�Failure Is Not Fatal� � Akufo Addo

Nana Akufo-Addo, the twice-defeated presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said emphatically �failure is not fatal.� Asked directly �shouldn't you have called it quits after your 2012 defeat? Aren�t you getting too used to losing. Nana Akufo-Addo said categorically �the great Winston Churchill said; failure is not fatal. The courage to continue counts. There are several examples of leaders who tripped but kept going and won, Abraham Lincoln, K. A. Busai, Francois Mitterrand, J. A. Kufuor, Mwai Kibaki, Abdoulaye Wade, John Atta Mills and Michael Sata are all examples of leaders who lost more than once before finally winning. I do not consider myself, the NPP or Ghana to be a stranger in this area.� He was answering questions from �Africa Watch� a pan-African magazine in Accra. By his answers Nana appears to be wearing his two times defeat as a badge of honour which puts him in the same category as two of Ghana�s former Presidents, President John Evans Atta Mills and John Agyekum Kufuor. What Nana failed to mention is the fact that history has also recorded some serial political losers like J.B Danqauh and Ross Perot who never made it to the presidency. The interviewer claimed that Nana is not seen as �one of the masses� and said that Nana�s house �is not a typical Nima house.� Nana�s response was �this house was built by my parents, and they worked hard for it and passed it on to us, like all good children must do, we have added our own improvements to it. That is what every generation must do with Ghana, make it better than what was bequeathed by an earlier generation. That is the whole essence of progress. I am sure that is what you mean by I am not seen as one of the masses. I believe that we all share the same dreams. Other aspects of the interview will be published in subsequent issues of The Insight.