unplanned stop areas to hear him speak.
And when he spoke finally at the rally at the close of day, the high level of energy that he exuded gave ample proof of a man with an overwhelming passion for a national agenda to place the nation on the path towards growth, prosperity and progress.
He moved about with the agility of a young man, recollected faces and names of people gathered around, surprised members of the gathering with his usual one-on-one chats with ordinary people and often climbed the staircase to the campaign stand faultlessly and with vigour.
In the regions, campaign rallies sometimes went late into the night recording a record time of 2 a.m. at the Takoradi Polytechnic Park where even after the closure of the rally activities, the large number of supporters felt reluctant to leave the venue.
Passion for change
Per the itinerary, the next activity for the morning starts at 9 a.m. and before then, he would be long ready, actively primed for another herculean day.
His active demeanour came as a great shock to far younger journalists, qualified to be his children, who got exhausted while Nana Akufo-Addo was still addressing a rally without a taint of exhaustion.
The energy level with which he stormed Aflao in the Volta Region during which he delivered a much energised address at the regional rally of the party which drew comments from observers some of who were heard chatting in Ewe, to the effect of questioning the falsehood that he was sick and weak.
Nana Akufo-Addo always addressed party supporters with precision and depth as though he was reading a speech but he was addressing them extempore and always stayed consistent in his deliveries in the countless areas that he visited.
One interesting feature about him that endeared him so much to the members of his press corps was his tendency to pay the group surprise visits whenever he saw the press gathered to interact with them and share ideas.
His spiritual life remains unquestionable as he remains a staunch member of the Accra Ridge Church where he fellowships with his family and a political opponent but good friend, Mr Ato Ahwoi, whose name he mentioned when he visited the church for a private thanksgiving service recently.
Epilogue
So far, events of the past weeks have clearly shown that no matter how long one chooses to supress the cork of truth under water, it will always jump to the surface when released.
Hopefully, the coming days, weeks, months and years would tell the story of a man said to be a political villain, sick of cancer, arrogant and a divisionist.
The Ghanaian people are expecting to see much more of President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and hopefully they would surely see what I have also observed of him at first hand.
Writer’s email: [email protected]