`Moses` Kufuor ushers in successor `Joshua` Akufo-Addo
Loading ...President J.A. Kufuor, waxing Biblical yet tempted greatly by opposition taunts, on Sunday officially ushered in New Patriotic Party flag-bearer, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo as the party’s new leader into Election 2008, and also sent several ‘replies’ to the main opposition National Democratic Congress.
The occasion was a mammoth party rally at the sprawling market town of Kasoa in the Central Region, where a sea of party faithful witnessed the official baton and leadership change.
The party also used the occasion to officially introduce its elected parliamentary candidates for the 2008 elections.
Arriving in one convoy while several party leaders and officials addressed the rally, President Kufuor and Nana Addo were the last to speak to euphoric cheers.
President Kufuor set out with a conviction that given the huge turnout, the party will secure victory come what may in December, describing the sheer numbers as one he has never seen in his 40 or so years in politics.
He said claims that there was hunger in the country by those who oppose the government were false, and said even if there was hunger, the people had peace and did not feel intimidated or harassed by anyone.
He said the December Election is about electing a good government to continue with the good works of his administration and urged Ghanaians not to look beyond the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo, saying just as Moses ushered in Joshua to succeed him, he was handing over the mantle of leadership to Nana Addo.
President Kufuor reiterated that the election was about nothing else than good institutional leadership of which the NPP is the best example among all sides vying for power in December.
Speaking in a mix of Twi and English, President Kufuor said Ghana was a shining example of good leadership in the whole world, and said Nana Akufo-Addo should be elected in December as the leader of a pack of great leaders in the NPP to send the country into greater development.
While urging NPP followers to ignore opposition ‘lies’ about how poorly his government had performed, he said they made those claims because they did not travel wide enough to see the great development that had engulfed the nation on all fronts and urged all who doubt the great change to spare some time and tour the nation to see things for themselves.
President Kufuor said those developments did not come by accident, but came from the vision of a party with foresight and good planning, and said even though the NDC delighted more in degrees and educational qualifications, they had no one who matched Nana Akufo-Addo.
He said if the performance of the NPP and the NDC were graded as in examinations, “I tell our opponents who are only interested in degrees we would have scored 99.9 percent.”
In direct reference to comments by former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings that Nana Addo had no law degree, President Kufuor said Nana Addo was indeed very well educated and had an uncommon love for the wellbeing of Ghana and in whom the opposition NDC had realised they had too much of a fight on their hands. And having realised they had bitten more than they could swallow, were now biting their way through.
President Kufuor went on to tout the leadership credentials of Nana Addo and said he was the most qualified to lead the country, and urged the party faithful to ignore the NDC because if the NPP was to engage them in name-calling and pointing out malfeasance in the party, the NDC would have ‘no leg to even stand on.’
The President also said it was a lie for the NDC to claim that the current oil find was discovered in their time, explaining that some 37 years ago while he served as deputy minister in Busia’s regime, the nation discovered oil but the administration was soon overthrown by the Acheampong-led coup, and since then the oil ‘vanished’.
Then came his government in the line of the UP tradition, and huge quantities of oil have been discovered again. He said the find could only be a divine intervention and never an accident, claiming that Ghanaians would marvel at the level of resource dissipation in the NDC’s vain search for oil if he was to talk about it.
The President urged the party faithful to bestow on Nana Addo, the same honour done him (Kufuor) in electing him President in 2000 and 2004 because he Nana Addo has been a core member and indeed the very embodiment of the New Patriotic Party and its vision.
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