President Mahama and the Elephant
I have followed the leadership style of the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, since his days as a parliamentarian and Deputy Minister of Communications during the Presidency of Jerry Rawlings.
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President Mahama has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that he is a good mixer and down-to-earth; a politician who does not discriminate among his friends because of their political orientation or affiliation.
He has demonstrated these virtues as a politician and has won him more admirers and converts, even among those who do not share his political ideology.
Even in his present position as the President of the land, Mr Mahama does not pretend, nor does he shun his political opponents whenever he comes into contact with them, be it at a public or private event. He acknowledges them with open arms and smiles.
These are some attributes of the President which cannot be taken away from him, even if one despises him. Over the weekend, there were these interesting story and pictures of the President at the 80th birthday of a former First Lady, Mrs Theresa Kufuor.
I was overwhelmed by the camaraderie displayed by former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Mrs Kufuor and the other dignitaries who graced that august event.
As I took a critical look at some of the pictures, I noticed one interesting thing about the celebration — the cutting of the birthday cake, with President Mahama joining the celebrant and other dignitaries, including the Senior Minister during the Kufuor administration, who is also a brother of Mrs Kufuor, Mr J.H. Mensah; former President Kufuor, his brother and former Defence Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor; Prof. F.T. Sai, an elder statesman, among others.
What struck me about that picture was the fact of President Mahama joining the hosts to cut the cake which was placed on a table with a sculptured baby elephant used as stand to support the cake.
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It was an amazing picture by all standards.
That spectacular picture equally attracted some of my colleagues. While we were discussing and analysing it, I drew their attention to an incident which happened two decades ago when the New Patriotic Party (NPP), under the late Prof. Albert Adu-Boahen, held a fund-raising dinner at the Sunrise Hotel (present-day Alisa Hotel, then owned by Mr Mike Eghan Snr., the celebrated broadcaster).
Midway through the event, it began to rain. In order not to allow the rain to disrupt the programme, the hotel staff provided some huge umbrellas for their guests but they declined the offer and rather went on with the programme in the rain.
With President Mahama’s show of solidarity to Mr Kufuor, his wife, family and friends, what it means is that we are on course with charting a new political culture where party insignia or symbol does not mean anything to politicians who are ready to build bridges.
The President’s action is worth emulating and I think his followers, as well as those who believe in his vision, should change their posture of antagonising their political opponents.
The same goes to activists of the other major political parties, such as the NPP, the Convention People’s Party, the Progressive People’s Party, the People’s National Convention, among others, to be decorous when talking politics, especially on radio and television. It’s time we all get our act together and help push Ghana to the height that we want it to be.