AN OPEN INTERVIEW WITH THE GHANAIAN LEADER NANA AKUFO ADDO

The Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo

Nana Akufo-Addo, you are currently a Ghanaian leader under the platform of the New Patriotic Party. Apart from your educational and professional career, it’s likely that you inherited your political ambition from your father, Edward Akufo-Addo, who was a member of the ‘Big Six,’ one of the founding fathers of Ghana who fought for the country's independence.

As a Ghanaian and journalist, I wish to ask you a few questions, Mr. President. This interview wouldn't be quick enough for publication if I needed to follow the right procedure to grant me an interview. Thus, this is the reason I made it open for my fellow Ghanaians to read also.

Nana Akufo-Addo, I will be very glad if these questions are answered. Above all, it will be very good for both Ghanaians and you if all the questions are answered.

• Mr. President, many Ghanaians are facing a very tough political climate in the country, while many are unemployed; therefore, how do you plan on dealing with issues such as unemployment?

• In every country, the health of an individual is very important. But in Ghana, when one is sick and has no money to treat themselves at the hospital, they may surely die. How are you going to make life worth of sick patients in Ghana? 

• At the same time, it's all over the media that some hospitals in Ghana lack beds and ambulances, the reason many patients either sleeping on the floor or being refused admission. Mr. President, when will such ugly scenes come to an end in Ghana?

• Mr. President, law, and order are two important tools that promote peace and security in a country, but at the moment, many Ghanaians are living in fear because of armed robbers. What assurance will you give Ghanaians to live a normal life without fear?

• You defeated the Mahama's NDC with promises. Have you fulfilled any of your promises, and where do you see yourself within your first four years from now?

•  What is your response to the increasing number of articles from American, Dutch, and German medical writers about Aids and Ebola medical crimes to depopulate Africa, while the US government, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control keep deceiving the world that Ebola is being spread by bats?

• How can you convince Ghanaians that you are fighting against corruption when some of your own NPP politicians are in corruption scandals?

• What role can political leaders play for the majority of Ghanaians who have no hope of having confidence in them?

• Prices of agricultural products feeding Ghanaians are not easy to afford because some of the roads to transport the foodstuffs to the nearest markets are extremely bad. Mr. President, what plans do you have to repair or construct roads for the accessible markets? 

RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI's SHADOW OF THE SUN (My African Life)

Ryszard Kapuscinski, the Polish writer and journalist



As a foreign correspondent for PAP, the Polish News Agency, until 1981, Africa was like a second home to Ryszard Kapuscinski. 


He was an eyewitness to revolutions, coups, and civil wars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Experience is the best teacher, they say. His life experience in Africa has given him one of the finest books ever written by a white journalist.

The shadow of the Sun (My African Life) covers Kapuscinski's experience in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, etc, making the book brilliant and interesting for anyone interested in great humanitarian writing. 

The book was actually published first in Polish before translation. He writes, "I lived in Africa for several years. I first went there in 1957. Then over the next forty years, I returned whenever the opportunity arose."

"I travelled extensively, avoiding official routes, palaces, important personages, and high-level politics. Instead, I opted to hitch rides on passing trucks, wander with nomads through the desert, and be the guest of peasants of the tropical savannah. Their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour."

On his visit to Accra-Ghana, Kapuscinski writes, "The street is a road delineated on both sides by an open sewer. There are no sidewalks. Cars mingle with crowds. Everything moves in concert: pedestrians, automobiles, bicycles, cars, cows, and goats. 

On the other side of the sewer, along with the entire length of the street, domestic scenes unfold. Women pounding manioc, baking taro bulbs over the coals, cooking dishes of one sort or another, hawking chewing gum, crackers, and aspirin, and washing and drying laundry."

The description of activities in Accra by Kapuscinski is actually Europe's image of Africa. More is hunger, disease, and skeletal children. However, he failed to ask or write the reason Ghana or Africa in general has been in such an appalling state for ages. 

Before the colonial masters scrambled over Africa, I might say Ghana was under development. Then, many years after European occupation, they left the countries they had occupied after independence, leaving the countries in the same way.

In this case, why did they go to Africa at all? Is it right or wrong when one says they were only interested in the continent's rich mineral resources? To loot but nothing else. They looted the continent to build Europe, and they left the countries in a deplorable state. 

Kapuscinski should have known better as a journalist. Was he expecting Ghana to be like a modern European country when, for a very long time, the country has suffered from the criminal activities of colonial rule?

The British and the Dutch were both in Ghana before the country attained its independence in 1957. The Ghanaians also moved in concert with cars, bicycles, cows, and goats. 

Even though Kapuscinski's book is an interesting book about Africa, he should have commented deeply on the mistakes and crimes the Europeans committed in Africa during the colonial era.

The Shadow Of The Sun is available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Sun-Ryszard-Kapuscinski/dp/0679779078/