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The first time I came into close proximity with John Mahama, he was Communications Minister and I was graduating from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. It was a bright, sunny afternoon in August 1999. When I say �close proximity�, I mean he was on the glorified dais and I was sitting on the very back row of plastic chairs rather close to the main washroom at the tiny GIJ campus. From his speech, I took away one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been blessed with: always read in the toilet. All the time I was schooling in GIJ I was living quite rough with no place of convenience of my own. Whenever nature called, I responded, like Moses, by heading to the bush. So on John Mahama�s advice, I vowed to work hard, get me a nice washroom and do as much reading there as I can. I am happy to report that when nature calls these days, I don�t rush to the bush but to one of my favorite spaces in my humble abode. And if I have to rush into that space without any reading material in my hand, I feel I am betraying him. Sometimes, reading in the loo also means blocking or delaying other people�s need to, you know, �download�. They often don�t take kindly to these delays, particularly if nature�s call becomes insistent. I have been tongue-lashed for this habit by a good number of people but whenever they complain, they only remind me of that humid August day in 1999 when John Mahama literally told me to s*** and read! So you can say that John Mahama pops up in my thoughts every now and then. But it�s not all because of the advice he gave to my GIJ graduating class. When I first set eyes on him and observed his comportment and the easy manner in which he appeared to be schmoozing with everyone, I got the feeling that this was one gentleman who could one day become president. He is now. But, I never imagined he would get into the highest office in Ghana so soon and certainly not in the circumstance of the untimely death of the man to whom he deputized. That doesn�t matter much because now he is fighting to stay on as president in the way I imagined he would � canvassing for votes, selling his vision for the nation and testing his popularity. He is contesting against seven others but none of them matters as much as Nana Akufo-Addo. I first came into close proximity with Nana Addo when I was reporting from parliament for Joy FM in 2001. He was Attorney General and his elegant suits made him look the part. He spoke so eloquently and carried himself like he was already president. He had certain airs around him and I felt he was snobbish. One day, he gave me a taste of his snobbery, proving me right. It was the day the National Reconciliation Bill was passed. The acrimony in The House was palpable, NDC MPs staged a walk out and the NPP majority, as they say, had its way. As I was filing a live report on Joy FM from the corridors, I saw Nana Addo walk out of the chamber so I ran after him to essentially ambush him for an interview but he went into the washroom. I rumbled on with my live report until Nana Addo finally came out of the washroom. I signaled for him to stand still, in a �stay where you are� manner. The Attorney General stopped in his tracks for me.