Mahama has reduced campaign to tribal politics and lies - NPP

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has slammed President Mahama for they say is the disturbing “sectarian development in our politics being pushed by the president.”

According to the NPP, Ghanaians are worried about the message-less campaign being perpetrated by President Mahama “in his desperate bid to hand on to power”. This was contained in a statement issued by Abu Jinapor, an aide to flagbearer of the NPP.

President Mahama on Saturday said “our brother Aliu Mahama was Vice President for 8 years. I was Vice President for 3 and half years. For almost 12 years, we have tasted Vice Presidency. It’s no longer exciting. It’s no longer what we want.”

He said if the NPP wants votes from the northern part of the country, then they should put up Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia as their flagbearer to face-off with him.

But the NPP in the statement said: “The message is clear, President Mahama has no message. He has [nothing] positive for the people of Ghana and, in his desperation and frustration, has reduced his campaign to tribal politics and lies.”

The NPP said even though the NDC government led by President Mahama has run the economy of the country down, it is now playing the regional card as he tours the three northern regions.

The party is therefore calling on Ghanaians to vote against the NDC for dabbling in tribal politics.

Read the full statement below.

DESPERATE, MESSAGE-LESS JOHN MAHAMA MUST STOP HIS NORTH-SOUTH SECTARIAN CAMPAIGN

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, thank you for showing up in your numbers at this short notice:

As you know the general election is a little over 3 weeks away and the New Patriotic Party decided to devote the weekend to prayers for the nation. On Saturday, led by Vice Presidential Candidate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the party organized national prayers to Allah for the peace and stability that our democratic Republic has enjoyed over the last couple decades to be protected and promoted for this election and beyond. On Sunday, Christian leaders, gospel musicians, party leaders, members and patriots across the nation all gathered at the Baba Yara Stadium for the 2nd NPP Praise and Prayer Festival this year, under the inspirational theme, “JERICHO SHALL FALL”. We are happy to announce that it was by far the biggest religious gathering by any political party in Ghana’s history. The mission was simple. We thanked the Good Lord for bringing our dear nation this far, asked for his continuous blessing and guidance to ensure that this election will be free and fair and, thereby, guaranteeing peace and stability with sincere action and not just mere rhetoric.

We want to reassure the nation that the NPP, the one party that has since its ideological inception some sixty years, stayed consistent to its principled belief in multiparty democracy, will play a very constructive role to ensure a free, fair, transparent and peaceful election. But, let no one be deceived and take our commitment to Ghana’s democracy for committed. We, with our Jericho Patriots across the length and breadth of Ghana, will defend, with fearless honesty and boldness the peace and democracy of this country and resist any attempt to side-track the genuine and expressed mandate of the majority of the Ghanaian people. We shall not be intimidated in our patriotic, democratic responsibility to bring down the walls of Jericho erected by this NDC government and, its place, together with the people of Ghana and under the competent and incorruptible leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia, construct the kind of formidable structures that will transform lives and transform Ghana.

But, ladies and gentlemen of the media, we called you here this morning for a specific purpose. To draw your attention to a disturbing sectarian development in our politics, being pushed by the President of the Republic and Presidential Candidate of the ruling NDC, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama.

We called you here today because the New Patriotic Party and millions of well-meaning Ghanaians are worried about the kind of message-less campaign messages coming from the President in his desperate bid to hand on to power. The message is clear, President Mahama has no message. He has no positive for the people of Ghana and, in his desperation and frustration, has reduced his campaign to tribal politics and lies.

In fact, it is rather the opposition, led by the NPP, which is defining the issues for this election. The President began his campaign tour talking against Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP’s flagship policy of free, quality secondary education. President Mahama, a model beneficiary of free secondary education, and other senior members of his party and his campaign adverts have focused on a desperate attempt to try and tell Ghanaians that free secondary education was neither feasible nor a priority. But, here is the dishonesty of the NDC. Whilst its big guns scream at us through the mass media that free SHS and free technical and vocational education is bad, their footsoldiers on the ground are campaigning in communities across rural Ghana with a picture of President John Mahama claiming that he is the candidate promising free secondary education! This is the kind of dishonesty that has characterized President Mahama’s government and now campaign. It is this same dishonesty that would characterized another four years of the NDC. But, Gof and the good people of Ghana has other ideas, we believe.

Since coming into power in January 2009, ladies and gentlemen, this NDC government has spent a lot more money than the NPP, under President John Agyekum Kufuor, spent in 8 years. This NDC government has spent over GHC48 billion so far; President Kufuor spent less than GHC35 billion in 8 years. You don’t have to go far to see evidence of the achievements of the NPP. But, this Mahama-led NDC has very little to show for all the billions spent. It has been four wasted years and it would be four more of the same, if not worst, if we make the mistake of handling this country over to John Dramani Mahama for the next four years. It would be a hard, bumpy ride back to HIPC and more economic hardships. Corruption, corrupton and more corruption is what President Mahama has to offer. His government has spent more money under four years but what we see is merely more money chasing after fewer projects. The people of Ghana want to know, Mr President, where is all the billions of money? Na sika no wo hene? Beyond that, this NDC government has contracted more loans than all previous governments, from Dr Nkrumah to Kufuor, put together borrowed. NDC borrowing, according to parliamentary records, has now hit $18 billion and still growing.

The bad news is that President John Mahama is dangerous for the future of the youth and the future of Ghana. He cannot be trusted to protect the public purse. The good news is that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP are here to the rescue and to bring back hope.

With very little to show for the three and a half years that he was in charge of the Economic Management Team as Vice President and subsequently as President, due to the unfortunate death of the elected President, the late JEA Mills, our caretaker President, John Dramani Mahama, has decided to put substance aside and concentrate on petty and divisive politics.

TRIBAL POLITICS From last week, he has been busy telling Ghanaian voters to vote for him because the American people have re-elected President Barack Obama! This is how desperate and ridiculous President Mahama has reduced our politics to and he would do worse if we don’t CHANGE NOW to MOVE GHANA FORWARD.

Worse still, has been the desperate strategy of President John Mahama to play the regional card with his campaign message as he tours the three northern regions. It started with the chairman of his campaign and NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia. Not to be oustaged, the President himself, on the 1st of November, when addressing the chiefs and people of Nankpanduri, called on all ‘Northerners’ to give their backing to him so he could ascend the seat and make them “proud”.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the President who thinks that the “long-cherished dream’ of the people of Ghana is to own a national airline to bring back our national pride. Now, he thinks what will make the suffering people of Ghana, who happen to come from the North, proud is not access to education, health, skills and jobs, but to have a president called John Dramani Mahama. He said they should vote for him not because of what he can do to improve their lives but because of where he comes from. That is the most insulting thing a leader can say to his people.

Many Ghanaians hoped this was a one-off statement and a “slip” on the part of the President, as his communicators have always stated that such mistakes made by the President are mere slips and not intentional. But, he has continued on the same line. Just this weekend, President Mahama sped off to Zualerigu, in the Upper West Region, to further divide Ghana between Southerners and Northerners.

According to the President, Northerners are tired of being Vice President. This is a very reckless statement, which may even be interpreted to mean that he spent his first three years or so at the Castle desperately looking for the opportunity to take President John Atta Mills’ seat. Yes, the President is telling us that he prayed for his chance and now he has it and wants to do everything to hold on to it.

The President said, “Our brother Aliu Mahama was Vice President for 8 years. I was Vice President for 3 and half years. For almost 12 years, we have tasted Vice Presidency. It’s no longer exciting. It’s no longer what we want. If NPP think they want vote from here, they should put my brother Bawumia in number one and let the two of us contest and then they will get something from here. The Vice President we chop it aaaah, we tired [sic].”

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, this is a clear sign that the President has lost the battle on issues and is now resorting to fanning ethnocentrism in this country. This is a very dangerous and irresponsible way to rule a nation as rich and peaceful in its diversity as Ghana is. We cannot go down this dangerous path and wish to make it plane to President Mahama that if he has nothing better to offer to Ghanaians, at least, he shouldn’t destroy what he inherited, a nation with a long and proud history of multi-ethnic harmony.

Based on the President’s example, should other people also say that Southerners should also vote for Nana Akufo-Addo or any other candidate form the South? And, if that logic was to be pursued, where would that send our short-sighted President to? Ghana has come a long way for her to be divided by myopic, visionless, petty-minded, and self-seeking politicians in the mould of President Mahama, who is desperate for power. Ghana deserves better than the politics President Mahama is pursuing. He has nothing to offer.

The President is recklessly driving Ghana back onto the road now abandoned by countries like Rwanda and Kenya, the dangerous road of tribal politics and we the young people of Ghana are cautioning him to stop this useless tribal politics. It is cheap! It is unhealthy and very dangerous.

No amount of useless emotional blackmailing would divert the attention of the people of this country from the failures of this NDC government.

Analogy between Obama and an NDC victory Another sign of desperation exhibited by the President was to try and draw a linkage between the victory of President Barack Obama and that of the NDC. According to the John Mahama, Obama’s recent electoral victory points to a victory for the NDC in the December polls.

This is indeed laughable. Our President is now telling Ghanaians that because Obama has won, they should also elect him into office. The NDC, which won the 2008 by some 40,000 votes should take note that President Obama’s winning margin which stood at 9.8 million in 2008 dropped to some 2.3 million in 2012. If a performing incumbent can drop this low then what about a non-performing one who even had a tiny margin of victory of some 0.46%?

Barack Obama won mainly because he positively affected the lives of the ordinary people of America with a policy similar to what President Kufuor did with the NHIS, his health insurance initiative for the American masses, popularly referred to as “Obamacare”. Obama won because of his bail out of the automobile industry, which saved American jobs. His “race to the top” education policy, among others, was embraced by parents as a leader who cared about the future of the youth.

In four years, President Barack Obama found and killed the world’s foremost terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. On the other hand, the NDC, in four years, found and worked for Alfred Agbesi Woyome. President Mahama would do well to focus on getting our money back from Woyome.

SAD SADA IS NOT FORGOTTEN The people of the North only remember the promise of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority which has been broken. They remember the SADA promise that has turned out to be a sad hoax. The fact of whether this has been achieved or not is widely known by all. The President promised them big time and failed them bigger time.

The people of the North remember the Pwalugu Tomato factory which is now actively employing goats as factory hands, when NDC promised to build factories all across the north.

They remember the razzmatazz surrounding the commissioning of the Buipe Sheanut factory, which hasn’t produced an ounce of sheanut butter since it was commissioned by then vice President John Mahama.

The people of the North cannot also forget President Mahama’s promise of completing the construction of the Wa Regional Hospital by November this year. It has not even started!

The people of the North can also not forget that when they got a President, in Dr Hilla Limann, our historian President Mahama appears to have forgotten how President Limann was unceremoniously thrown out of office by the PNDC, the party from which the NDC came from directly.

The people of the North, just like Ghanaians everywhere, are just as well concerned about quality healthcare, good, affordable education, well-paying jobs and value for money on how public funds are spent. They care about good roads. They worry about a failing agriculture. They will not fall for the fanning of tribal sentiments for votes. They are discerning and will vote for a party that has their best interest at heart and that party is the NPP, which has a solid record of achievement and a clear vision for the future.

They will vote for Nana Akufo-Addo because he and the New Patriotic Party are clear in their commitment to building a society of opportunities and prosperity for every Ghanaian, regardless of where he or she comes from.

Let us vote against tribal politics. Let us vote against desperate Mahama. Vote for Akufo-Addo. Change Now! Move Ghana Forward!

Thank you and God bless you!

Abu Jinapor