The real battle for the presidency in the December 2012 election, will be between the incumbent President Mills, and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the largest of the opposition parties in Ghana.
I recall that not too long after Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was defeated by Mr. J. A. Kufuor, in the NPP's primary election to select its presidential candidate for the December 2000 elections, I had a short conversation with him.
I told him then, as I commiserated with him on his missed opportunity, that it was tragic that his party had chosen Kufuor over him - because I sincerely believed that he would have made a far better president than Kufuor ever was: as he would have seized the historic opportunity Providence gave their party, to change the face of Ghanaian politics for the better, forever.
Had his party had the good sense to choose him, instead of the cynical Kufuor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would have set a shinning example in good governance, for the rest of Africa to follow.
And we would have seen a dynamic and non-tribalistic NPP leader, running a largely corruption-free administration - very much like those virtually corruption-free regimes in Botswana and Ethiopia.
If Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had become president in January 2001, instead of Mr. Kufuor, Ghaianains would never have witnessed the unprecedented levels of nepotism, greed, tribalism and abuse of office, which fuelled elite-corruption so much, during the eight long and profitable years, of the sunny days of the golden age of business - for the perfidious Kufuor; his favourites amongst the members of his large family clan; and his regime's crony-capitalist, tax-evading super-tycoon friends: who bankroll the NPP.
As we all know today, they ruthlessly exploited our national economy - for private gain: at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians and their homeland Ghana. Those abominable and disgraceful actions of the small but powerful tribal-supremacist cabal, which dominated the NPP at the time, would never have reached the destructive levels they did, during the Kufuor era - reaching its apogee at the tail-end of Kufuor's presidency - had it been Nana Akufo-Addo who had been president at the time.
It is such a pity that the more cynical and selfish individual of the two NPP politicians ended up becoming Ghana's president.
For a large chunk of his adult life, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has served the nation he so obviously loves - to the extent of risking life and limb on many occasions, fighting with other patriots and nationalists, to help remove military regimes - in order to restore constitutional rule to Ghana: so as to enable its people enjoy constitutionally-guaranteed rights enjoyed by citizens in democratic nations throughout the world.
That is one of the reasons why I feel that it is unfair of those who do not know him, yet for base political reasons denigrate this friendly, generous-hearted and outgoing personality. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could have so easily chosen a life of ease and leisure, because of his wealthy background - but because of his idealism, chose instead, that nest of vipers, which is the world of Ghanaian politics: so that he could make a difference to his country and its people.
One took an instant liking to him, when upon being told one was "Marian's brother" in 1996, the first time we came across each other, he said to one of the clever young lawyers in his chambers: "He's not the brother I know."
It was a razor-sharp mind telling the young lawyer working in his chambers handling my brief at the time, Yonney Kulende, in a roundabout way, to be careful - as I might as well be an imposter, for all they knew. He knew my older brother Charles - but had never met me before.
Only a clever and witty individual could have phrased a warning, clothed in such seemingly innocuous garb, in a riposte, quick as a flash. Its such a pity that a fine gentleman like that with such a quick brain, is leading what a wag I am acquainted with, often refers to, as: "...that almost brain-dead party now badly infected and made contagious by Kufuor & Co's greed, nepotism and tribalism."
It is also a pity that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was chosen eight years too late by his party - which, if it had had the good sense to select him as its presidential candidate in 2000, would probably never have lost the December 2008 presidential election.
Speaking personally, despite having a soft spot for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and having a great deal of respect for him, I will be praying hard that President Mills is re-elected in December 2012 - as I agree with those who say that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's party has forfeited the right to rule the nation whose future they are apparently now even prepared to resort to violence over.
No politician or political party that does not understand clearly, that what is a unique working model of modern Africa tomorrow, today, and a harbinger of the coming African renaissance, cannot, under any circumstances, afford to have its image soiled and reputation tainted by such uncivilised and barbaric phenomena, as countrywide election violence, deserves to rule our homeland Ghana.
Violence is no longer a fit-for-purpose tactic, in elections in Africa's beacon-of-hope, Nkrumah's Ghana. The peace-loving people of Ghana, do not deserve to have their country descend into chaos and violence, merely because of disputed elections - and to have their lives turned upside down because of the lust for power of some members of its political class.
All Ghana's politicians and its political parties, must resolve to rein in the men and women of violence in their midst - and promise the ordinary people of Ghana that under no circumstances will they permit anything that will destroy our nation's hard-won and priceless international reputation, as a civilised, modern and stable African nation-state - which always has non-violent, free and fair elections every four years.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must make a solemn promise to Ghanaians that under his leadership, the NPP will devote all its energies to working with all the other political parties, to help find a way to prevent violence from breaking out, at any polling station in Ghana, during the December 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
On his part, President Mills must also promise to work together with the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that a verifiable biometric electoral register is in place. Lack of resources must not become an insurmountable hurdle we cannot overcome.
A little creative thinking ought to lead us to the doors of our Indian friends. Surely, the world's largest democracy, with which we've had friendly relations dating back to March 1957, can lend us all the equipment we need, for a verifiable biometric electoral register?
Despite the fractious nature of most of the membership of the political parties they both lead, one wishes both President Mills and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, two fundamentally decent and essentially good human beings, well, in the campaign for the December 2012 presidential election. Above all, may Ghana emerge the real winner, in that very very important election! Let the followers of the political parties they lead eschew all violence on that important day of reckoning for our country. A word to the wise...
Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.
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