Commentary: Who made Akufo-Addo President?   

Bfore the 2016 elections, the NPP political machinery formed an alliance with some Media Houses and Media personalities ostensibly to explore every possible avenue to make the Mahama government unpopular in order to bring Akufo-Addo to power.

Some of the Media houses included the despite Media empire, Multimedia, Citi FM among others. There were plethora of newspapers and television stations also in the mix. Some of the key Media personalities that led that agenda were Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako, Captain Smart, Kwami Sefa Kayi, Manasseh Azure Awuni among others. The agenda was executed flawlessly to hand Akufo-Addo the presidency.

The role Citi FM played in bringing down the Mahama government was incalculable. They constantly highlighted and magnified the faults of the Mahama government. They used their intellectual capital to analyse issues of national importance in such a manner that clearly suggested that the Mahama government was corrupt, confused, wasteful, incompetent and visionless.

Their daily analysis had such a profound impact on public perception that many floating voters and uncritical minds came to the conclusion that the Mahama government had failed. The Citi FM guys were so good at what they did. Without a doubt they are one of the best in the game – they discharged their propaganda duties so well that the uninitiated could not see through it.

Captain Smart, a major proponent of the regime change agenda gave the Mahama government constant sleepless nights. This charlatan had a way of making blatant lies sound like Holy truths. His uninformed followers always swallowed his vituperations hook, line and sinker. He believed in Akufo-Addo so much that even when Akufo-Addo became president, he tried to smear Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang with lies. You can imagine the damage he caused to Mahama government.

Manasseh Azure Awuni was the star boy of the whole regime change agenda. He caused the biggest damage to the Mahama government. Manasseh knew Mahama very well. They are good friends. Indeed they referred to each other as “brothers.” Mahama’s doors were always opened to him. Even after his GYEEDA and SADA exposes which hit the Mahama government like a tsunami, Mahama’s doors were still opened to him because Mahama knew he was fighting for the interest of Ghana.

Manasseh knew deep deep down and far far in that Mahama could afford 50 Ford expedition cars in a day if he so desires. Indeed Mahama’s brother Ibrahim Mahama could afford 200 pieces of that car for his brother anyday if that is what president Mahama wanted, but he managed to hang the Ford Expedition scandal which was a figment of his imagination on the neck of Mahama in order to pave the way for Akufo-Addo to the presidency.

Mahama’s love for Ghana and respect for our Constitution – his believe in our democracy and institutions – his respect for the people of Ghana and desire to safeguard Ghana’s credentials – his tolerance and compassionate nature did not allow him to retaliate, intimidate, threaten or brutalise the Media houses and people who smeared his government and slandered his reputation. He gave everything to posterity.

The regime change agenda succeeded. Akufo-Addo became the president of Ghana. Now, take a careful look at what Akufo-Addo has done to the Media after becoming president. Check what the Akufo-Addo government has done to Manasseh Azure, Captain Smart and Citi FM. There is more but let us talk about these three.

Manasseh was threatened with death. The Media Foundation for West Africa had to airlift him into exile to save his life. Upon his return from exile, he lost his job at Multimedia. What was his crime? He fought corruption and exposed Akufo-Addo’s hypocrisy through De Eye documentary. Captain Smart also lost his job at Angel FM and Angel TV because he criticised the Akufo-Addo Government.

A Citi FM journalist was arrested, handcuffed, brutalized for

1) exposing Akufo-Addo’s hypocrisy in the “Fix Ghana now” demonstration with a video of security personnel deployed to the Independence Square to beat up protesters. 2) For taking videos and pictures of vehicles parked within the premises of National Security which are getting rotten. After that, Akufo-Addo’s thugs stormed Citi FM in Rambo style with weapons to arrest and intimidate journalists who are fighting for the interest of Ghana.

Now, who made Akufo-Addo president? The answer is simple. It is the Media! They used propaganda and misinformation to make Akufo-Addo popular. Interestingly, the people who contributed the most to Mahama’s removal in order to pave the way for Akufo-Addo’s Presidential dreams are the very people who are suffering from Akufo-Addo’s wickedness, intolerance and brutality today.

The question is: “Who is to blame?” What goes around comes around.

4more to suffer more!