I bet, Bawumia is much more competent than Mahama (VII)

Contending schools of thought have been arguing somewhat consistently and passionately that Ex-President John Dramani Mahama, unlike his predecessor, the late John Evans Atta Mills, did not expect to be the president of Ghana and therefore wasn’t prepared for the highly important position.

The critics, therefore, maintain that Ex-President Mahama was only compelled by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution to ascend the throne he never prepared for and therefore had no burning desire to move the country in the right direction.

But then again, there was nothing to write home about after being given the mandate in the controversial 2012 general elections.

If you may recall, it was the late Mills who hand-picked John Dramani Mahama as his running mate for the 2008 general elections.

Although the late President Mills met with stiff resistance on his unilateral decision to select John Dramani Mahama as his running mate for the 2008 election, the indefatigable Mills defied the fierce opposition, stood by his then-running mate John Dramani Mahama, worked collaboratively, and emerged victorious in the 2008 general elections.

In retrospect, the late President Mills took over the presidency from former President Kufuor on January 7, 2009.

The late President Mills prepared adequately for the presidency, unlike his immediate successor, Ex-President, Mahama.

But despite the late Mill's readiness to serve the nation to the best of his ability, the detractors within his own Party needlessly kept nagging, squalling, and grouching about his style of leadership.

Frankly stating, but for the shenanigans of the conspiratorial plotters that surrounded him, the late Mills would have been very successful in his short spell in government.

Take, for example, former President Kufuor did his utmost best and quadrupled Ghana’s GDP to GH28 billion, with 9.1% growth by December 2009.

And, the late Mills inherited oil in commercial quantities from former President Kufuor and managed to raise the GDP to GH47 billion, with 14% growth by 2011.

Regrettably, however, the late President Mills capitulated, got carried away, and allowed the creation of loot and share cabal in his government to have their way.

The incompliant cabal began to dip their hands into the national coffers. The
racketeers even managed to allocate judgment debt amount in the national budget
(purported to be around GH600 million) with the sole objective of creating, looting, and sharing. Do you remember Woyome’s GH51.2 million scandalous judgment debt payment?

Regrettably, things started to fall apart. It went from bad to worse following President Mills' untimely death in July 2012. The conspiratorial plotters then had a field day leading to the 2012 general elections. It is worth stressing that President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks went berserk in their desperation to cling to power. Thus they broke all conventions. Many government departments spent over and above their allocated budgets.

Unsurprisingly, many observers harbour a strong view that Ghana’s economic meltdown came about as a result of the unbridled bribery and corruption that took place during the Mahama administration.

Dearest reader, let us take a critical look at some of the alleged wanton bribery and corruption cases.

The dubious Embraer 190 aircraft deal prompted former President Mills to set up a Committee to investigate then-Vice President Mahama.

The Alleged $300 million bill incurred on the unsuccessful STS housing deal was spearheaded by then Vice President, John Dramani Mahama.

The puzzling GH800 million judgment debt payments.

The undeserving GH51.2 million judgment debt payment (create, loot, and share) to Woyome.

The questionable $30 million judgment debt payment to Waterville, which the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled as unconstitutional and ordered the NDC government to retrieve, but to no avail.

The dubious $325,000 judgment debt payment to ISOFOTON, which the NDC government failed to retrieve despite the Supreme Court’s order.

The scandal (create, loot, and share) at the National Service Secretariat cost Ghana millions of Ghana Cedis.

The SADA scandal deprived the people of the Northern Region of millions of Cedis meant for development.

The SUBA scandal which cost Ghana millions of Cedis meant for the improvement of the economy.

The GYEEDA corruption scandal deprived the youth of Ghana of millions of Cedis meant for the creation of jobs.

The amount of $250 million from the Euro bond which was meant for infrastructural development, and yet lodged surreptitiously in an unauthorised bank account.

The inflated costs of infrastructural projects (the former Minister of Local Government, Collins Dauda raised concerns previously).

The NCA scandal which a competent court of jurisdiction convicted and sentenced two former NDC appointees to prison.

The misapplied $200M(GH2.4billion) Saglemi housing project.

The misappropriated $175M(GH2.1billion) district hospital loan.

The list is not exhaustive, but time and space constraints would not allow me to
enumerate all of them at this juncture.

Somehow, President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks failed to acknowledge that
corruption is a key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to
poverty alleviation and development.

The general belief back then was that they bought votes with the taxpayers’ money.

They clung to power following the controversial election on December 7, 2012.

Suffice it to state that their victory came with huge costs to the state.

Ghana’s economic growth slowed for the fourth consecutive year to an estimated
3.4% in 2015 from 4% in 2014 as energy rationing (dumsor), high inflation, and
ongoing fiscal consolidation weighed on economic activity (World Bank, 2016).

Regrettably, former President Mahama could not work his socks off but only
managed to undo all the excellent performances put in by his predecessors.

Take, for example, Mahama moved the economic growth from 14% to 3.4%; A GDP
of GH47 Billion was reversed to GH40 billion; Agricultural growth of 7.5% was
dragged to 2.5%; single-digit inflation was moved to 15.4%.

Before the 2012 general elections, Haruna Iddrisu, the then Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, asserted: “If voted into power, the NDC government would have no excuse to keep Ghanaians in dumsor”.

Ironically, however, the dumsor got worse following the NDC’s controversial victory in 2012.

However the dire consequences of the dumsor, the Mahama administration could not fix the dumsor. The dumsor continued to cripple thousands of businesses. The dumsor indeed contributed to Ghana’s economic downslide.