Rapper, music executive and real estate entrepreneur Criss Waddle, born Kweku Addai, has said Ghanaians will never forget President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He indicated "short man devil" Akufo-Addo's eight-year rule will not be fondly remembered, since he was popular for snubbing and ignoring the heartfelt concerns of citizens.

While the term 'short man devil' can be used lightheartedly to describe someone of a small stature, Waddle used it lamenting the leadership style of Ghana's fifth president of the fourth republic, and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

"People begged you to fix the country [but] you told them to “fix themselves” [belly-laugh emoji]. Herh [you] be champion. We will never forget you [ever] until we die, short man Devil," Waddle said on X.

Perhaps Criss Waddle was here referring to when in 2021, civil advocacy group Democracy Hub stirred a Fix the Country protest, and received the infamous "Fix yourselves first" response from the Nsawam-Adoagyiri NPP MP Frank Annoh-Dompreh.

In a subsequent post, the Biegya (Open Fire) hitmaker described Nana Akufo-Addo's tenure as "8 years [of] military rule" which scared him into silence because "if I didn’t stay [a] coward, like by now, I die long time ago".

To buttress his claim, he broached the time during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections when National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP Sam George was attacked by security personnel believed to be members of the SWAT team of the Ghana Police Service.

President Akufo-Addo's tenure has greatly been criticised for the controversial deployment of the military to enforce election protocols and export bans, and among other things, fight illegal mining (galamsey).

Additionally, several surveys have indicated press freedom largely depreciated in the last eight years, with journalists reporting being picked up by various security personnel and being manhandled. 

"You arrested almost everyone that spoke against [your] party, making sure even journalists lost their freedom of speech. You collapsed and crippled almost every business that wasn’t owned by your allies. People cried of pure hunger yet you kept imposing higher taxes," Criss Waddle wrote some more.

"Almost the whole country cried, begged and said, 'We don’t need a [national] cathedral right now. We need employment'. But you said, 'Never'. Y still [will] go build [it] [teary emojis] [You] ordered chiefs to get up and greet you as if sitting down to greet [you] takes away [your] blessings and good policies [you] had."

He emphasised, "For 8 years we were all under your military rule. Herh we [have] suffer[ed] ooo."

Criss Waddle's assessment of Nana Akufo-Addo's rule comes after the president's party, now led by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, suffered a record defeat at the polls on Saturday, December 7, 2024, making former President John Dramani Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) the president-elect of Ghana.