I bet Bawumia is much more competent than Mahama

Much as the critics have their democratic rights to grouch, shrill, and scold Ex-President Mahama for deciding to stage a presidential comeback in spite of his terrible errors in judgment which sent Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire in the absence of the insidious coronavirus and Ukraine/Russia impasse, he is permitted by the 1992 Constitution to do so.

Nevertheless, given the unpardonable economic meltdown under his watch (moved economic growth of 14% to 3.4% and single-digit inflation to 15.4%), Ex-President Mahama should do the right thing by eating humble pie and apologize to the good people of Ghana for wilfully messing up the economy.

We cannot deny or ignore the fact that during the erstwhile Mahama administration when there was no pernicious coronavirus or Ukraine/Russia conflict, Ghanaians became fed-up with the extremely harsh conditions amid corruption allegations (Bus branding, Brazil World Cup, SADA, SUBA, GYEEDA, SSNIT, MASLOC, NCA, Ford Expedition Vehicle, amongst others).

It was, therefore, not quite surprising when the unhappy 56.5 % of the electorates voted Mahama out in 2016 and 51.2% of Ghanaians voted against him in 2020.

If you may remember, in his last days in government, former President Mahama honestly told Ghanaians that his NDC administration had rapaciously ‘consumed all the meat on the bone’.

The former president was inadvertently conveying to Ghanaians that his administration had engaged in profligate spending and thereby emptying the national coffers.

This means that any government that takes over will have limited funds initially to fix social amenities and infrastructure projects such as hospitals, schools, roads, water, and toilets, amongst others.

Disappointingly, former President Mahama managed to uproot the good foundation laid by President Kufuor and the late Mills.

A chunk of Ghana’s scarce resources, regrettably, was wasted on dubious judgment debt payments, purported to be around GH800 million, 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 Mahama administration.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the vast majority of unhappy Ghanaians, who regrettably found themselves in the doldrums of poverty, rightly voted against the NDC and Ex-President Mahama in the 2016 and 2020 general elections, largely due to the unresolved business crippling dumsor, the wanton corruption (four out of innumerable suspects have since been convicted and sentenced), and the unpardonable incompetence (moved economic growth from 14% in 2011 to a miserable 3.4% and a single digit inflation to 15.4% by December 2016).

To be quite honest, Ghana went into the throes of economic collapse due to mismanagement and wanton corruption under the leadership of Ex-President Mahama.

With all due respect, if we fail to acknowledge the painful fact that Ghana’s economy was in shambles under the erstwhile NDC administration, then we are somehow reinforcing Mahama’s assertion that Ghanaians suffer from memory loss.

Of course, in a fairly stable democracy such as ours, governments pop in and out. And, considering the political dynamics in Ghana, it is a trend we can expect to continue unabated.

But the all-important question we should be asking is: should we trust every adult Ghanaian with an excuse of ascending to the presidency to steer the nation in the right direction?

It is absolutely true that individuals have different reasons for going into politics. Some people enter into politics for their unconditional love for their nation. Others just view power as an excellent opportunity to amass wealth and enjoy other trappings that come with the job.

It would, however, appear that some politicians do not care about the plight of the masses; they only scramble for power in order to pursue their parochial interests.

If that was not the case, what else would make a leader dole out large portions of our scarce resources to inveterate apologists like the founder of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), Madam Akua Donkor, who in all honesty, contributed nothing meaningful towards Ghana’s wellbeing, and yet received a melodious gift of two four-wheel drive vehicles and a luxurious bungalow purported to cost a staggering $475,000?

Instead of purchasing fuel to generate power, the Mahama administration rather doled out Ghana’s scarce resources to party apologists, and for well over four years, dumsor unfortunately crippled businesses.

The dumsor was so irritating to the extent that my uneducated, albeit reflective-thinking mum, who had a soft spot for NDC, underwent a carefully considered reflection and graciously detached herself from the Umbrella fraternity.

But despite Mahama’s coarse leadership, the NDC faithful would never agree with some of us for persistently criticizing their beloved leader.