Mr. Annan as president

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

December 01, 2015

I will add my voice to that of Sydney Casely-Hayford (see Ghanaweb) for Ghana to select former Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, as the next president, but for different reasons.

First, he is astoundingly more experienced.  The aspiring lot we have online for 2016 is not.  They are not cut for the job, especially with Mr. Annan around.  Thus, it makes it even harder to make a case for the few worthy ones among this lot.

Mr. Annan would be an excellent choice for president, better still a very, highly desirable person for a country in the doldrums like ours.

Unfortunately, I also believe that Mr. Annan is a very smart person and therefore would be deterred from the task by the very attitude of some in our republic.

I am not saying the above for Mr. Annan as his spokesperson. I am saying this for myself. My reasoning comes in a form of self-doubt; of insufficient confidence in the aspirants who are already massively invested in a corrupt political culture that needs to be changed or completely overhauled.

This collective will not stop in their ambition to deter all outsiders from seeking the office, Mr. Annan’s massive abilities notwithstanding.

Mr. Annan has already made it as a great statesman.  But for memorial, there is the fear of how we venerate our former true leaders and statesmen; dead or alive.

Just when have we ever in our history preserved or accepted anybody as great, if he happens to compete with our ambitions?  And how do the few we may have accepted fare even when they are not in contention with many of us for any prize?  Accepting great men is not what we do best.

Do we know who Dr. James Kwegyir Aggrey was or where he was buried?  Or care about how the archives at the Nkrumah Memorial are maintained?

Or, what about the fate of the story of President Kufuor, arguably the most successful president in our recent history?  Even in the telling, some mouths within his party, the NPP, have not gotten it right.

We could add Mr. Kofi Annan to the list of Ghanaian leaders, especially with his worldwide recognition as one of the most effective UN Secretary-General and a receiver of the Nobel Peace Prize.

But what would be the response, should we dare to ask the men and women who are aspiring for the presidency in 2016, about the chance that Mr. Annan might be a better prospect as president than they could be?

Frankly, none among these politicians would be modest enough to admit or even think privately that Mr. Annan would be the better choice --- that he is already far beyond the pay grade of their individual experiences and achievements.

Rather, if asked, they would claim that Mr. Annan has had his glory and therefore should remain in retirement.

Why? Not because Mr. Annan is spent as an executive and administrative force. But rather because they would view the opportunity to run as a God-given chance to see themselves in office (and not necessarily because they truly believe that they could serve Ghana better).

In an absolute sense, they would claim that they deserve the chance most because they have been in the political line the longest and thus have become hallowed as honorable men even though they might be persons without that worth!

This lack of modesty would prevent these aspirants to see the difference between their puny abilities so far and those of Mr. Annan, which is already well documented.   

Mr. Annan served as the Secretary General of the UN for two consecutive terms - from 1997 - 2006.  He provided a service of distinction that brought him the Nobel Peace Prize in December of 2001.

By the way, Mr. Annan was not given the Nobel Prize because he was the first Black Secretary General of the UN or on a hope for peace that could materialize with the sudden show of confidence in his appointment to the office.

The Nobel Prize was awarded to him and the UN organization, for concrete achievements during his term in office.

Mr. Annan’s administrative skills were legendary in the office.

His courage in the face of adversity was also very visible.

I wrote in 2012 in a review of his book, Interventions: A Life in War and Peace, that, "The ideal qualification (of Mr. Annan) notwithstanding, the headaches that every Secretary-General met while overseeing the huge UN organization remained.... the challenges at the UN were huge internally and externally - in structure and composition; made more complex by the inherent national interests of representative governments. These challenges, as a backdrop, often impeded the exalted vision of the UN for advancing “collective security” for the world.

Though the supervision expected in Ghana could be on a lesser scale in the administrative realm than that experienced by Mr. Annan at the UN, however, the size of the headache that would come with the attempt to rid Ghana of its intransigent mess can be larger, considering the partisan interests and the onerous attitudes of our current leaders!

Mr. Annan has a feel for good governance.  He was the one, among the world leaders of his time, who did his best to talk sense to Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War.

That Mr. Annan failed had nothing to do with his skill or passion for peace. Had Saddam foreseen what he foresaw and warned about and acquiesced to his advice, the world, and especially the Middle East, would have been spared a lot of agonies.

It was not only about Iraq.  In his book, Interventions, Mr. Annan, as former Secretary-General, would later characteristically imply the implosion to come in Syria, long before it did; from reasoning logically about what had already happened in Libya (2012) and Egypt (2011).

He said “There are lots of agendas at play in Syria; some of them have nothing to do with the Syrians,”  Well,  Syria is burning now and the situation there has brought the world to the edge of a precipice.

So, what does all this mean for Ghana?

Well, you have just seen a poor attempt on my part to delineate the qualities of a leader that a broken-down country like Ghana could use. A man of foresight and pure intellect; a personality that a country such as ours should instinctively choose as a leader.

If this choice is not happening now, blame it on the inability of people like me to be convincing, not on Mr. Annan.

But, please, remember, the Nobel Prize was awarded to him (and the UN) in recognition "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world."

Who else could use this recognition, if not Ghana?

For Ghana, Mr. Annan could bring his immense political skill set and the courage used on many occasions to defuse strive worldwide, in addition to the long throve of respect he has garnered throughout his career with the UN.  Ghana could use some of this respect. Because the world would see us as having made a sensible choice.

Remember what happened when Ivory Coast elected President Alassane Dramane Ouattara in December 2010, after years of civil war?

In a matter of a few years, Ivory Coast has bounced back. The estimated real growth rate of the Ivory Coast for 2014 was 7.9%. That of Ghana for the same year was 4%.

Ivory Coast has gained stability and so much confidence from the financial world to the extent that it could recently float a bond and secure a better rate than our dear country, even though we have never experienced a civil war!

Mr. Ouatara, by the way, served with the International Monetary Fund, before becoming president. He was employed in a lower position than Mr. Annan was at the UN.  He would do well if he wouldn’t overstretch the welcome date in the Ivory Coast.

The potential for Ghana to be great has always been there. We led Africa once under Nkrumah and we could again if we would select the right leader.

Let the write-in campaign begin.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, December 01, 2015.
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