It was a normal afternoon at Wesley Girls' Senior High School when I received a parcel from the General Office.
It was during the period of the WASSCE therefore my parcel had already been scanned (which I was not too happy about but it was for the good of the school).
Well, I was not really expecting any gifts from anyone because my mother had already visited me two weeks earlier hence my 'chop-box' was running over with provisions. So I opened the parcel and to my surprise the gift was from the Office of the President!
It contained an autographed copy of his book 'My first coup d'etat' (which I started reading as soon as I laid hands on it) along with a letter. Then I remembered that I had written a letter to H.E President John Mahama some weeks back.
In the letter, I gave suggestions on various topics - education, infrastructure, tourism, interaction with citizens and even went ahead to talk about the nature of the roads to most of our tourist sites which need to be improved. Even though I wrote the letter, I doubted that I would get a reply but I wrote and posted it anyway.
So it was quite surprising and humbling to know that my voice was heard. This experience along with current occurrences has taught me a lot concerning the President (some of which I would share soon).
Though I may not agree with some of the decisions and actions he took during his term of office, I would like to focus on the positives in this article.
First of all, I would say that his letter to me taught me a lot of things:
1. My voice was important. He could have ignored whatever I wrote in my letter (after all I was just a second year General Science student who had little experience about matters involving governance at the time) but he chose to respond. This made me realize the power of communication especially through letters.
2. His reply was encouraging. In the letter, he was very appreciative of the fact that I took initiative to express my thoughts and he expressed keen interest in my progress at school. He went ahead to give me some encouraging words as well.
3. His book was informative, intriguing and entertaining. I learnt a lot about leadership and decision-making through his book. From what I watch on television, I think President John Mahama has a great sense of humor and an entertaining personality therefore I wasn't surprised that I kept flipping each page with some form of excitement wishing the stories never came to an end. I also got the chance to have a peek into his youthful years of life.
These last two points are not based on my direct interaction with him but on certain events.
4. Respect for the rule of law. The Election Petition revealed a lot about the President and our country at large. However, one of the lessons I will never forget is to respect the rule of law irrespective of one's position. Even though President John Mahama was in power at the time, he went through court proceedings and allowed the systems to work as they should hence corroborating his respect for the rule of law in this situation.
5. A patriot, lover of peace and democracy. Today, I use these words to describe the President because of his courage to accept defeat and respect the will of the people despite his wishes.
This is not to imply that he is perfect. However, I believe that Ghana is blessed to have had such a president.In the same spirit of happiness and patriotism I say congratulations to President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo. I have not had the opportunity to interact with President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo but from a distance, I admire his courage,persistence and resilience.
Lastly, I am not a member of any political party; I wrote this because I believe in acknowledging good values. I want to assume he replied to many others like me, which would really be a good thing.
www.adzeleydeluxy.wordpress.com and [email protected]
Source: Naa Adzoa Adzeley Boi-Dsane
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I wonder how people are behaving as if Nana Akuffo Addo is God to them and can provide them with all their needs. We live to see!!!!
It's a file photo. In other words they don't have a picture of the real girl and they took one on file of a model.
Who cares about yOur letter to Mahama and its reply? Does that reduce taxes? Does that reduce the number of give away V8s with impunity using the kayayos tax money. This arrogant John Mahama indeed. Remember him dancing to Yentie obiaa in Asantehenes palace? A ***barred word*** indeed. No ***barred word*** president will ever take Ghanaians for ***barred word*** like this Mahama guy. God dont punish him. NEVER AGAIN IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF GHANA SHALL WE EVER HAVE SUCH AN INSOLENT MAN TO LEAD US.
A second year general science student with this hair? or its vacation hair do? Good reading anyway but Mahama could be very arrogant, a murderer and corrupt and Ghanaians didn't like him for that. He doesn't take advise because he had surrounded himself with small boys with very little life experience. Hope he has learnt his lesson.
How sweet, how nostalgic. But let's get serious, girl, on two points: On respect for the rule of law: Ghanaians have over the years worked hard to nurture their democracy and it is now difficult for anyone to hi-jack it. Whether to accept the challenge or not was not a choice JDM could make because Ghanaians have accepted that democratic processes have to work. That's also why Nana Addo also had no choice but to use the legal, democratic means. The lesson is: Ghanaians collectively have the credit of accepting relatively working democratic structures. We have come to a stage where no one - President or not - can impose their will on us!!! Of course, losing an election is painful but one can't do anything about it. The President was confronted with that bare fact ... he lost ... and there wass no way he could stand against the power of the people's THUMPs. LESSON: NOW in Ghana power belongs to the people to give and take away. It is not in the bossom of the President to deny that. It is not patriotism to accept defeat ... it is a "must accept" willy-nilly situation. Anyway, I would encourage the young ones to think Ghana, not persons!
it takes time for wounds to heal. it is a process.however, are some people suggesting that, by logic, when K4 Quadrupled Ghana's economy, the npp was kicked out. was mills/mahama admi. therefore a curse? when it is time, it is time. dust yourself up and move on. Nana will come and go, Ghana will still be here. for those sulking over this humiliating defeat, for the next four years God willing, nana will be our next prez. get used to it.
@ King Anan.Here you are wishing that fire would engulf the shops of traders who have reduced prices of their stuff because NPP won. Sir, be very careful what you wish for.I can tell you that fire might engulf your house and burn you and your family to a cinder.In the first place people can reduce their prices to any level at any time they choose to.That's their right.To the louts who are saying people didn't like Mahama because he is a Notherner are way off the mark.People simply do not like Mahama because the man is so inept ,so callous. Do you know how many times folks have to run to top up their electricity credit?How many times have we not heard tales of blatant l00t1ng of the national coffers and Mahama had done nothing.The man did himself in and he relied so much on the rigging machinery set up by the EC.Whiles others were promising heaven on earth to the electorate he was miming Usain Bolt and sharing st0len money.Folks I have no sympathy for John Mahama.
MOST GHANAIANS HAVE GROWN PAST THE TRIBAL CARD SO THOSE OF YOU SPEWING THIS ***barred word*** EXCUSE THAT MAHAMA WAS DISLIKED BECAUSE OF HIS ETHNICITY MUST LEARN TO GROW UP. MOST GHANAIANS WOULD AGREE THAT MAHAMA WAS THE MOST AND OPEN DIVISIVE NORTHERN PRESIDENT ON RECORD, PERIOD!!! NONE OF YOU TRIBAL BIGOTS EVER POINTED OUT THIS JDM SALIENT BEHAVIOUR AND UTTERANCES BASED ON DIVISIVENESS THROUGHOUT HIS PRESIDENCY. THIS IS THE ONLY PRESIDENT IN OUR POLITICAL HISTORY WHO OPENLY DEMONSTRATED AND MANIFESTED HIS DISDAIN AND DISLIKE FOR AKANS WITH TRIPLE EMPHASIS ON ASANTES. I'M NOT DEFENDING ASNATES/AKANS BUT MOST AKANS IN OUR POLITICAL/DEMOCRATIC DISPENSATION ARE NOT INWARD-LOOKING AND WILL DISOWN THEIR OWN WHO IS MOT FAIR AND INCOMPETENT. TO REPEAT, MAHAMA IS/WAS THE MOST DIVIDE AND RULE PRESIDENT EVER TO EMERGE IN GHANA'S HISTORY........
The saddest part is that the traders who were complaining they can't pay their wards school fees due to economic harship, suddenly reduced prices of their wares when the NPP won. God cannot be mocked. Fire shall engulf their stores in this NPP era and that curse shall be with them. Amen
I think I agree with you. People just hate Mahama because he is from the north. Mahama is the best we ever had so far when our country adopted democracy, that is since 1992.