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Opinions of Tuesday, 24 July 2018

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

But who says discerning Ghanaians will send Mahama back to the presidency?

Former President John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama

It is extremely baffling to see former President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks fighting tooth and nail to return to the presidency barely eighteen months after being voted out of power by discerning Ghanaians for their dreadful errors in judgement which brought about massive economic collapse.

Let us however be honest, former President Mahama and the NDC apparatchiks had had enough opportunity to show discerning Ghanaians their ability to steer the nation to the right direction but they woefully failed to do so. So, what else do they want at the presidency?

Indeed, some of us were over the moon when the vast majority of discerning Ghanaians overcame their benightedness on dynamics of governance and refused to be hoodwinked by the manipulating and cunning NDC operatives during the 2016 electioneering campaign.

Unfortunately, unsuspecting voters have been brainwashed by the manipulating politicians to believing that all that an elected government has to do for its citizens is to provide social infrastructures and amenities.

Indeed, the notion that the best an elected government could do is to put up only infrastructural projects is somewhat fallacious. Yes, praiseworthy governance goes beyond the provision of infrastructural projects and social amenities.

It is also absolutely true that good governance involves the implementation of advantageous policies and programmes with a view to stabilising the socio-economic standards of living.

Of course, the provision of infrastructural projects and social amenities is crucial in the nation building. However, any serious, committed and forward-thinking government would not only focus on putting up both meaningful and meaningless projects; it would rather focus on both infrastructural projects and the implementation of pragmatic policies and programmes that will propel the economy.

As a matter of fact, we elect a government to oversee our national affairs. And, we, in turn, are obliged to pay taxes to the elected government so as to run the country seamlessly.

What is more, the government of the day has our unconditional support to go for reasonable loans to support the day-to-day management of the country. In effect, we (the citizens) pay for all the expenses pertaining to the management of the country.

It was for that reason that I was in agreement with President Mahama for suggesting somewhere in 2008 that it is an exercise in mediocrity for any government to take delight in infrastructural projects.

Apparently, President Mahama meant to suggest that every lousy government could easily undertake that role of governance. By inference, the erection of infrastructural projects is as easy as ABC.

No offence intended, though, Madam Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party could put up more infrastructural projects if given the opportunity.

To be blunt, since discerning Ghanaians have been paying their taxes, albeit under extreme difficulties, it would be boundlessly unconscionable for any government to only hide behind social amenities and infrastructural projects such as public toilets, schools, roads, water, electricity, amongst others.

So, I, for one, jumped for joy when in 2016, discerning Ghanaians ignored Mahama administration’s much touted unprecedented achievements such as the erection of Nkrumah Circle Interchange.

After all, to whom much is given, much is expected. It is, therefore, worth emphasising that President Kufuor left a total debt of around 9.5 billion Ghana Cedis in 2009. However, our total debt ballooned to around 122.4 billion Ghana Cedis as of September 2016.

This means that Mahama and his NDC government added more than 113 billion Cedis within a short space of seven and half years.

It is, therefore, extremely baffling to keep hearing and reading from the same people who wilfully collapsed the once thriving economy, shouting from the roof top about the supposedly slow pace of development barely eighteen months of the NPP government assuming power.

In retrospect, the Mahama’s government focused primarily on so-called infrastructural projects and failed terribly to initiate expedient policies and programmes to overturn the failed policies of agriculture, poverty reduction and resource allocation in the areas of healthcare, education, finance, supply chain management and security sector planning, amongst others.

So, how could individuals who wilfully throw Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire turn around and accuse the NPP government of not turning things around quickly in barely eighteen months into 48 months mandate?

It is, indeed, quite unreasonable for the minority NDC operatives to expect the NPP government to keep all its promises within a short space of time. After all, haven’t Ghanaians given Akufo-Addo’s government four years to deliver the Manifesto promises?

Strangely, though, Ex-President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks are moving up and down the country and upbraiding President Akufo-Addo who is prudently fixing the unprecedented mess left behind by the erstwhile NDC administration.

Perhaps more than anything else, Ex-President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks are still holding on to the phantom belief that Ghanaians suffer from memory loss and therefore cannot recollect the revoltingly ugly events which took place under their watch.