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Second Chance is NOT an Automatic Right or Entitlement
“Ungrateful people normally fade away(‘die’) prematurely”. This is a profound statement from one man of God in the country and therefore as people we must be careful about how we treat those who once helped us.
The Presidential seat is NOT for the simplest or humblest or loudest. The seat is for the most prepared, as well as the most preferred by the majority of Ghanaians. Second or third or fourth chance also depends on the demonstration of sound leadership qualities after first defeat.
Throughout history, successful people were once a failure. But these people didn’t apportion blame to others or send out surrogates to attack supposedly a contributor to their failure. However, such people recognized and acknowledged why they have failed in the first instance and work on it in silence.
Getting a second and third chance is a PRIVILEGE, Not a RIGHT. Absolutely no one deserves another chance automatically. Reformation of character, apologies, genuine repentance, and meritocracy are some of the factors considered for granting second and third chance to people.
In politics, second or third or fourth chance are granted by delegates of the party largely based on the:
1. Degree/Margin of defeat for the Candidate in the previous election(s).
2. Improved performance of the Candidate in recent election.
3. General Acceptability of the Candidate by the overwhelming majority.
4. Ability of the Candidate to accept responsibility for failures, and reposition him or herself for a stronger comeback.
5. The character and attitude of the people surrounding the candidate especially his or her inner caucus(kitchen Cabinet members).
Also, most importantly, not everyone deserves a second or third or fourth chance. If that is the case then several women and men would have still been married to their baby father’s and baby mother’s respectively.
If automatic second chance is an entrenched universal law then:
1. Satan would have still been in heaven together with the other angels.
2. All criminals in prisons would have been on the streets.
3. All dismissed employees would have still been at the workplace.
4. All divorcees would have still been married to their partners.
5. Judas Iscariot would have been saved after betraying Jesus Christ.
6. Professor Adu Boahen would have been the Flagbearer of NPP in 1996.
7. Alan Kyerematen should have automatically succeed Nana Akufo-Addo as a Flagbearer for the 2024 general election.
8. Mike Oquaye Junior should be automatically made the Parliamentary Candidate of NPP for the 2028 general election.
9. Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye should have been maintained as the Speaker of Parliament after the 2020 general election.
10. Hillary Clinton should have been maintained as the Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party after her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 general election.
11. Joe Biden should have been maintained as 2024 Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.
12. Former President Goodluck Jonathan should have been re-elected after his term in office as a President of Nigeria.
13. All one-term Presidents of the United States such as George H. W. Bush, John Adams, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, William Howard Taft, etc. should have been given automatic second-term to lead USA.
14. Dr. Hilla Limann should have become President again after the 1992 Presidential election in Ghana.
15. All the dead persons would have still been alive today.
16. All shortest-term Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom including Rishi Sunak would have been given a second chance.
17. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would have been restored back as a President after the overthrown of Busia’s Government. Afterall, Kwame Nkrumah significantly led us to attained independence.
I have more than 1000 case studies to cite as reference point to justify why a second chance is NOT an AUTOMATIC RIGHT and ENTITLEMENT. It requires competition, consistency, or sometimes collective consensus or divine grace to merit a 2nd or 3rd chance in every pursuits.
Let’s allow free, transparent, and fair internal contest within the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Any form of imposition would be seriously counterproductive in 2028 general election and beyond.
Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo has every right to push her agenda but she should bear in mind that any unjustified attacks on Nana Akufo-Addo would be seriously NOT entertain by his loyalists.
If not art of ungratefulness, no reasonable baby mama would undermine the Presidential ambition of her children’s father no matter the level of bitterness towards her ex-partner for the sake of the children.
…signed…
Razak Kojo Opoku (PhD)
Founding President, UP Tradition Institute
