Ghana: Is This President Really in Charge?

Source :The Chronicle


It is whispered in private. By and by, the perception is crystallizing into a concept. This President might not really be in charge of the nation. It is not

the best of views to hold, especially, when citizens of this republic inaugurated an executive head of state on January 7, 2009.

Events unfolding though seem to suggest that Prof. John Evans Atta Mills is dancing to music provided by a backroom orchestra.

The other day, when the President of the Republic was quizzed about circumstances leading to the dismissal of Prof. Kenneth Attafuah, as head of

the National Identification Authority, President Atta Mills said he was unaware of the circumstances leading to the termination of the criminology

expert's appointment.

It was that enquiry that goaded the President on to pronounce on his concept of not being able to work with a person who might not share in his

National Democratic Congress' Concept of governance by exclusion.

On Monday, the Head of State succeeded in muddying the waters, instead of calming nerves in the classic own goal scored by Health Minister

Joseph Yieleh Chireh against the administration of the former law lecturer, in the now infamous dismissal affair, involving the doyen of open heart

surgery, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.

The obvious after-thought of the concept of age introduced in the official statement issued on behalf of the President by Deputy Minister of

Information Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, only succeeded in painting a picture of a President, who is kept uninformed about major decisions taken

by officials of his own administration.

By playing the age card, the President ridiculed his administration in the eyes of the ordinary people of Ghana, who are privy to the information

that at the Komfo Anokye Hospital, a young and vibrant 54-year-old Chief Executive was replaced by a 63 year-old retired officer, on the orders of

the Atta Mills regime. The replacement is now 65. He is still at post.

When the head of a publicly-owned banking institution claims to be 62, at a time workers are agitating for his removal on the basis that he is 70

years, no action is seen to be taken by the same administration, supposedly sending a world-acclaimed heart surgeon home, on the basis that at

62, he has long passed his sell-by date.

Ghanaians are baffled by the Kweku Ananse stories being bandied about, painting a picture of a President unaware of unfolding events, only to

endorse the action of his Minister, who, in any case, failed to even brief him before committing the administration to a decision that has sent the

entire government machinery reeling.

The Chronicle is uncomfortable with the scenario where the President is unaware of major decisions taken in the name of his administration. We

wonder whether the President is aware of the many jokes doing the rounds, which suggest that like the typical 'Simpa Panyin', he is not briefed

about major happenings in his own administration.

We do not know what the President and his image-makers make of the Frimpong-Boateng episode. We are of the view that it is embarrassing.

His Minister of Health has undermined his authority. He has to wriggle out of the corner he has been put into, by being more decisive.

As it is, the impression is crystallizing that this President may really not be in charge of his own administration. We would be delighted if we are

proved wrong, not by rhetoric, but concrete action on the part of the elected constitutional Head of State