Kwame Nkrumah was 42 when he became leader of government business and 47 when he became Prime Minister. Ankrah was 51 when he became Head of State; Afrifa was 33; Busia was 56 when he became Prime Minister; Acheampong was 41; Akuffo was 41; Rawlings was 32 and later 34 when he took office; Limann was 45; Kufuor was 62; Mills was 64. So even placing the bar at 60; the fact is that over 60s have had control over this country in only 11 out of our 57 years of independence; the remaining 46 years have been under 50 year olds, 40 year olds and 30 year olds. If we agree that this country could have done better after independence therefore and that the blame lies on the leaders we’ve had, then an overwhelming share of the blame will fall on so called young leaders and not old leaders. Clearly therefore, if it was about age in governance, then Ghana has had more than its fair share of young leaders to have progressed much more and had our problems solved. However, the evidence points to the contrary, that despite the 46 years we’ve spent under so called young leaders, we are still lagging behind. So clearly, aside all the other arguments, our own history shows that the whole age argument is bogus and should be dumped somewhere far from human civilization. At the end of the day, it will be about the record of the NDC in their 8 year rule which would elapse in 2016 and the man and team that can deliver competent, visionary leadership to solve the issues that confront the ordinary Ghanaian whether it is about the massive unemployment, the poor state of education and health care, the massive corruption that sucks out our resources into private pockets and the energy and water issues that make life and doing business so much difficult. But clearly, the NDC cannot run on their record so they will seek to hide between such bogus arguments as they have done over the ears but it will be the responsibility of the NPP and all other truly committed opposition forces to hold the NDC to their record and their promises.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 20:00:55 +0000