Opinions of Thursday, 8 February 2024

Columnist: Nana Frema Busia

NPP's roll of the Bawumia dice

"Asem yi di ka": How can Veep Bawumia who ought to lose the upcoming 2024 election as a matter of principle on abysmal performance or non - performance if you will be Ghana's selfless saviour?

"Asem se be": Veep Bawumia as NPP flagbearer is saying "it is possible" while trying to do the impossible; cutting his nose to spite his face, taking credit for the economic prowess of a star-studded Economic Management Team while despising shame, distancing himself from our economic bankruptcy which he has supervised and monitored with apparent laser-eyed weekly focus. The supposed recovery is a hoax inconsistent with the harsh realities of our daily misery.

Dr. Bawumia cannot continue to say "You and I were not there" He is not a "mere" lame duck Vice President. He has been in the thick and thin of the economic mess as the very economic Czar that has exacerbated the NDC incompetence and corruption NPP came to resolve.

It is a most zealous Dr. Bawumia who uttered false promises of economic resuscitation now jaded in a governance that is overly corrupt and pompous with self-interest at national expense with hoax offices of Special Prosecutor which is a national resource waste and chaff in the legal wind and must be closed down

Our current economic mess is a Bawumia footprint and joint Akufo - Addo legacy in its feckless run-away borrowing that has us so in tatters that a 2nd tranche $600m IMF loan hit BOG account when according to Veep Bawumia we were not going to borrow, the money was here but he could not find it after copious theoretical boasting. Has Ghana not been duped?

We are to believe that the now messianic NPP flagbearer, Dr. Bawumia with his Own holy futuristic vision, kept his genius ideas in his lofty pocket, while Ghana rotted because President Akufo-Addo and his Akyem mafia led by Finance Minister Ken Ofori Attah (what the dickens is he still at the post for? Waiting to be a reciprocal Bawumia Vice President?) "Arm twisted", stampeded and prevented him from implementing his financial ideals.

If Dr. Bawumia the overlord, instrumental mouthpiece, and harbinger of economic clout, allowed himself to be so incapacitated while integral to the seat of power and did not have the independent gumption to speak up while his vision of economic glory that propelled NANA oh Nana to victory rotted;

AND

If the economic pilot and pivot, Dr Bawumia did not care enough to opt for a dignified resignation on behalf of a perishing Ghana, but preferred the trappings and comfort of pseudo power without substantive integrity, why does he think we should Try Him as the Rescuing Rambo of a dying Ghana after we have tried the failed President Akufo - Addo to our utmost chagrin?

Dr. Bawumia has mutual if not special responsibility for our dire economic malaise. The attempted deniability is not acceptable. Even if it were credible, it just shows tacit acquiescence to mediocrity that has capsized our economic destiny and enabled his being pushed as flagbearer by hook or crook by the very forces that derailed him. That is the definition of self-service not selflessness!

Furthermore, when Dr Bawumia and his camp happily sang "We have won to save Ghana", on his election as flagbearer, it was a statement of guilt and self-condemnation if after 7yrs of his economic stewardship Ghana needs to be saved.

It was also a provocative onslaught on Ghana's majority Christian nerves. Salvation is a sacrificial Christian doctrine. what is Dr. Bawumia's belief regarding the sacrificial cross of Christ in the tripartite divinity of the Godhead? What kind of strategy is the controversy he was courting as he turned Christian doctrine on its head when he and his camp rubbed our faces in our unmitigated suffering in his “We have won to SAVE Ghana" jubilant chant?

Ghana is certainly in economic hell after Veep Bawumia already shoved redemptive theories and myriad lectures down our throats on his assent to the Veep throne. He wants to be President as our Muslim savior in supposedly 70% Christendom Ghana.

For the Christian majority is the concept of an unbeliever Moslem coming to save not "haram", "tofiakwa", anathema, or even blasphemy? Should they not respond "Only Jesus can save, Alleluia"?

We are not saying a devout Moslem cannot or ought to not be President. We are saying the specific implications of Dr. Bawumia as " Oga who won to save " are precarious, unwise, and insensitive in the context.

We are also saying categorically that his role as the Living face of massive economic failure in a Ghana that is rightfully livid about our predicament which is predominantly homegrown makes him a bad NPP flagbearer choice susceptible to punitive voting sanctions by the hugely disappointed populace.

It is most interesting that the NPP party secretary has also proclaimed that the NPP is no longer an Akan party based on Dr. Bawumia's election. Has NPP become a northern/Muslim party by engineering Veep Bawumia’s flagbearer victory?

One wonders if the NPP is mindful of compromising Christian votes in addition to their tribal dynamics. And what is wrong with having an Akan stronghold if you have inclusive governance? The NPP seems to have taken divisive politics from tribe to religion, thinking of add-ons but what about Christian and Akan deserters, and do they expect robotic Moslem votes without issue analysis?

The NPP leadership is either oblivious of the depth of public desperation Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia governance has created, OR, so bereft and delusional in arrogance and "bellyfull" opulence as to not see with clarity that Ghanaians are in a severe economic & hunger crisis with pulsating anger for their crude betrayal after the myriad promises and false hope they offered.

How else would they continue their "breaking the 8" tirade led by the same Veep Bawumia now recycling and whitewashing his failed promises into an indigestible diet of "selfless salvation" as though they think Ghanaians are all idiots?

The ink has not even dried up on the recent horrifying naked revelations of criminality, the prevalent rotten scent of corruption that has steadily engulfed NPP with such bravado. "Scent nooo, corruption scent no, agye babiara", womanising and hidden foreign assets during the NPP flagbearership showdown with Kennedy Agyepon which still has a very sour taste in our mouth. The aftermath unity handshakes to "break the 8" are just artifice, throwing dust hypocrisy.

Ghana has enthroned serial massive corruption, and spiritual and moral decadence with fake religiosity and Christian hypocrisy soaring high under Akufo Addo/ Bawumia oversight misleadership.

We are in a give-a-dog-a-bone citizen /politician corruption collusion of vote buying that sells to the highest bidder. Is this why a Bawumia Presidency is deemed possible?

But most human beings return to their vomit because of " noko fio"? why would Ghana continue to embrace such a barricade of misdeeds because she has been so numbed by mass poverty as to further endorse the status quo of utter suffering in a collective suicide in the open sesame we call elections?

On the 7th of February 2024, The Vice President and NPP flagbearer Dr . Bawumia should account for his supervised national bankruptcy not give us any "anansesem" disclaimers. They even made profits from COVID-19 corruption. Mr. Veep "Anansesem y3 asisie tono yie". Please tell us the truth about our alarming high-pitched suffering and unending economic blizzard. PLEASE tell us why we must believe your new high-sounding visions after you in particular have unraveled our goodwill.

And why is the government so insecure and scared of a youthful Cheddar Bediako and his new force, surrounded by a bevy of white models like a Zulu king, cheeky and positing the source of his money is irrelevant? rendered popular and also claiming to Save Ghana.") yaa suro )yaa anaa"? Lord have mercy!

Meanwhile, NDC salivating about a default victory they think they can already taste has not articulated a convincing alternative vision beyond wallowing in NPP morass of malfeasance of which they are not innocent either.

Where do we look for ideational voices with proven track records? We need to Weed out deception and see integrity credentials and a modern ethos with patriotism all-embracing inclusivity wherever we find them and not yield to wicked underhand manipulators behind the scenes & jaguar jokers in desperate need to continue with Power and control who are engineering a decoy continuity.

Ghana must go to that place of introspection and get Wisdom and understanding

We must certainly agitate for the passage of campaign finance laws that criminalise the giving of bribes in our monetised politics with euphemistically so-called electioneering "T and T", fridges, TVs, cars T-shirts, and money-laden envelopes.

Oyiwa Ghana, you know they stole the money or they won't be distributing it waa waa like that. You also know they will steal even more when you return them to power.

So Ghana Montie, for election 2024:
Let the corrupt order Go

Stop the cyclical woes

Do not let bribery vote
Be firm and bold

Take hold of Faith

Do not let conscience fade

Also, be Irate At any Rate

Stop the Massive Raid

I mean the Resource Rake

And the Financial Wreck

Please Be Awake

Enough of the Rape

Do not act Comatose

Undo the Wicked Mess

Or we shall see Worse

Whew! IS A Word to the wise not enough?