OUR DIVISIVE LEADERS: Poor Ghana!

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President Nana Akufo Addo

Instead of uniting us, too many of our leaders are bent on dividing us. And they are led, unfortunately, by the President, NADAA, who knows better or should know better. Speaking at Mepe in the Volta Region on 16th October, 2023, the President said, ” I came here because Ghanaians are having difficulties and are suffering and it is my responsibility to try and help because if it is a question of counting who votes for me and who doesn’t vote for me, I shouldn’t be here because you don’t vote for me, but that is not a concern, and in any event, one day, you will vote for me and my party.” If there was any doubts about the President’s real intent, he removed them last week. Addressing a delegation from Ekumfi who drew his attention to the underdevelopment of their area, the President responded that, “Ato Cudjoe was your MP and I made him a Deputy Minister and you voted him out in the last elections and because of that, I did not pay attention to development in your area. I HAVE TO BE HONEST with you, but since you have brought it up, I will pay attention to it.” How can a President say these things– even if he thinks them? And before this, he gave us the “Yen akanfuo” war cry!!

A few weeks ago, Fiifi Kwetey, the NDC General Secretary gave us the NDC equivalent. Speaking to youth in the Volta Region, he stated that “Ghana politics is Ashantis versus Ewes, and that is why as a Voltarian you must stand by it and defend the party( NDC) with your life. If you go to Ashanti and Eastern region, they always vote for the NPP but here in the Volta region, our youth are running away from our party.” Unbelievable!!

To begin with NADAA, why is he looking at votes instead of taxes? Did the people of Mepe/Volta Region stop paying taxes after he won? Did the people of Ekumfi stop paying taxes because Ato Cudjoe lost? Is the President implying that Rawlings and Mills should not have developed the Ashanti region?
As for Fiifi Kwetey, his rant is so mis-informed, it mocks his fine education. In the 2020 Presidential elections, the NDC got 1.3 million votes in Greater Accra and 653,000 votes in Ashanti regions while getting only 606,500 from the Volta Region. Thus Greater Accrs and Ashanti gave the NDC more votes than Volta Region did. Were all those votes from Ewes? In 2024, there will be no Ewe or Ashanti on the NPP or NDC Presidential ballot. So how would Ewes versus Ashantis play out? Where are the Fantis and Gas and Dagombas, etc in all this?

The tragedy of Ghana is that there will sycophants who will step forward to defend these indefensible statements.

Lincoln said, ” A nation divided against itself cannot stand” and he was right. Ghana started very well when Nkrumah saw us as the foundation stone for African Unity. He presumed rightly that we would see ourselves, not as Ashantis, Ahafos, Brongs, Dagombas, Ewes, Fantis, Gas, Nzemas, etc but simply as Ghanaians. Indeed, Mensah Sarbah, Coussey, Ephraim Amu, Chief Kwabena Bonne, Pa Grant, Nkrumah and many of our founders saw themselves as Ghanaians, not ethnic activists bent on advancing their tribes at the expense of Ghana.

Today, a new breed of leaders have emerged who step into national politics to pursue the narrow interests of Okyeman, Asanteman, the Ewes, Dagbanis, etc. The nation that gave the world Pan-Africanists and Globalists like Nkrumah , Gardiner, and Kofi Annan has become the redoubt of tribalists.
I know that there are good men and women in both the NPP and NDC but they have become beholden to careerism and cowardice.

We should be stepping forward to call out the bigots who are destroying Ghana in our name.
The PEACE COUNCIL, the media, Parliament, and religious bodies must denounce these bigots now. This is how Rwanda started.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 said “Write down the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its time, it hastens to the end– it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”

Our vision is to build a united Ghana with selfless, humble and uniting leaders who would build a Ghana that inspire Africans around the world! That is what would please the Lord, not Cathedrals and filthy wealth that mocks God’s own poor masses!

Aluta Continua!
God save and bless Ghana.
Arthur Kobina Kennedy
21st January, 2024