Ghana: The Making of A New President

2 January 2009
opinion

Lagos — Let me start by eating my own words. I had written in my article about three weeks ago, titled "And Ghana did it again," that Ghana had gotten her democratic process right, and poured profuse praises on President John Agyekum Kufuor. My excitement was based on the commendable success recorded during Ghana's general elections on December 7, 2008, but which was inconclusive. A few of my readers had written in to caution my unbounded optimism. They had warned that I should wait for the re-run on December 28 before jumping to the conclusion that all was well with the Republic of Ghana. Unfortunately for me, the skeptics were right and I was wrong.

The presidential race between the candidate of the National Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, and the candidate of the National Democratic Party, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, was always expected to be a hotly contested one. Both contestants were coming with loads of awesome credentials. Akufo-Addo is one of Ghana's brightest lawyers. He's multilingual, suave and urbane. He was an Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and later, the Foreign Affairs Minister. He also has the fortune of being the son of Ghana's fifth president, Edward Akufo-Addo (August 31, 1970-January 13, 1972). Nana has extensive contacts world-wide, and close links to Nigeria, where his first wife, Remi Fani-Kayode comes from.

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