Tsatsu Tsikata, the renowned legal practitioner, has warned the John Mahama-led government appointees over the danger of becoming complacent.
The renowned legal practitioner cautioned Mahama’s appointees against measuring their success in governance by marginal improvement over the Akufo-Addo administration.
According to Tsatus Tsikata, such an approach breeds complacency and weak leadership.
He highlighted that public service must not be reduced to comparison politics, where officials are satisfied simply because they perform a little better than those who came before them.
Speaking at the ceremony to rename the NDC’s national headquarters on June 22, 2026, Tsatsu Tsikata stated, “There is a danger, especially after what the country went through in the disastrous 2017 to 2024 period, under then President Akufo-Addo and his Vice President Bawumia.
“There is a danger that we lower the bar of what the nation expects of us in the NDC and that we aim to be just a little better than the previous government”, he stated.
“Appointees would only seek to compare themselves to their predecessors and, by that measure, be content with some improvements in performance and therefore become complacent,” he said.
Tsatsu Tsikata urged the NDC to use its legacy commemoration as a moment of reflection on its future direction.
He emphasised that leadership must be anchored in identifying and building capability rather than settling for minimal gains.
“To identify capabilities wherever they came from. I want to insist from the outset that the NDC must use this commemoration to reflect on its future, its message, and its value proposition to the world at large, now and into the distant future,” he added.
Tsatsu Tsikata stressed that the NDC appointees lowering expectations in governance would ultimately undermine public trust and fail to meet Ghanaians’ aspirations.
His comments come on the back of the NDC renaming its national headquarters in Accra as the “Jerry Rawlings House”.
According to the NDC, the move is designed to permanently immortalise the memory and foundational ideals of the party’s founder, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
The historic transition of the party’s nerve centre was capped off today, Monday, June 22, 2026 also coincides with what would have been the charismatic leader’s 79th birthday.
The renaming was held under the theme “From Revolution to Fourth Republic: The Rawlings Legacy”.
Senior party officials, supporters, and dignitaries gathered for the ceremony, with President John Dramani Mahama also joining in the event.
President John Mahama, speaking at the ceremony to rename the NDC’s national headquarters as the JJ Rawlings House, unveiled a bust of the late former President in Accra.
He further added that Rawlings would likely have opposed the event had he been alive.
Mahama disclosed that the late Rawlings was deeply uncomfortable with efforts to immortalise his name and preferred to be remembered through his impact on people’s lives and not naming monuments and public structures after him.
Speaking at the event, John Mahama stated, “Rawlings himself, if he were alive, would have been very uncomfortable with this ceremony we are holding, by which we seek to immortalise his name”.
“As the Chairman said, he resisted all attempts to name significant monuments after him,” Mr Mahama noted.
“He politely declined to have the University for Development Studies named after him, even though he had given up his World Food Prize Award as seed funding to start that university,” the President said.
Mahama also recounted a personal experience when he sought Rawlings’ approval to name the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel after him,
He added, “He replied to my letter during my previous presidency when I wrote to seek his permission to name the FPSO for the ENI Sankofa field after him,” he said.
“And he said, ‘Pass it on to President Kufuor. I prefer to have my name inscribed in the minds and hearts of men than on statues and monuments.’”
“Fortunately for us today, he is in no position to object to what we are doing here to immortalise his name,” he added.
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