THANKING TSIKATA: Nana Akufo-Addo’s Smart Move or?

President Elect of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo

By Ekow Mensah

Since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo –Addo was declared winner of the 2016 presidential elections he has singled out some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for public mention either as friends or close advisors.

In his very first speech after the declaration he expressed profound gratitude to Captain Kojo Tsikata, former head of national security and a member of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) for offering him useful advice over the years.

Two day later, Mr Ato Ahwoi, a former Minister and a stalwart of the NDC was put on the spot light by an excited Nana Akufo-Addo who described him in church as a long standing friend.

These developments have led to some speculation as to the exact nature of the relationship that exist between these NDC gurus and Nana Akufo –Addo.

Some have even gone as far as to suggest that leaders of the NDC betrayed their own Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.

Captain Kojo Tsikata

The truth is that Nana Akufo Addo did not lie when he said that both Captain Tsikata and Mr Ato Ahwoi had been his friends for a very long time.

Mr. Ato Ahwoi studied economics with Nana Akufo-Addo at the University and some close friends say that it was Mr Ahwoi who taught Nana Mathematics.

Their friendship dates back many years before the advent of the Provisional National Defence Council.

They all go to the same church and have been having conversations every Sunday when they meet at the Ridge Church to praise God.

Captain Tsikata has also been a close friend of Nana Akufo-Addo for more than 50 years.

Some reports say that Captain Tsikata was extremely helpful to Nana Akufo-Addo when he served as a member of the PNDC in charge of Foreign Affairs and National Security.

However the question on many lips is why Nana Akufo Addo decided to make these relationships public soon after he had won the 2016 presidential elections.

It would appear that Nana wanted to demonstrate his very broad connections in the Ghanaian political establishment and to send a signal to NDC members and supporters that they have nothing to fear from his presidency.

Ato Ahwoi

His assertion that he would be a president for all Ghanaians was effectively buttressed by his public display of friends who are leading members of the NDC.

Indeed, Nana Akufo- Addo made it a point to list many key figures in Ghana and to thank them profusely for their guidance.

These included, former Presidents John Agyekum Kufour, Jerry John Rawlings, Priests, Journalists, family members and friends.

Could this be a master stroke from an incoming President who yearns to end the acrimonious relationship between his party and his main opposition?

Is it true that Nana Akufo-Addo will be President for all Ghanaians and not an NPP President?

Well time will tell.

Editorial

IRAN

What is happening to Iran is simply incredible.

The country was accused of preparing to produce nuclear weapons and it vehemently denied the allegations and opened its gates for very vigorous inspection.

All the inspectors came to the same conclusion that Iran did not have the capacity for producing nuclear weapons and had not embarked upon any such adventure.

Meanwhile the Western countries led by the United States of America had imposed very serve sanctions on Iran based on the strange allegations.

Iran agreed to go into talks with the so-called international community to negotiate a deal which will facilitate the lifting of sanctions.

The international community including the United States of America and its allies, Russia and others signed on to the deal.

In spite of this, the United States of America insists that the sanctions should not be lifted and it is making all kinds of threats against Iran and it’s people.

We are not happy about this situation because it is apparent that the imposition of sanctions is aimed only at bringing Iran to its knees and has nothing to do with the nuclear programme.

The Insight affirms the principle that all nations have a right to determine their own destiny and Iran cannot be an exception.

KEN KLEVOR IS GONE

Comrade Ken Klevor

Mr Ken Klevor, Production Manager of The Insight has died after a protracted illness.

He joined the company as a circulation assistant in 1993 and worked diligently throughout his stay.

During the period he developed other interest and became very active in the Asante Kotoko Supporters Union whose newspaper he edited.

Mr Klevor also managed several entertainment spots and was an astute businessman.

Family sources say that he will be buried on January 27, 2017 at his home town, Anyako in the Volta Region after burial service at the Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra.

Friends and family members are expected to meet next Sunday afternoon at Agboba in Accra to plan the funeral.

The Insight extends its condolence to the bereaved family.

PROFILE OF NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF GHANA

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born and raised in Ga-Maami (Accra Central) and in the Nima area of Accra. 

His father’s residence, Betty House at Korle Wokon in Accra, was effectively the headquarters of the country’s first political party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), after it was formed at Saltpond on 4 August 1947. 

Three of the ‘Big Six’ – the founding fathers of Ghana – were his relatives: J.B. Danquah (grand uncle), William Ofori-Atta (uncle) and Edward Akufo-Addo (the third Chief Justice of Ghana and later ceremonial President of the Republic from 1969 to 1972), (his father).

Akufo-Addo received his primary education first at the Government Boys School, Adabraka, and later at the Rowe Road School (now Kimbu), both in Accra Central.

He went to England to study for his O-Level and A-Level examinations at Lancing College, Sussex. He returned to Ghana in 1962 to teach at Accra Academy Secondary School, before going to read Economics at the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1964, earning a BSc(Econ) degree in 1967. He subsequently studied law in the UK and was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in July 1971. Akufo-Addo was called to the Ghana bar in July 1975.

LEGAL AND BUSINESS CAREER

Akufo Addo meets Dr Kwame Nkrumah

Akufo-Addo stayed in France for five years as a lawyer at the now-defunct New York-based international law firm, Coudert Brothers. Apart from the welcome exposure to the dynamics of international corporate transactions, his stay in France also made him fluent in French.

In 1975, he returned home to Accra to continue with his legal career. He joined the chambers of U.V. Campbell from 1975 to 1979, and in 1979 co-founded the law firm Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co., which has become one of the prominent law firms in Ghana. Some Ghanaian lawyers who passed through his law firm are among the most outstanding lawyers at the Ghanaian bar today. They include Sophia Akuffo, Justice of the Supreme Court; Joyce Darko; Daniel Afari Yeboah; Philip Addison; Joe Ghartey, a former Attorney General and Minister for Justice; Alex Quaynor; Frank Davies; Kweku Paintsil; Ursula Owusu; Atta Akyea, Akufo-Addo’s successor as MP for Abuakwa South constituency; Akoto Ampaw; Yoni Kulendi; Kwame Akuffo; Kwaku Asirifi; and Godfred Dame.

Like the “Doyen of Gold Coast politics”, J. B. Danquah, and others before him, Akufo-Addo used his law practice to champion the cause of human rights, rule of law, justice, freedom, and democracy. He was well known for giving free legal assistance to the poor and fought for the rights and liberties of the Ghanaian people. Indeed, many of the important constitutional cases of the modern era, which, inter alia, protected the independence of the judiciary, the right of the citizen to demonstrate without police permit, and the right of equal access of all political parties to the State-owned media, were undertaken by him.

Akufo-Addo has served on the boards and committees of a number of political, legal, commercial, and social organizations in the country. He was the first Chairperson of DHL (GH) Ltd; Chairperson, Kinesec Communications (Co) Ltd., publishers of The Statesman; and the first Chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He was responsible, through his association with the US company, Millicom, for introducing mobile telephony into the country.

POLITICAL CAREER

In his early thirties, Akufo-Addo was the General Secretary of the broad-based People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice (PMFJ), which was composed of political stalwarts such as Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, William Ofori-Atta, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, Albert Adu Boahen, Sam Okudzeto, Obed Asamoah, Godfrey Agama, K. S. P. Jantuah, Jones Ofori-Atta, Johnny Hanson and Nii Amaah Amartefio ("Mr. No"). This group led the "NO" campaign in the UNIGOV referendum of 1978, designed to solicit popular support for a one-party military-led State. The “No” campaign ultimately brought about the downfall of the Acheampong military government on 5 July 1978, and the restoration of multiparty democratic rule to the country in 1979. Akufo-Addo had to go briefly into exile after the referendum, when his life was in danger. But, from Europe, he could be heard constantly on the BBC World Service, fighting against the military rulers back in Ghana and calling for a return to democracy. He is acknowledged as one of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Ghana.

In 1991, Akufo-Addo was the chairman of the Organising Committee of the Danquah-Busia Memorial Club, a club dedicated to the preservation of the memory and ideals of the two great advocates of Ghanaian democracy, J. B. Danquah and K.A. Busia, Prime Minister of the Progress Party government of the 2nd Republic of Ghana. Akufo-Addo travelled throughout Ghana to establish branches of the Club all over the country in the grassroots style for which he is known. These branches eventually transformed into local organs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior to the elections of 1992, which heralded the reintroduction of democratic governance under the 4th Republic.

In 1992, he was the first national organiser of the NPP and, later that year, campaign manager of the party's first presidential candidate, Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, the man of courage who broke the “culture of silence” in Ghana, and played such a crucial role in the reintroduction of democracy.

In 1992, Akufo-Addo set up and financed The Statesman newspaper, which has become the unofficial mouthpiece of the NPP.

Akufo Addo stands next to Wereko Brobbey in the Kumepreko demo

In 1995, he led the famous “Kume Preko” demonstrations of the Alliance For Change (AFC), a broad-based political pressure group, which mobilised millions of people onto the streets of Ghana to protest the harsh economic conditions of the Rawlings era. Some pundits in Ghana believe that this was instrumental in re-establishing the NPP as a more formidable force after Prof Adu Boahen.

Akufo-Addo was elected three times between 1996 and 2008 as Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa South constituency in the Eastern region of Ghana. From 2001 to 2007, as Cabinet Minister, first as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice for two years, and later as Foreign Minister for five years, Akufo-Addo served in the government of President Kufuor with distinction.

As Attorney-General, he was responsible for the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, which, hitherto, had been used to intimidate the media and criminalise free speech. The repeal has enabled the Ghanaian media become one of the most vibrant and freest in Africa. Under his chairmanship of the Legal Sector Reform Committee, the implementation of the court automation programme was initiated.

As Foreign Minister, he was fully involved in the successful Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peace efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Guinea Bissau, and was chairman of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council in 2003.

In 2004, Ghana was elected one of the 15 pioneer members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council, a mandate which was renewed at the AU Summit in Khartoum in January 2006. Akufo-Addo was chosen by his peers on the AU Executive Council to chair the Ministerial Committee of 15 that fashioned the Ezulwini Consensus, which defined the African Union’s common position on UN Reforms. He negotiated for the 2007 AU Summit to be held in Accra as part of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, and chaired the AU Executive Council in 2007.

Ghana was elected by her peers to take the non-permanent West African seat on the UN Security Council for 2006-07. In August 2006, Akufo-Addo chaired the meeting of the Security Council which took the decision that halted Israel’s massive incursions into Lebanon. Again, Ghana was elected to the new UN body, the Human Rights Council, with the highest number of votes—183 out of 191—of any country, and as a pioneer member of another UN body, the Peacebuilding Commission.

PRESIDENTIAL BIDS

In October 1998, Nana Akufo-Addo competed for the presidential candidacy of the NPP and lost to John Agyekum Kufuor, the man who eventually won the presidential election in Ghana in December 2000 and assumed office as President of Ghana in 2001. Akufo-Addo was the chief campaigner for candidate Kufuor in the 2000 election and became the first Attorney General and Minister for Justice of the Kufuor era.

Akufo-Addo resigned from the Kufuor Government in July 2007 to contest for the position of presidential candidate of his party, the NPP, the then ruling party of Ghana, for the 2008 elections. Competing against 16 others, he won 48% of the votes in the first round of that election, but was given a unanimous endorsement in the second round, making him the party’s presidential candidate.

In the 7 December 2008 presidential race, he received, in the first round, more votes than John Atta Mills, the eventual winner. In the first round, Akufo-Addo received 4,159,439 votes representing 49.13% of the votes cast, placing him first, but not enough for the 50% needed for an outright victory. It was the best-ever performance for a first-time presidential candidate in the Fourth Republic. In the run-off, Mills received 4,521,032 votes, representing 50.23%, thus beating Akufo-Addo by the smallest margin in Ghana’s, and, indeed, in Africa’s political history. 

Akufo-Addo accepted the results without calling even for a recount, thereby helping to preserve the peace, freedom and stability of Ghana. Akufo-Addo again contested in the 2012 national elections against the NDC candidate, the late Mills’ successor as President, John Mahama, and lost. That election generated considerable controversy, and was finally decided by the Supreme Court in a narrow 5/4 decision in favour of John Mahama. Akufo-Addo is credited with helping to preserve the peace of the country by the statesmanlike manner in which he accepted the adverse verdict of the Court, at a time of high tension in the country.  

In March 2014, Akufo-Addo announced his decision to seek his party’s nomination for the third time ahead of the 2016 election. He secured an unprecedented, landslide victory of 94.35% of the votes in the party’s presidential primary in October, 2014, in a contest of seven competitors. Akufo-Addo also took time off to serve as Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Mission for the South African elections in 2014, building on his reputation as Ghana's Former Foreign Minister.

Credit: www.nanaakufoaddo.org