By: Christian Aboagye | Social Worker, Mental Health Practitioner & NDC Manchester Branch Youth Organiser
A Ghanaian Tale of Power, Prestige, and the People’s Chair
There once was a chair. Not just any chair; a presidential one. Crafted with grandeur, guarded with pride, and pampered like royalty. It didn’t walk, rather it rode. Across every town, every city, in a Land Cruiser of its own, fit for kings and crowned republics.
This wasn’t a mythical stool from the days of Ntim Gyakari. No. It belonged to our own President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. And according to optics, wherever the President went, this special chair followed. Never did he sit on a local seat; not a chief’s, not a church’s, not a community centre’s. Only on The Chair.
But now that his time in office has ended, we must ask: Where is the chair?
Because let’s be clear: it wasn’t a family heirloom. It was funded, transported, and maintained by the Ghanaian taxpayer. And in this land, we have a proverb:
👉🏽 “If the people built the stage, they have a right to watch the play.”
So What Should Be Done?
Let that chair rest where the people can see it.
Put it in a museum. Not as mockery, but as memory.
Here’s What Ghana Stands to Gain:
🔸 1. Cultural and Political Tourism
Visitors; both local and foreign: love stories. And nothing captures the imagination quite like a presidential chair that rode in a convoy. This one piece could become a national attraction.
🔸 2. Civic Education & National Reflection
That chair is not just a seat: it’s a conversation. A symbol of state image, public spending, leadership style. Students, scholars, even politicians can learn from it.
🔸 3. Preservation of History
Museums are not for ancient drums alone. Let us not always wait till our artefacts are stolen before we find their value. This is modern history, thus, let’s capture it while the story is fresh.
🔸 4. A Mirror for Leadership
Let the chair provoke future leaders to ask: What am I leaving behind? Let it also provoke citizens to ask: What are we funding hmmm and why?
Because history is not just in books. It’s in the objects that power once touched.
Let the chair rest where it belongs.
In the people’s house.
For the people to see.
To reflect.
To learn.
And perhaps… to laugh a little.
