President Akufo-Addo has said that any politician who does not generate controversy is dull. In his view, without controversies, politics doesn’t become interesting.
He said he had noted that a lot of his utterances in recent times, resulted in controversy, stating that he was not bothered by that because “that is how it should be.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”hYREdssygqc0EBmnFAzcYPYvOufEFhYZ”]Speaking at a ‘Ghana 60 years on’ dinner on Thursday, March 9,2017], he said persons who are alleging that he deliberately distorted Ghana’s independence history to belittle Ghana’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, were not around before independence but only “came much after the independence era.”
“I made a speech to the country which I tried to speak about how Ghana became Ghana. Everything I say has ended up to be a controversy, but that is how it should be. A politician who doesn’t generate controversy is a dull politician, and that is not an interesting politics. The amusing part of this is that, the people who did not live through the independence era, young people who came much after, claim I distorted the history of Ghana and belittled the role of Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.
The president has come under heavy criticism by a section of the public, most of whom have aligned themselves with the ideals of Dr. Nkrumah for giving prominence to J.B Danquah and other members of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in his 60th independence anniversary speech, rather than Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who is credited for leading Ghana to gain independence in 1957.
But Nana Akufo-Addo has suggested that his critics’ allegations are misguided.
He noted that, the president of Zimbabwe, aged 93, who followed Ghana’s independence journey, commended him for the speech.
“The one man who lived through the era was here in Ghana at the time, embraced me for having enhanced the image of Kwame Nkrumah. And that tells you everything about Ghanaian politics, as President Mugabe gave me a big hug.”
Akufo-Addo also added that, the disagreements to his speech were an indication of the beauty of the country’s democracy.
He added that having varying contributions and ideas on issues in the country helped to promote the country’s development.
“We should cherish that and hold on to that fast because it is the best way we would develop our country. Then all the best of ideas will come forward when the different views are expressed and that will enable us to progress and progress faster,” he said.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor