In my opinion a leader of a nation should be given a lot of protection, because he is the face and soul of the people.
With this viewpoint, I was not amused when the then opposition NDC took H.E. Nana Akufo Addo to the cleaners whenever he travelled by a rented private jet plane. Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa would always take control of a minigun and keep shooting at the flight of the president, and coming out with what it cost to the tax payer. To show how disgusting he felt about that, he took an oath that he would resign as minister of state, the very minute H.E. John Dramani Mahama would set foot in a private jet to travel out of the country.
Even though it became public that our presidential jet was not in great condition, the then opposition NDC would not accept that as an excuse.
In 2025, the NDC formed government with H.E. John Dramani Mahama as president. He soon had to take trips outside the country and unfortunately, the presidential jet was not in any good condition to take to the skies. So, John Mahama had to fly private. To this day, Ghanaians are reminding Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa, now Foreign Minister, of the need to honour the oath he took and resign from office.
Currently, the opposition NPP are tearing JDM and his administration apart as if paying back what NDC did when it was in opposition. This is where I feel it is not necessary at all. The fact that the NDC raised issues about Nana Addo and private jets, it was wrong then, as it is wrong now.
The president is the first citizen of the republic who holds this high office saddled with the weighty load of responsibility. As much as he holds the nation in his hands, he needs to be given not only maximum comfort but the highest protection as well.
All Ghanaians, whether they voted for John Mahama or not, must be concerned about his health and safety. No politics must be played here. We must put aside that because he is that precious to us.
Of course, anyone can hit at the president on issues like mismanagement of the economy and other matters under his control. But not about his health and safety.
Yes, Nana Addo was reduced to a door mat when it got to do with private jets, but that was very immature and NPP should not return that gesture.
I will rather advise the NPP members to just stay cool and always pray for the safety of the president. And most importantly, through Parliament, NPP must insist that a brand-new tear-rubber presidential jet is purchased as top priority, since the problems facing the current plane still exists.
If the current NDC government does not consider this proposal, and the NPP comes back to power, and the president uses private jets, no one would have the privilege to attack him or his government on this issue. Should the NDC members raise any objection, it will then be proper for the NPP to descend on them.
One other thing which is of great concern, in this republic, is that the party in opposition would raise a lot of noise against the party in power on any issue just to score political points and make it look bad and unpatriotic. This resolution to always attack sitting governments on anything good, but when in power do same and attempt to explain it, does not show respect to the citizens. It is like politicians are taking the people for a ride and mocking them.
Our Fourth Republic is thirty-two years old and this is the longest constitutional republic in our political history. It is about time all parties, especially the two leading ones, NDC and NPP, must study what the other is doing and come out with what it would have done if in that position. All criticisms must be constructive, in other words, better solutions must be proposed in the spirit of oneness so that it will be the state that will benefit.
Attacking and demonising anything a party in power does, without providing alternatives, only destroys progress and development in the country. Many things will be left stagnant and with party coming in and party going out, the state will be retrogressing. And when this is allowed to go on, it is the nation and the people who suffer.
Let us see Parliament debating issues amicably and having the best for the nation in mind, rather than politicising things just to benefit individual parties’ agenda.
NDC is now in power, let us have some peace and maturity in our daily discourses and consider the nation first before anything else. Inasmuch as the NPP could be justified in attacking the NDC as it did to it, when Nana Addo was president, it will be a great show of maturity to hold hands with one another and help this regime. If this happens, whenever the NPP also comes to power, such would be the case and Ghana will take giant leaps in democracy, progress and development.
We can see this happening if attacks on the president and private jets are dropped. The health and safety of our president, H.E. John Dramani Mahama should be our topmost priority.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
