I am absolutely sure of it that the biggest problem of President Mills of Ghana is lack of wise counselors or advisors. I’m even surer that he needs an inclination for that kind of desired wise counsel-an inclination the president has woefully failed to demonstrate since he became President. Why, how can any leader ever lead successfully without the benefit of such counsel? Perhaps, only in an Atta Mills Presidency can people delude themselves with such a notion.
The last time I wrote an open letter to the President, I humbly cautioned his Excellency to get his acts together as urgently as practicable before ultimately losing his core support base in the NDC. And what did I get for daring to make such a prudent suggestion? A flood of e-mail in my in-box. You can guess the content of these messages that mostly came from naïve, blind, sycophantic and avowed stomach supporters of the president. Many of them cursed me for daring to evoke one of the cardinal principles that form the bedrock of the NDC-the courage to speak the truth and stand by it no matter the cost. There were others who commended me though for speaking out openly what many of them had already been discussing privately. But one thing became clear to me after my last letter to the President-many people who call themselves NDC do not even have an appreciation of the core values of this movement-and that includes the President.
I am not one of those who have been taken aback by the abhorrent behavior of President Mills whiles in office. As for how he has treated the founder of his party, it had long been predicted. And he’s been on record to have said that he will not treat President Jerry John Rawlings differently from President Kufour. Therefore, the reparation some of us have been advocating and expecting President Mills to give to President Rawlings for the eight years of damage and denigration from the Kuffour Presidency will only remain a day dream.
The ingratitude of President Mills is legendary without a doubt.
I first learnt of this in the run-up to the 2004 general election whiles I was still a student in Cape Coast. That was an election he meekly conceded defeat and earned himself and accolade the ‘asomdwe hene’ as though that was worth it. One evening in the company of a couple of my colleague student activists, we got the greatest shock of our lives from the man whose picture boldly occupied the front of the T-shirts we regaled.
Apparently, upon his arrival at his sister’s residence in Cape Coast during a campaign tour of the central and western regions, President Mills had been ill advised by his ‘advisors’ that we were a group of opportunist students who had come to meet him and try to get from him some favors. The truth however is that, we had been given these T-shirts by his own sister who revealed to us when Prof. Mills would arrive at her residence and encouraged us to regale ourselves with them and meet him to invite him to give us a talk in school. Upon her request, we were seated that evening and waiting for Prof. Mills for several hours until almost mid-night. That night has since remained one of the most regrettable nights for me as a youth activists of the NDC.
Why, when we were finally asked to see candidate Mills, he was seated and surrounded by a bunch of ingrates who were already day-dreaming of becoming presidential aides and ill advisors. He was the first to address us-and it was appalling. He spoke totally unlike someone who even dreamt of becoming president. He said to us that he had been told that we were students who had come to his sister’s residence to seek campaign paraphernalia. Prof. Mills asked us if his sister’s residence was the party office and why we had come there.
I was not the leader of the group but I wished I was. Our leader had become instantly timid-understandably. Although we were all shocked at the remarks from the Prof. who wanted to become Ghana’s president, our leader was even more confused as he had the extra burden of responding appropriately and respectfully. As would be expected, he fumbled through his response. He could not even be coherent as he struggled to put his vocabulary together. At this point, I only wanted to do one thing-remove that T-shirt of the Prof. and throw it to his face. At the end, he said to us, that he would see what he can do regarding coming to address us in school. We left his presence immediately with disgust and full of regrets.
It became obvious to me that this Prof. was not a serious man worth my energy in campaigning for. Here was a man who was running for president. A group of student volunteers got invited by your own sister to come and meet you. And if we came to your house for party paraphernalia-and yes, it was not the party office-but in whose interest was it? Not you who is running for president? So that if the Prof’s so-called advisors ill-advised him, as a ‘presidential material’ he should have known how to handle such information better than making it sound as though he didn’t have a ‘presidential mindscape’. And as if he was going to do us a favor. But how can you blame him if he does not have that ‘mindscape’. He simply cannot fake it.
It didn’t surprise many of my comrades who know about this experience with the Prof. When I said in 2006 that the Prof. cannot rule Ghana with these same people I met with him in 2004 as his advisors and with the same inclination. With that kind of naked ingratitude shown to students rooting for him to be president, how could you expect him to show any appreciation to the foot soldiers or his financiers or even his political benefactors in the NDC? And with such ill advisors surrounding a man who already lacks the inclination for wise counsel, how would you expect him to act wisely and in the interest of consolidating power for the NDC?
This is why when people say that I criticize the president unnecessarily; I say back to them that they’re supporting a man they don’t even have an iota of knowledge about. Some of us have been observing the Prof. since 2004 to see if he will become different. That is why we gave him the benefit of the doubt after he became our flag bearer in 2006 and supported him unconditionally. Unfortunately, a leopard can never change its colors. The president has continually confirmed to all of us who have eyes to see and an open mind to think that he is not a leader that can inspire all others to follow him and work for a common goal. He is a legendary ingrate who will only learn his lesson after his reign has crumbled and there is no indelible mark left behind to show for it.
There are those avowed supporters of the President who say that President Mills’ refusal to consult and take free advice from NDC founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings is a demonstration of his independence as a president who is of his own ideas. I’m not sure if that is what Prof. Mills really thinks he is doing. But if what his supporters say is true, it will be the most naïve thing any President can do to ignore the rich counsel of the man who introduced you to politics-such a priceless boon- in a bid to demonstrate independence of mind when in reality you do not have what it takes to be independent minded in the first place. After all, does he not still take useless and destructive counsel from his bunch of ill advisors? What is independent about that? And how does this so-called independence inure to the benefit of his presidency? Did Prof. Mills become NDC leader independently? Absolutely not! So where does this independence theory emanate from? I guess it can only emanate from ill advisors whose only aim is to cover up their own bad deeds that would suffer exposure by the former President Rawlings whose commitment to the truth is equally legendary and unmatched in our political landscape.
And that is why I say President Mills is in dire need of advisors to replace the current bunch of ill advisors. Before then, let the president develop ASAP the inclination to heed to such wise counsel or consider himself a failed president. Less I forget let those who have suddenly woken up to the reality that the NDC founder is indispensible to the fortunes of our party in any present or future election-be it intra-party election or national election-know where to direct their ‘wise counsel’. Let them be talking to those ingrates in the NDC pressing the self destructive button and making sure they listen. For no one else needs counsel than President Mills and his ill advisors who have done him no single good since he became president. They even convinced him to forget that he became president because he was consecrated on June4 in Swedru where he was famously declared by NDC founder Jerry Rawlings as heir to the NDC Flag so that he now can violate the inviolable June 4.
I’m also of the opinion that it is also almost too late for the President to make any amends to assuage the King makers in the NDC to retain him as NDC leader. He would have to fight it independently. And I double doubt if independent fighting for political power has ever been a part of the ‘father for all’ president who prefers to chase after the myth called ‘floating voters’ at the expense of the real people who put him there. Has he ever heard the saying that a bird in hand is worth ten in the bush?
If I were to be an advisor to President Mills for just a day, the first thing I would tell him is that there is a different moral code in politics. That moral code is not called ‘father for all’. It involves having two faces: the man and the alpha man. Seeking retribution for injustices perpetuated by public officials for example requires the face of the alpha man. Not the meek man. Keeping your opponents far from the seat of government does not require ‘father for all’. Sustaining power does not require praise singers around you as president and espousing gentleness. It requires people who would look you in the face and tell you the truth. If it is too bitter, why chew it. Just swallow it. I will hasten to add that no single political opponent has given him applause since he declared himself ‘father for all’. If your political opponents will not applaud you for that, what do you expect from your neglected followers? Further praises? No. absolute abandonment!
And if the ‘father for all’ moral code hasn’t been prudent, why maintain it. As I have said earlier, it is one of the most naïve themes of the President to even declare himself ‘father for all’ to Ghanaians when he has woefully failed to unite his own NDC almost two years after gaining political power. He has been ‘father for all’ in the judiciary and what has been the result; a disaster in the pursuance of justice. He has been ‘father for all’ in the public and civil services, and what has been the result; sabotage and subterfuge. He has been ‘father for all’ in the media, and what has been the result; the opposition is shaping public opinion and leading the discourse-even gaining a moral high ground. He has been ‘father for all’ business men in Ghana, and what has been the result; apathy from his campaign financiers and colossal sums of money in the hands of his political opponents.
I cannot and will not believe that the Atta Mills Presidency is working with strategy. If it is, what is it called and what is its purpose? I’m sure of one thing; it is not a winning strategy, so: it is not worth it. I cannot rest my case until the NDC flag and membership ID card is taken away from this president whose values, views and ideals are anything but those of the NDC!
saCut Amenga-Etego (YFL General secretary and NDC youth activist)
