Why President Mahama Is A Better Candidate Than Nana Addo

In October this year, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) overwhelmingly endorsed Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to be the party�s flag bearer for the 2016 election. This would be his third time attempt to lead this country. His first attempt in 2008 and second attempt in 2012, were all, but a disaster and a dent on the political history of this country. Can he be third time lucky, only time will tell, but I do not hope so, this is because the man he is going to slug it out with, has demonstrated throughout his political and public career that he is not one to leave behind unfinished business. He got my vote in 2012 and will surely get my vote again come 2016. How about you, if you still haven�t made up your mind, because you possibly think 2016 is far away, let me tell you why if you love this country and want to be inducted into the hall of fame, instead of hall of shame, in writing down and counting the names of those, who stood on the right side of history, then you must ponder over this. The following is why, I think John Dramani Mahama, and not Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is a better President for the next six years, i.e. adding the two years left for his first term and his second four year term, beginning 2017. I hope that at the end of this article, am able to convince you to join hands and minds with the forward thinking and progressive Ghanaians, who want what is best for this country. Governance in the world today is crude, archaic, unresponsive, and ineffective. The political reforms that can truly transform Ghana hinges on new forms of governance and a dynamic leader to introduce the reforms needed. It will also require deep commitment to democratic values, human rights and equal opportunity and most importantly, it will require to put frameworks in place that assure high levels of transparency, accountability and integrity. A leader is, by definition, an innovator. He does things other people have not done or don�t do. A leader does things in advance. He makes new things, he make old things new. As one author puts it, leaders must be right brain, as well as left brain, thinkers. They must be intuitive, conceptual, synthesizing and artistic. Other definition of a leader that fits President Mahama, stem from the expanded definition of a leader. This country needs someone that will lead brilliantly not just from his mind, but also from his heart. In other words, my President should serve with greatness, goodness not meekness and ego. My President, must have an exceptional intellectual skills with deep humanitarian instincts. He does not romanticize or sentimentalize the circumstances of his childhood. Rather, he would use his experience as a source of compassion and concern for the ordinary Ghanaian, like me, who is not part of the middle or upper class. My President must exercise incomparable drive and determination. One with the believe that he has a purpose to fulfill. One who will engrave his name in history, by not engaging in policies of window dressing and short term measures to cure short term problems, but with foresight for the future. With the country embroiled in economic and social turmoil and age-old dilemmas, because of bad policies of the past, my President�s purpose must be to preserve the true meaning of democracy �government of the people, by the people, and for the people.� My President must have extraordinary empathy that will put himself in place of poor Ghanaians to experience what they are feeling and to understand their motives and desires, one with crowning gift of political diagnosis of what is wrong with our nation and with solution. My President must display rare wisdom and temperament that consistently displays magnanimity toward those that oppose him. A brilliant thinker and masterly orator, who will move Ghanaians through his humour and kind personal presence. A President, whose honesty and eloquence will produce conviction in Ghanaians because of his own convictions. A president gifted with quick and benign wit to soften wounded feelings and dispel anxieties of the poor and other marginalized elements in our society. A president, whose engagement and performance will be influenced by feelings and emotions of Ghanaians. A President, who gets up in the morning and is more excited because he is nervous about the burden of 25 million Ghanaians squarely placed on his shoulders. A president who is willing to learn by leading in the face of obstacles knowing full well that as weather shapes mountains, so problems make leaders. So far the two gentlemen who will be running in 2016 for the presidency, in my opinion, John Dramani Mahama, is the only one who meet these qualifications of my President of Ghana. How about you?