Is Atta-Mills Ready to Rule Ghana?
Published on 11th November 2008
John Atta-Mills’ failure to attend a highly significant peace meeting organised in Accra by the Editors Forum for presidential candidates in the face of allegations that the ruling NPP intends to rig the December 7 general election fuel political speculation on whether he can rule Ghana.
Atta-Mills has been missing out on vital state political functions. He is unable to articulate the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) policies in tackling Ghana’s development tribulations.Unlike the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, Atta-Mills has not projected the confidence needed to push the frontiers for Ghana’s progress.
The row that ensued when the NDC manifesto was unveiled a few weeks ago reveals an Atta-Mills who lacks original ideas, full grasp of Ghana as a development project, and, therefore, short of insight as to how he will tackle Ghana’s problems.
Though Atta-Mills is qualified academically, I wonder whether he has what it takes to be President of the Republic of Ghana in an election season that has been fought on low cultural and intellectual level. He seems not to care much about the political process as is expected of a leader of a main opposition party.
More seriously, Ghanaians are becoming increasingly concerned about Atta-Mills’ health as President (in case he wins the December 7 general election) and his virtual control by ex-president Jerry Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang.
When the US President George Bush visited Ghana in February, 2008, for some unexplained political reasons, Atta-Mills said he would not attend the ceremony. But with pressure from Rawlings, he turned up for the Bush ceremony, gleefully greeting Bush, his wife and other dignitaries.
Political Ghana’s concerns about Atta-Mills' capacity to govern also go beyond the Bush visit. Few months ago, Atta-Mills failed to turn up in a Kumasi forum organised by the Trade Union Congress for presidential candidates to talk about their labour policies in a Ghana where unemployment is a vexing issue. He also failed to grace a seminar organised by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Centre for Renewable Energy for presidential candidates to discuss how they will solve Ghana’s energy problems.
Is Atta-Mills under some sort of juju-marabout spiritual spell by his controllers that is wearing him away? Is he under too much pressure as a presidential candidate? Can he stand the rigours of presidential office? If Atta-Mills is uncomfortable with the burden of being a presidential candidate within the walls of the Rawlingses’ autocracy, why is he still in the race? Why can't he opt out for peace of mind ?
During the October 29 first presidential debate in Accra, the Daily Guide observed that “signs of lethargy and weariness were evident on him during the debate which became more obvious when he tried to raise his voice in an aggressive manner…(Atta-Mills) appeared to be angry with himself.”
With his image as having weak political DNA and easily manipulated by the Rawlingses, Atta-Mills had been a professor of business law at the University of Ghana and Commissioner of Income Tax. In Ghana, as in other parts of the world, university professors are highly respected because they are supposed to be sophisticated and independent minded. The political Atta-Mills appears, in all measure, not sophisticated and independent minded.
This has created the buzz that against other more politically savvy and physically fit NDC candidates such as Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Rawlingses preferred Atta-Mills because they saw in him a person they can control and use to re-rule Ghana.
Rawlings has been seriously on the campaign trail as if he is NDC’s presidential candidate. More gravely, as the Daily Guide observed, “instead of telling the electorate about the policies of Prof. Mills, the former president used his six-day tour of the (Ashanti) region to blow his own horn and attack the Kufuor administration.”
Against the backdrop of its worrisome history of senseless military juntas and frightening one-party regimes, and how to consolidate a toddler democracy in an atmosphere of peace, is Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills fit to be President of the Republic of Ghana come December 7, 2008?
Atta-Mills has been missing out on vital state political functions. He is unable to articulate the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) policies in tackling Ghana’s development tribulations.Unlike the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, Atta-Mills has not projected the confidence needed to push the frontiers for Ghana’s progress.
The row that ensued when the NDC manifesto was unveiled a few weeks ago reveals an Atta-Mills who lacks original ideas, full grasp of Ghana as a development project, and, therefore, short of insight as to how he will tackle Ghana’s problems.
Though Atta-Mills is qualified academically, I wonder whether he has what it takes to be President of the Republic of Ghana in an election season that has been fought on low cultural and intellectual level. He seems not to care much about the political process as is expected of a leader of a main opposition party.
More seriously, Ghanaians are becoming increasingly concerned about Atta-Mills’ health as President (in case he wins the December 7 general election) and his virtual control by ex-president Jerry Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang.
When the US President George Bush visited Ghana in February, 2008, for some unexplained political reasons, Atta-Mills said he would not attend the ceremony. But with pressure from Rawlings, he turned up for the Bush ceremony, gleefully greeting Bush, his wife and other dignitaries.
Political Ghana’s concerns about Atta-Mills' capacity to govern also go beyond the Bush visit. Few months ago, Atta-Mills failed to turn up in a Kumasi forum organised by the Trade Union Congress for presidential candidates to talk about their labour policies in a Ghana where unemployment is a vexing issue. He also failed to grace a seminar organised by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Centre for Renewable Energy for presidential candidates to discuss how they will solve Ghana’s energy problems.
Is Atta-Mills under some sort of juju-marabout spiritual spell by his controllers that is wearing him away? Is he under too much pressure as a presidential candidate? Can he stand the rigours of presidential office? If Atta-Mills is uncomfortable with the burden of being a presidential candidate within the walls of the Rawlingses’ autocracy, why is he still in the race? Why can't he opt out for peace of mind ?
During the October 29 first presidential debate in Accra, the Daily Guide observed that “signs of lethargy and weariness were evident on him during the debate which became more obvious when he tried to raise his voice in an aggressive manner…(Atta-Mills) appeared to be angry with himself.”
With his image as having weak political DNA and easily manipulated by the Rawlingses, Atta-Mills had been a professor of business law at the University of Ghana and Commissioner of Income Tax. In Ghana, as in other parts of the world, university professors are highly respected because they are supposed to be sophisticated and independent minded. The political Atta-Mills appears, in all measure, not sophisticated and independent minded.
This has created the buzz that against other more politically savvy and physically fit NDC candidates such as Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Rawlingses preferred Atta-Mills because they saw in him a person they can control and use to re-rule Ghana.
Rawlings has been seriously on the campaign trail as if he is NDC’s presidential candidate. More gravely, as the Daily Guide observed, “instead of telling the electorate about the policies of Prof. Mills, the former president used his six-day tour of the (Ashanti) region to blow his own horn and attack the Kufuor administration.”
Against the backdrop of its worrisome history of senseless military juntas and frightening one-party regimes, and how to consolidate a toddler democracy in an atmosphere of peace, is Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills fit to be President of the Republic of Ghana come December 7, 2008?