Meet the incoming First Family
It takes much more than wits, intellect, resource and passion extraordinaire for one to make one’s largest impact and have one’s name embedded in very exclusive sections of national history.
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Those are the places where the names of achievers such as the President, the First Lady and, ultimately, the First Family, which comprises the President, the First Lady and their children, are written in gold.
Such a feat may be a relatively easy task for some people in other parts of the world where the roots of democracy may not be entrenched and are, therefore, not deep-rooted enough to confront the challenges of a country such as Ghana.
Ghana’s situation would require an option that presents the people with possible, plausible and workable alternatives.
But Ghana’s democratic culture would place its hope for a better life in the hands of someone who has shown exceptional resilience in the face of the odds, a man who has a stronger anchor in a united, loyal and working family and the ardent commitment to working tirelessly for national progress and prosperity.
The victory effect
And so while Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was declared President-elect by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, leading to spirited spontaneous celebrations by members and supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) across the nation, there was yet that moment when, for a certain category of persons, it was difficult for the present situation to register on them.
This is a family that has endured numerous attacks, vilifications, negative publicity, hostility and condemnation for wrongs not done.
The ambience that engulfed the Nima private residence of the First Family-elect, following President Mahama’s call to concede defeat, was at once sobering and magnanimous and was a realistic portrayal of a long-cherished dream come true.
Most members of the First Family were speechless. Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo was overwhelmed first by the concession of President Mahama and secondly by the victorious content of the announcement made by the EC.
One of the children, Dokua, was certainly overtaken by the good news as she stood waiting for her turn to embrace her father and congratulate him on his victory.
Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo is the wife of President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. They have five children, with five grandchildren, and are all devout Christians.
Daddy and daughter selfie moment.
The children include Nana Dokua Akufo-Addo, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo, Yeboakua Akufo-Addo, Phaedra Akufo-Addo and Valerie Obaze.
An old student of the Aburi Girls' Senior High School in the Eastern Region of Ghana, Mrs Akufo-Addo is the daughter of Justice Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, who also happened to be the Speaker of Parliament in the Third Republic of Ghana.
My husband can do it
Mrs Akufo-Addo’s belief in her husband’s vision for the country and his affinity for addressing the needs of women is inviolate.
She states: “I believe in my husband that he can do well for the country and will have the interest of women at heart when he becomes President. As a woman, I know how we feel on certain issues and I can tell you for certain that my husband cares for women. He has a strong belief in the potential of the women of this country and will be ever ready to help us reach greater heights.”
An emotional Rebecca Akufo-Addo after the Chairman of the Electoral Commission declared the results of the 2016 elections.
Her hope in her husband’s success on the third attempt at the Presidency was, for her, God-ordained, since the belief of the incoming first family was that the battle was the Lord’s and that said she had no doubt in her mind that the NPP-led government has done a lot of good things for Ghana under President Kufuor and that when her husband takes office next year, he would build on the solid foundation that has been laid.
Our father is capable and honest
Nana Akufo-Addo’s children describe him as “loving, humorous, awesome, decisive and honest” and were never at any point discouraged by the propaganda churned out by political opponents of their father in the quest to score “cheap political points.”
It is for no good reason that Nana Akufo-Addo has been said to be one politician in the recent history of the country who has suffered the pain of political lies and deception that were carefully crafted by political opponents to make him appear in bad light.
The latest in the lies that were peddled against him just before the elections was that he was mean, arrogant, divisionist, tribalistic, war-monger, drug addict and senile.
He was also said to be suffering from cancer, weak, frail and always supported by aides to move around all of which have shown to be wrong.
Teary Nana Dokua Akufo-Addo looks on as her sister hugs their father after the President John Dramani Mahama called Nana Akufo-Addo to concede defeat.
Belief in God
The family, have remained in constant prayers at the Accra Ridge Church, where the family fellowships and with other men of God across the country and world.
Their belief is rooted in God and the plans that God has for the country which he intends to bring to fruition through the dedicated service of President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP administration.
For Nana Akufo-Addo, the future of Ghana was bright and that with the right economic re-alignment and key policy interventions, the future of the country would be better and Ghana could be on the path to progress and prosperity.
Expectations regarding the ‘one district, one factory’ policy is one that has drawn much acclamation from the public and at the same time, condemnation from political opponents.
But the stoic resolution of the family is one that counts on the sufficiency of God, the deployment of required human resource, the rolling out of productive policies and, above all, the capacity of Ghanaians to rise to the occasion as they had done when needed.
Even in the throes of jubilation on a historic electoral victory, Nana Akufo-Addo still remains adamant and continues to sing the same chorus with the family and the NPP — “The Battle is still the Lord’s.”