Dennis Miracles Aboagye, an aide to New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has recounted how former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo unexpectedly terminated his appointment as Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Akuapem North in 2020.
Speaking at the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) “Tell Your Story” event at the University of Ghana, Aboagye said his appointment was terminated just three months before the 2020 general elections, despite his active involvement in mobilising young people for the voter registration exercise.
He said the development came on the final day of the Electoral Commission’s registration exercise, when he had spent the day encouraging residents in the municipality to register.
Aboagye said he later returned to his office to collect some documents and was on his way upstairs at about 5 p.m. when he received a message from the then Minister of Local Government informing him that the President had terminated his appointment.
“In August 2020, three months to the election as Municipal Chief Executive for Akuapem North, I was neck-deep in the NPP coming to power in 2016. I was the youth leader, which was the reason I got the role,” he said.
He recalled the moment he received the message.
“I was climbing to my office around 5 p.m. to go and pick some documents when I got a text message from the Minister of Local Government saying, ‘The President has terminated your appointment,’” he added.
According to Aboagye, he had no idea that such a decision was imminent because he had not been involved in any incident that, in his view, warranted his removal.
“I was confused. There was no incident; there was nothing. By the time I descended the stairs, it was all over the news. I was getting phone calls. Then, within 30 minutes, my replacement had also been announced,” he said.
He said the speed of the announcement made the experience even more difficult.
Rather than confront anyone over the decision, Aboagye said he quietly left the premises and found a secluded place to process what had happened.
“So, I walked slowly. I didn’t drive my car, and I went to sit in a very silent place,” he recounted.
Despite the setback, Aboagye said the experience changed his understanding of adversity and taught him to view difficult moments as part of the journey to achieving greater things.
He argued that people who aspire to succeed must be prepared to face setbacks and disappointments along the way.
“The rise comes with its own challenges. I always tell people that you cannot aspire to be great if you are afraid of setbacks. What I have learnt over the period is, the bigger the challenge, the bigger the embarrassment, which means the bigger the rise,” he said.
Aboagye served as MCE for Akuapem North before later becoming Executive Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD).
