Mr. President, Be Wary Of Praise Singers

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, since January 2017, proven to Ghanaians and the International Community that he is ready to meet the aspirations of the people of Ghana. Within a few years, his government had taken some pragmatic steps that many are today wondering where he had been all this while.

It is therefore not surprising that his administration is being lavished with praises from every corner of the world.

Last year, he received the 2018 Outstanding Leader’s Award from the United States Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Africa Business Centre for good leadership.

This year, Akufo-Addo was named as Africa’s Best President by virtue of a poll conducted by a Canadian-based research organization, Leaders of tomorrow and US-based think-tank, World Vision Forum, which placed him 1^st in Africa and 3^rd in the world.

According to Leaders of Tomorrow, they believed he had a high approval rating because of his commitment to the development of Ghana, and his government’s respect for the Rule of Law.

As if that was not enough, an IMF team that visited the country recently hailed his government for its management of the economy.

The leader of the team was quoted as saying: “For you to dissolve all these banks, microfinance institutions and Savings & Loans within a short period and still have financial stability, those at the helm must be doing something fantastic. What they have achieved is amazing”.

While we are proud as Ghanaians that the ‘Black Star’ is shining again, and the world is recognizing the capabilities of the African, we want to caution the President that some of these commendations are not new.

In fact, some people believe that our leaders must be very careful whenever the IMF and World Bank begin to hail them.

In the case of the IMF, THE NEW PUBLISHER wonders why it had all of a sudden given our economy a clean bill of health, barely months after we had freed ourselves from its yoke.

The paper suspects that Akufo-Addo’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ and ‘Africa Beyond Aid’ agenda is not something the West will love to see materialize. In our view, an economically independent Africa will mark the beginning of the end of their dominion of the richest continent in the world.

History has taught us that they had a hand in the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the jailing of Nelson Mandela, and the killing of Maumar Al Gadhafi for fighting an African cause. Why do we think they will be pleased to see another visionary leader that wants to champion the cause of African liberation?

We think they are appearing friendly once more, not because they want to, but because they have no other options left. The Chinese are fast taking their places in the minds and hearts of Africans, and they can’t stand it.

But to be fair to them, we wish to say that it is not only the praises from beyond our shores that can be distracting. There are some traditional rulers in Ghana who also exaggerate whenever they have the opportunity to address the president. Since independence, they have described every President that toured their traditional areas as ‘God-sent’, and assured them of their unflinching support, when they knew they were merely giving lip services.

We think this is the time the president must sift between genuine adoration and mere flatter. All that glitters is not gold.