Dele Momodu
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.
On his part, Professor Atta-Mills is a distinguished professor of law, and Nana's former classmate at the University of Ghana, Legon. Both are 64 years old, and are known to be friends. Prof Atta-Mills was Internal Revenue Service Commissioner before he became the Vice-President of Ghana under President Jerry John Rawlings. He was defeated eight years ago when he contested against President Kufuor, against all predictions and expectation. The perfect gentleman ate the humble pie, conceded defeat gracefully, and congratulated his opponent. Again in 2004, he contested against the incumbent President Kufuor, and lost in a close contest. Rather than make trouble, and throw darts at his rival, Prof. Atta-Mills simply moved on with his life.
But history is full of twists and turns. The Prof had been written off by many pundits. They said he was finished in politics. That age was no longer on his side. And that his health was failing. Some even alleged that he was being ravaged by cancer, and predicted only gloom and doom for him. But the man only had problems with his eyes, suspected to be a bout with glaucoma or cataract at the most. He went into his primaries to duel with much younger personalities, and richer favourites. He was also said to have lost the favour of his political godfather, Jerry Rawlings. Against all odds, he won the primaries in a landslide victory. And many queried the rationale behind picking a candidate who had brought failure twice already to their party, when there were younger and funkier aspirants like John Mahama, Eddie Annan and Ekow Spio Garbrah.
As if the worst was not over for Prof Atta-Mills, he ran into problems with the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyman-Rawlings, who had campaigned vigorously for a female Vice President, when their flag-bearer chose John Mahama as his running mate. Jerry Rawlings was said to have been livid. This altercation would become a great plus for the NDC candidate. If he was thought to be a stooge of Rawlings in the past, the accomplished scholar had finally demonstrated that he was his own man, who knew when to say yes or no.
The next hurdle was how he was going to do battle with a man as famous and well-connected as Nana Akufo-Addo, especially in the area of raising funds. Akufo-Addo was known to be friends with the richest Nigerians, while Prof was an under-dog who was not known by most people outside Ghana. But Prof was blessed by his friendship with the man in the Synagogue of All Nations, Pastor Temitope Joshua, who introduced him to powerful Nigerians.
The man of God had called me one afternoon to ask if I knew a man called Professor Atta-Mills. I answered in the affirmative. He then asked about his chances in the presidential elections in Ghana. I said his chances were very bright based on my interaction with the ordinary Ghanaians, like my drivers and chefs. I had learnt to listen to those folks than the champagne-drinking elites who live in fool's paradise and are always removed from reality. Unknown to me, the Prof was listening to our conversation. The pastor said I should speak to someone who turned out to be Professor Atta-Mills. I was shocked to my bones as the humble man exchanged greetings with me.
Not long after, I got a call from a prominent Nigerian businessman and politician with extensive investments on the West Coast. The former Governor also wanted to know if I knew Prof Atta-Mills well, and if I thought he stood any chance in the elections. I gave my candid analysis, that it was going to be very close, but if the man got little support from his friends, he can definitely make it. He also told me to speak to the Prof, who sounded very impressed that his friends needed my opinion as an expert on Ghana. As fate would have it again, Prof Atta-Mills ran into some influential people at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on his way to Ghana. One of them rang me up to ask my opinion of the Prof. The coincidence was getting a bit spiritual, and Prof told me clearly that he was very surprised that all his friends relied on my opinion.
We never spoke and never met throughout his campaigns. As someone who lives, and has substantial investments in Ghana, I had learnt to stay clear of politics. I was yet to get out of the problem I believe was caused by my neutral fraternity with Rawlings. Ovation had done extensive interviews with the former President, spanning eighteen hours in five days, what I consider our greatest effort to date. We also covered President Kufuor on so many of our covers, in fact, more than any other President.
But some hawks in government labeled us as "friends of Jerry Rawlings." In Ghana, you can not serve both masters. And as if my sin was not bad enough, I agreed to help the Guv'nor of Niteshift, Ken Caleb-Olumhese, invite Jerry Rawlings to The Coliseum in Lagos, for the club's Grand House Reception. I flew into Lagos with Rawlings and his entire family, something he said was totally unusual and dangerous, and flew back to Ghana with them, in order to re-assure them that we were not up to any mischief. We even had dinner with the Governor of Lagos State, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola and his wife Abimbola.
Since then, I have been in a cat and mouse game with the authorities. My industrial catering equipment ordered from South Africa at over $50,000 remains in the port, with no credible explanation for its non-release. I pressed buttons up to the office of our good friend, the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who was unable to unravel the mystery. We went to court to put pressure against the controversial Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, which was responsible for granting us waivers on the goods. But we were persuaded to drop it, and got verbal apologies for the mix-up that caused the problem. Yet for over fifteen months since then, nothing has happened.
I avoided all the invitations by both parties but allowed my Editor to give extensive coverage to whoever approached us for publicity. I only gave free consultations to those Nigerians who were interested in sponsoring one or both candidates but don't really know if any of them gave out money. There were rumours of Nigerians swarming one of them with millions of dollars. But the elections turned out as I predicted, too close to call. Ghanaians are largely principled, and are not easily lured by the lucre of money. They loathe the idea of Big Man, and love the Common Man. The opposition won the majority in the parliament, while the ruling party held on to a tiny lead in the presidential race which did not meet the constitutional requirement, and led to the re-run. The general mood in Ghana was that a change was needed, as the ruling party lost seven out of the ten regions on December 7, and even lost eight out of the ten regions on December 28.
Everyone expected that the new winner with a slight lead, Prof Atta-Mills, would have been immediately declared on December 28, but that was not to be. The great Nana and his supporters alleged foul play, and vowed to fight to the end. They claimed there were irregularities in the NDC stronghold of Volta Region, and that voting must take place in Tain, the last constituency where voting had not been conducted, hoping it could garner enough votes to overtake the 23,000 lead of the NDC. Leaders of opposition also alleged discrepancies in voting in the NPP base of Ashanti Region, as well as acts of brigandage, and supplied evidence. They challenged their opponents to bring out their own evidence which never came, and even agreed to partake in the new voting in Tain.
The NDC promptly deployed its full arsenal to Tain, led by their strong man, Jerry Rawlings. The election was billed to be held on January 2, 2009. But in a dramatic move, rather than head for the elections in Tain, the flag-bearer of the ruling party went straight to an Accra court on January 1, a public holiday in Ghana, to seek an injunction against the declaration of the Presidential result. At that stage many Ghanaians openly expressed frustration at Nana's strange move, and the out-going president said in a speech that he was ready to fulfill constitutional obligations placed on him by handing over power on January 7, 2009. That was the final straw that broke the camel's back, and Ghanaians were happy that their president has chosen the path of honour, unlike other sit-tight African rulers who would have cashed in on the constitutional crisis to elongate their stay in power.
As I told the ECOWAS Secretary General, Dr Ibn Chambers last Tuesday, President Kufuor is just a few seconds from becoming a world statesman. Nothing must derail it.
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Oh my God, this is a very insightful piece. As a Ghanaian currently residing in Toronto Canada,there were many things I couldn't understand about the elections which this article has made quite clear. thanks