Ace investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni has said if President Akufo-Addo had heeded to Otumfuo’s advice, he would not have become the subject of ridicule that he is, attracting booing and hooting like a petty criminal in the ancient market square.
According to the outspoken journalist, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II told the president that if there was anything he (President) should desire most, then that should be his legacy.
He wrote “If he had heeded Otumfuo’s words, Okyehene would have been spared the frustration that resulted in him calling the “hooters” and “booers” of Akufo-Addo “children of villagers and uncivilised people”.
Read his post below:
The wisest advice Akufo-Addo ever got, after he was sworn into office, was from Otumfuo. The Asantehene narrated how far he and the president had come in life, reminded him about his journey to the presidency and told him that, at his age, material wealth should not be his preoccupation.
He told the president that if there was anything he should desire most, then that should be his LEGACY.
The president should have framed those golden words and put them on his table in the Jubilee House to remind him that he had a legacy to protect.
But he did not. And he deserves all the negative superlatives that accompany his name, which connotes shame.
If he had heeded Otumfuo’s advice, he would not have become the subject of ridicule that he is, attracting booing and hooting like a petty criminal in the ancient market square.
If he had heeded Otumfuo’s words, Okyehene would have been spared the frustration that resulted in him calling the “hooters” and “booers” of Akufo-Addo “children of villagers and uncivilised people”.
Well, I agree with the Okyehene that we should not be insulting adults. But in every society, there are “mpaninfuo” and there are also the “simpa mpanifuo”. It is the duty of every “panin” to decide which group to belong to by their conduct and utterances.
That greatly determines how a particular “panin” will be treated in the community. Respect, they say, is earned, and not commanded.
The whipper who tries to control the whimpering of the whipped cannot always succeed. People are dying and should be allowed to express their frustration if it involves booing the president.
Source:Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
