GHANA: WHERE (ONLY) JOHNS ARE PRESIDENT

From Jerry John Rawlings to John Dramani Mahama This is true today as it was in December 2010 when I wrote this article (below) for my news magazine PEOPLE IN POWER. It remains sadly so true for N ana Akkuffo-Addo (a non-John) who has just lost another presidential race to another John [Mahama].

PEOPLE IN POWER, PAGE 20, DECEMBER 2010: In Ghana since 1981, the president has always been called John. So is it a curse to have a first name other than John if one dreams of becoming president there? Perhaps. And who would know better than Nana Akuffo-Addo? He had all but won the 2008 election, before he lost it in an unprecedented “third round” to a John. The John series entered an “experimental phase” in 1979 when young Flight Lieutenant (Flt. Lt.) Jerry John Rawlings first seized power. Not intending to hang on, he returned power to a civilian, Hilla Limann (a non-John), who continued in the old ways Rawlings had intended to change in the first place. Rawlings (1st John) returned in 1981 and stayed on as military ruler (1981-1993) and later as civilian (1993-2001). Two constitutional 4-year terms and it was time to go. His wish would have been to have his vice president John Atta Mills replace him, but his John was beaten by another, John Kufuor (2nd John). Kufuor’s own two terms done in 2009, he stepped aside and the next race produced another John, Rawlings’ comeback kid, Atta Mills (3rd John). He beat Akuffo-Addo (a non-John). Now [December 2010 when this piece was written], Atta Mills’ vice president is called John Mahama. He just may be the next president (4th John?). Except, perhaps, if the opposition’s John Alan Kyeremanten who was Akuffo’s runner-up in the last primaries [2008, Ed], bounces back. More Johns in line. And the Johns seem to be a blessing to Ghana. Rawlings used his charisma, albeit in a brutish way, to repair the ruins of the 1973 economic crisis and the wasted years under Generals Ankrah, Afrifa, Acheampong, Akuffo, etc. Kufuor, the gentleman, used good governance to consolidate the Rawlings gains and as Atta Mills, the praying president, settles on the job, Ghana was in November [2010, Ed] rated to have leapt from a low-income country to the middle-income bracket with growth rate above 6.5% in the coming years. Reputed for gold deposits in the past (remember Gold Coast) and still rich in cocoa, Ghana has now found petrol. Ghanaians, once the laughing stock of Africa with soundly educated youths trekking country to country for menial jobs, are now looking to years of prosperity. It is legitimate for any politician here [Cameroon] called John [Fru Ndi] to continue nursing his longstanding dreams for the presidency. But he may be advised to go try his luck in Ghana where electoral commissions declare Johns winners, even if sometimes the losers are fellow Johns. PS: John Atta Mills died in July and his constitutional successor, his vice president John Mahama stepped in to complete his first term of office. Now, after the December 7, 2012 election, John Mahama has been declared winner in his own right, again over Nana Akuffo-Addo. Akuffo-Addo thus loses a presidential race for the second successive time to a John, after John Atta Mills in 2008.