“Ghana is lucky to have had a President like Akufo-Addo at this point in time. The man is an intelligent man. He’s a problem solver and balances life and work so perfectly. I’ve friends abroad who call to tell me how Intelligent our President is and I’m so proud of him.”
“For me I think we shouldn’t vote this year. As we have managed the Coronavirus very well, there’s the need to also move to neighbouring countries to help them in their fight so that we can be safe after we’re done handling ours. This is because If they’re not safe, it means we are also not safe,”
These are the words of not less a person but a former member of parliament, someone who ought to know better.
Before I even say how disappointed I am I will like to refer readers to what the 1992 constitution says about the tenure of office of the executive.
Article 66 1992 constitution of Ghana states inter alia:
“1) A person elected as President shall, subject to clause (3) of this article, hold office for a term of four years beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President.
(2) A person shall not be elected to hold office as President of Ghana for more than two terms.
(3) The office of President shall become vacant –
(a) on the expiration of the period specified in clause (1) of this article;…”
So the constitution is very clear when it comes the terms of office of the executive. The President is elected by Ghanaians and serves a four-year term that expires at the next general election. So where from that distortions and call for that undemocratic and unconstitutional phenomenon into our body polity.
My issue is even not about who becomes the president or whether election will happen or not. My problem is with how a former legislator would at this critical point of our national life be thinking of the next election.What happened to the human element in him?
So the next election and manipulating the constitution to retain Nana is important to Maxwell Kofi Jumah than the survival of the over 30 million Ghanaians who are caught up in this deadly covid-19 pandemic.
Who at this particular time would be thinking about election? Ordinary citizens are committing their lives and resources to make sure we are all free from this deadly disease, but a government appointee who is being paid with our tax is only interested in the next election. I am scandalized. But must we be so surprised! Dictators and their surrogates always take advantage of such crisis to pursue their self-centered agendas. That is exactly what Kofi Jumah is advocating for.
He is not interested in elimination of the virus from the system to enable millions our people who are suffocating financially as result of the lockdown to get back to their areas of operations, he doesn’t care about our front line health workers who have laid down their lives to save Ghanaians, he doesn’t care about our security operatives who have been thrown into our streets to make sure the President’s directives are adhered to.