What exactly does former President John D. Mahama want from Ghanaians? What were the common “butter and bread” policies he and his NDC-controlled opposition party had that they didn’t have enough time to implement while in power for all those years that make them think now is the time to pursue them? There are countless unnerving questions to ask in the context of Mr. Mahama-led NDC’s signature manipulative and embarrassing behaviours in the opposition because of power.

In a way, it is a sobering spectacle that some of these questions can even be posed here. But the inevitable response(s) can also be downright chilling, given that Ghana as a serious multiparty democracy needs more selfless and powerful opposition parties that are poles apart of orchestrated obstructionism, mob manipulation, lawless enabling, misinformation, and irresponsible utterances, than the ex-president and his minions are offering the vulnerable Ghanaians.

As a little boy growing up in Kumasi some years ago, or let’s say as a native-born Ghanaian now living in the United States over the years, it has still not lost on my sharp memory that naked “aboro” (or tear him/her down attitude) is one of the common cultural mindsets of many Ghanaians. Stated differently, one can find more Ghanaians willing to destroy or undermine their country than those trying selflessly to build Ghana into an enviable society all of us will be proud of.

Unfortunately, the “aboro” attitudes (reckless destructive inclinations) drain like rampaging tributaries right down into the main waters of our state institutions, as well as into the private sectors throughout the society. Just take a sober look at pronouncements and the behaviours of the nation’s main opposition party today.

To say that the actions of Mr. Mahama-controlled NDC core followers on national scene are manipulative and in many cases an embarrassment to the modern concept of opposition; it is similar to hauling a trove of sand to the sandy beach: any endeavour in that sense is highly redundant.

Clearly, the troika of Messrs; John Mahama, Asiedu Nketia and Ofosu-Ampofo have devised wry ways of manipulating millions of susceptible Ghanaians for their envisioned “create, loot, and share” politico-economic culture, in case the NDC were to form government in 2020.

In particular, ex-President Mahama is the manipulator-in-chief within the country’s opposition system, having observed to the effect that Ghanaians arguably have not-too-good retentive memory. According to Mr. Mahama, Ghanaians tend to forget quickly about whoever causes them to fall in a muddy deep hole, but they are usually impatient and quick at expressing outrage towards the rescuer painstakingly trying to save them from the gorge.

It is why the former president-turned NDC flag bearer for election 2020 is feverishly exploiting the perceived forgetfulness of Ghanaians to further serve his political interests. No doubt, Mr. Mahama knows if he had slapped a Ghanaian in the face during his tenure as president and today he shows up with money, plenty of foodstuffs, V8 trucks, motorbikes backed by l-feel-your-pain sweet talks, the slapped victim would hardly remember what happened to him/her in the previous encounter. It’s in this light that Mr. Mahama sees Ghanaians in general.

This nation has a very long way to go in terms of achieving an above-average development, especially with our ingrained culture that seeks to undercut critical thinking and encourage many of us to eat all we have today and forget about the tomorrow generation. Based on his past comments regarding Ghanaians’ memory psychology, ex-President JDM is fully aware majority of Ghanaians don’t really remember or care less about the ultra-messy economy his government left behind, including the perennial electric power crisis known in the local parlance as “dumsor.”

If the Mahama campaign train seems to be gathering some momentum with its misleading and negativistic billboard proclaiming “Times are hard in Ghana under President Akufo-Addo,” it is in part because a pretty good number of Ghanaian media outlets are timidly locked up within the echo chambers of Mahama-commandeered NDC misinformation coterie.

One of the unsettling aspects of Comrade John Mahama’s manipulative tactics involves his sneaky ability to place virtue in his right hand while his left hand holds the vice in a simultaneous fashion as if both of these two human elements are not mutually exclusive.

In other words, he and his cheerers lament the so-called growing lawlessness in Ghana under Nana Akufo-Addo, yet on so many levels, Mr. Mahama directly/indirectly promotes lawlessness or discourages the due process of the law by openly voicing his disagreements on some of the cases still in court that involve some members of his party and other high-profile criminal cases before the judiciary.

For instance, if a major opposition party’s presidential candidate is always seen sitting tight in a law court, ostensibly in solidarity with a party national chairperson (Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo) who is summoned before an independent judge for allegedly plotting to sabotage the social order of the country, what does this show of physical appearance in court by a flag bearer mean to the rule of law? By his constant presence during court proceedings, is the ex-president-cum-NDC-presidential contestant sublimely signaling the judge to leave his party chairman alone because he is somewhat above the laws of Ghana?

In fact, since wandering in the opposition just about three years ago, ex-President Mahama has unambiguously demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is a combo of contradiction in motion, smooth political manipulator, and an embarrassment to the 21st century sense of statesmanship.

He and his inner-circle lieutenants planted complex web of political landmines in the swampy terrain of the drowning Ghanaian economy right before the NDC administration left the scene, knowing full well that the swamp is much too deep for anyone to clear it of any socioeconomic explosives within the shortest possible timeframe.

But in twist of irony, this same fellow is now pontificating that his successor (Nana Addo) is too slow and not up to the task of safely detonating all the deadly “landmines” he (JDM) had deliberately imbedded into the nation’s politico-economic architecture, because he knows for sure Ghanaians will forget his past misrule within split seconds. Indeed, in the former President Mahama’s universe, there are no such things as shame, embarrassment, and contradiction, because he can get away with it.

Suffice it to say, many of the media folks in Ghana somehow deconstruct the watchdog role of the press as mainly to hold the government in power accountable and leave the government-in-waiting (opposition) alone to spit out plain lies to the gullible citizens without any thought-provoking questions.

Perhaps, this is the reason Mr. Mahama thinks he has another shot at the presidency; counting on the Ghanaians’ forgetfulness and what can fulfill their needs right now, not their long-term needs or interests!