<<Print>>I called Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday Morning and said ‘Nana, I am maaaad! That was the confession of journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako about the NPP’s electoral victory.
Mr. Baako said he was excited that Mr. Akufo-Addo had finally ascended to the presidency after almost two decades of trying.
“He has really fought for it – the resilience, the endurance, the commitment [eventually paid],” he said.
Kweku Baako was speaking on the final edition of Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis show Newsfile, Saturday, December 24, 2016.
He recounted his relationship with the veteran politician and celebrated lawyer in the heady days of military rule in Ghana.
“I’ve known Nana Akufo-Addo for about forty years. I was a foot soldier of the PMFJ (People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice) when he was General Secretary. I’ve been with him as a colleague in the AFC (Alliance For Change). I know him. He defended the media [in court] pro-bono (for free). He stood by us (media), he really contributed to this country’s development,” he narrated.
The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide expressed his pain about the vilification the NPP leader, now president-elect, suffered at the hands of his political opponents.
“With the insults, the character assassination and those things, it was so worrying how one man could be criminalised, bastardised, demonised. So when the good people of this country decided to give him that emphatic victory, for me, it was a clean, clear vindication of what he has stood for all the time,” he stated.
“I was damn happy,” Kweku Baako stressed. Nana Akufo-Addo’s triumph over incumbent President John Mahama with more than a million vote difference was the best moment for Kweku Baako in the year 2016, he revealed.
The second high moment, he said, was when the Supreme Court granted an application filed by anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu, asking to be allowed to orally examine businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome in respect of the whereabouts of some 51.2 million wrongfully paid to him by the state.
“I danced. I danced! Of course, my wife has warned me never to do that again but I danced. These two things made me very happy,” he noted.
For his low point in the year, Kweku Baako cited the tripping over of chiefs to endorse various presidential candidates prior to the elections. He is also unhappy that after more than a decade, Parliament has once again failed to pass the Right to Information Bill into Law.
He said it was disappointing that the Bill had remained unattended to despite the vigorous advocacy by civil society groups.
Video below-