Jacob Osei-Yeboah present his book to President Kufuor
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Accra Thursday October 25, 2012.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday
said it would be wrong for anybody to hold that African politics is still
tottering.
“We are matured politically. We may not appreciate
diversity in terms of party affiliation but that cannot be said to be a lack of
maturity on the part of Africans as we strive to consolidate multi-party
democracy,” he explained.
Mr. Kufuor known in politics as ‘Gentle Giant’
made the comment at his residence in Accra when independent Presidential
candidate Jacob
Osei-Yeboah aka JOY, 44, paid a courtesy call on the Ex-President to seek his
blessing for the December contest.
The
former President said he respects the decision of people
wanting to contest elections as independent candidates but believes they could
do better in a political party system.
“Our constitution recognizes the role of political
parties in a multi-party democracy and also makes room for independent
candidates and in some countries like Benin independent candidates Yayi Boni
managed to compete and defeat established political parties twice,” adding “But
in many more countries you find that you need the parties to survive.”
He said that the task of governing “is so awesome
and complicated that it cannot be one man’s business.”
“No one can claim to do it all alone. You have to
have a team.
Anytime I get a platform I remind people that it is not just the
one personality no matter how good that person may be…You need to know who are
with you.”
On the Presidency, President Kufuor said “It is
not a throne you ascend. It is the people’s seat. You do not get to it by birth…You
get to it by convincing the people that when they entrust you with this
responsibility, you will deliver.”
“Anybody with the right to vote carries some of
the power and you need to convince them so that the majority would go out and
vote for you to become President.”
“My advice to you is to find a party. You cannot
say that all the parties are bad…You have to have a balance between parties to
opt for where your viewpoints are shared.
“Go out, talk to the people, try to convince the
electorate. Should you not get it, don’t lose heart...Just revisit your plans
and work out your blueprint.
“Giving what I am seeing, I believe you would do
far better in a party than go do it all alone and if you become convinced, the
advice I would give you is to join the NPP.
He commended Mr. Osei-Yeboah for appreciating his
works saying “I want to thank you for acknowledging that I also served this
country. I thank God that I still feel relevant in our political discourse.”
When he took his turn, Mr. Osei-Yeboah said “I am
here this morning to tap your expertise because you have very rich experience
and anybody aspiring to be President cannot ignore you.”
He said bemoaned the way Africans treat their past
leaders saying “I think that you (Kufuor) and Rawlings have something we can
learn as Ghanaians as we strive to consolidate our democracy.”
“This election in particular has a lot of
apprehension. We were in that state in 2008 but there was a key that you held
that gave us peace. We were astonished that Ghana was not plunged into a state
of chaos. I strongly believed that you were there and you knew the secret to
peace and unless you give us that secret there is that tendency that by our
words, actions and inactions, we might plunge this country into chaos in this
election.”
The Independent Presidential Aspirant said that political
ideology did not matter to him since he was introducing what he called ‘Appropriatism’
which he interpreted as “Doing what is appropriate for the people.”
“I don’t see the reason why as a leader you have
to lock yourself up in ideological corner in doing simple things for the
people.”
He also said that independent presidential system would
be good for Ghana because it helps to reduce election related tension.
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