Aren’t you really surprised to see Mahama staging a presidential comeback?

There is no denying or ignoring the fact that former President John Dramani Mahama holds a chain of records in the history of Ghanaian politics.

It has, however, been well-stencilled that the former president started his political career, first as an assemblyman, then as a parliamentarian, a deputy minister, a substantive minister, a vice president, a stand-in president ( following the sudden and mysterious death of President Mills), and as an elected president of Ghana.

The former president, John Dramani Mahama, also holds an ‘unenviable’ record of being the first incumbent president to be voted out of power in his first term in office.

In December 2016, about 55.6% of the electorates showed Ex-President Mahama the exit; he lost by a gigantic margin of over one million votes. It was the first in the history of Ghanaian politics.

Obviously, the vast majority of Ghanaians were not happy on how Ex-President Mahama was managing the affairs of the country.

Apparently, the good people of Ghana were not much enthused when former President Mahama abysmally dragged the 14% economic growth in 2011 to a disappointing 3.4% by December 2016.

Rightly so, Ghanaian voters were surprised to see former President Mahama raising Ghana’s debt from GH9.5 billion in 2009 to an incredible GH122.4 billion by December 2016 with a little to show for.

Indeed, discerning Ghanaians could not hide their arousing disgust when Ex-President Mahama’s business crippling dumsor went on for well over five years.

It is absolutely true that the former president lost many admirers when he terribly collapsed the Agricultural sector by reducing the growth from 7.4% in 2012 to a miserable 2.5% by December 2016.

Believe it or not, discerning electorates were extremely disappointed when the former president shrunk Ghana’s GDP from $47 billion in 2011 to $40billion by December 2016.

Trust me, the vast majority of Ghanaians voted Mahama out of power for recklessly giving out large portions of Ghana’s scarce resources to parasitic creatures, who, in actual fact, contributed nothing meaningful towards the nation building.

Take my word for it, dearest reader, the good people of Ghana fretted thy souls with curses and condemnations when Mahama shockingly decided to give away 58% of Ghana’s bauxite to his sibling, Ibrahim Mahama on a silver platter.

Somehow, observers are of the view that discerning Ghanaians protested against Mahama’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama’s GH12 million import tax evasion.

In fact, the electorates could not get their heads around how and why Mahama’s administration would pay a purported GH800 million dubious judgment debt, including the GH51.2 million to Woyome, $30 million to the Waterville and $325,000 to Isofoton which resulted in the drastic reduction of capital expenditure and as a consequence, most contractors were not paid by the erstwhile NDC administration.

Indeed, the good people of Ghana were extremely baffled over the misappropriation of $175 million loan facility secured in 2012, which was meant to provide seven district hospitals, and the NDC hierarchy misapplied on the blind side of Ghanaians.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the over GH200 million SADA funds invested on trees, reported to have burnt down and the guinea fowls which flew to the nearby Burkina Faso without a trace. How bizarre?

Truly, no patriotic Ghanaian could have shrilled and thrilled over the scandalous Bus Branding, the Brazil World Cup, SUBA,GYEEDA, NCA, SSNIT, the Ford Expedition Vehicle, amongst others.

The sceptics thus find it extremely bizarre to see the NDC loyalists blissfully moving heaven and earth to reclaim power barely 30 months after being voted out by discerning Ghanaians due to their dreadful errors in judgement which culminated in massive economic meltdown.

Besides, the sceptics contend that former President Mahama had had enough opportunity to show discerning Ghanaians his ability to steer Ghana to the right direction, but wilfully failed to do so, and, was rightly rejected by over one million electorates.

The critics would thus pose: ‘what can Mahama do differently at the presidency next time around’?

What is more bizarre though, is that Ex-President Mahama and his teeming supporters are moving up and down the country and unfairly upbraiding President Akufo-Addo who is prudently fixing the unprecedented mess left behind by the erstwhile Mahama administration.

By and large, the critics maintain that the successive NDC governments have proven to be worst economic managers who can never improve upon the socio-economic standards of living of Ghanaians.

The sceptics, therefore, contend that despite the irrevocable mismanagement which brought about their heavy defeat in the 2016 general elections, the NDC faithful hold a faint hope that they will bounce back and recapture the power from the NPP in 2020.

However, the sceptics insist that it will rather be easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than NDC returning to power anytime soon with former President Mahama, judging from the unprecedented economic mess he left behind.


k.badu2011@gmail.com