I HAVE ENERGY TO FLOOR MAHAMA - NANA

Nana Akufo-Addo

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says he has ‘energy’ and ‘commitment’ to lead Ghana as President one day.

“I believe I have the energy. I also have the commitment, and those are the two things that are driving me,” the experienced politician said on BBC’s Democracy Day panel discussion in London yesterday.

Ghana’s former Attorney-General and later Foreign Minister was one of the few experienced African politicians who were invited to discuss democracy and governance as part of the UK’s 750^th anniversary of first Westminster parliament and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta.

Magna Carta or "the Great Charter", also called Magna Carta Libertatum: "the Great Charter of the Liberties" (of England), is a charter issued by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.

No Worries

Nana Akufo-Addo who will be contesting for President for a third time possibly against President John Mahama in his early seventies dismissed the brouhaha about his age and also said that he did not unilaterally decide to run again as NPP leader.

“The matter is not in my hands. I made the decision to present myself to my party asking them that if they agree, I want to go again,” he explained.

He said “beyond the energy, you have also the commitment: you want to try and see whether you can do something to change the facts of your society, of course doing so within the context of democratic government, those are the two main things.”

He hopes to defeat his main contender John Mahama.

When asked why he and others would not hand over the African political space to much younger generation, Nana Akufo-Addo replied humorously that “When 70-year-old Reagan walked into the White House nobody had a problem with it.”

Africa’s Development

He repeated that it was not possible for anybody to develop the African continent other than the people themselves.

 “I think there’s one simple truth that all of us on the continent have to recognize; nobody is going to build this African Continent for us but ourselves,” he said, adding “Europeans will not do it; when they involve themselves with Africa, they have their own goals, which they have been serving for centuries.”

He said “the only people who are capable of building the Africa that we want of the future, are ourselves, and we can do it and we are best able to do it if we are focusing on creating the institutions of governance in our countries that allow us to do so… Western media has its own goals when it is projecting Africa and we must have our own goals as well.”

It will be recalled that when he launched his campaign for the flagbearership slot in July last year, Nana Akufo-Addo told supporters that contrary to the “propaganda” that he was too old and weak at age 70 to run for president again, he was “fit and strong” for the task.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am fit and ready and my appetite is as keen as ever to go into battle for the cause of the NPP.

“I am profoundly grateful that so many people consider me worthy to lead this promising nation of ours, even at the young age of 70,” he said, adding: “I do not know what 70-year-olds are supposed to feel like but I feel well, my body is in good shape; my mind remains as sharp as it ever was.

“I am constantly grateful to the Almighty that I have been so blessed. I have questioned and examined myself intensely to be sure that, to borrow a phrase, the competitive fire still burns in my belly. I wish to assure all of you gathered here, that, contrary to the propaganda out there, Nana Akufo-Addo is emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, physically, patriotically and spiritually strong enough to lead this party and our dear nation Ghana,” he stated.