Opinions of Thursday, 24 November 2016

Columnist: Abdullah, Abdullah

Old Magoo, Don Quixote et al.

Opinion Opinion

Gentlemen, it takes one with deep wellspring of will, courage and foresight to make the accomplishments Mahama has made and within such a short span of time. Love him, hate him. Mahama has brought the Presidency to a new level.

Change has come. Yes the old order has changed and yielded place to new. Mahama has taught us what to look for in an elected government. No more business as usual then leaving office with the mind- boggling retirement benefits.

Throughout the campaign the NPP Old Magoo, and Donquiote, who do not see well or who have imaginations, have called Mahama incompetent, and now we have Martin Amidu.

The latter’s invectives against the President is probably due to manifestations of his frustrations of not being considered the vice president by Late Mills. I guess his in-ability to cope with situations, now that he is feeling the pinch of being out of office, also plays a role. Amidu’s real nature surfaced when he quoted all the law books in the world, to show that Anas Arimeyaw was wrong in the judicial scandal.

For him it is “Me and only me” attitude. He only stopped after he made sure he drove us all crazy with his legal ranting. Yes “Me and only me”
Amidu says Mahama is threatening him. My God, such a plain lie, not the Mahama we all know and have learnt to love. There is calmness about him that everyone finds appealing even his biggest political antagonists will admit to this. He’ll not threaten a fly! Desperate measures indeed from a desperate man.

They say Mahama caused 66% of Ghana’s debt. Good that was great! Those before him failed or refused to appreciate the gravity of the infrastructural deficit in the country. And who says Ghana could afford to improve the infrastructure without borrowing? It is a choice “between the disastrous and the unpalatable”. That is why we had to be brave enough to borrow. Those giving him have confidence in his methods so they gave him. Give us a break!

I’ll hardly call that incompetent. I’d rather call it foresight and competence in the highest order. Presidents before failed to realize the need for better cocoa roads. They failed to realize that Nkrumah circle was no more serving it’s purpose of smoothing traffic. It became the exact opposite it was now a nightmare for commuters and Taxi drivers.

The purpose of the Nkrumah circle to facilitate workers to get to work and home without delays, service providers to deliver their services fast, The Police, the Fire service and even Pedestrians all needed something better to be more productive. The old Circle – God have mercy on it, was more of a problem than a solution; delaying everybody in their daily pursuits. Taxi drivers and commuters had to find alternative routes to get to their destinations faster and safer. Accra traffic has overgrown probably by 100 times the car population it was meant for.

They failed to realize that we needed schools; they failed to realize that taking into consideration the importance of Air travel today, our airports were nothing more than air strips. They needed to be improved to withstand the challenges of today’s Air travel.

So did they fail to realize that the schools – primary, secondary, Universities, teacher training colleges, nursing training colleges, Technical schools were all way behind the standards required in quantity and quality for a country that wants to enter the developing world. Our roads, most of which were gifts from the great Nkrumah were all ruined for lack of care and maintenance. Pot holes sold at the dozen. A six hour trip could take 12 hours.

All the above needed another Nkrumah to improve upon what was there and build new ones. They were not Nkrumah. Building infrastructure was not their calling.

Yes he is probably responsible for 66% of our debt, but accomplished 90% of our needs so what do you need now? With the foundation built by borrowing the next generation won’t have to borrow. They have to be productive to pay and build more.

Only the visually impaired will say they have not seen what Mahama has done. As for Akufo, he reminds me of Quincy Magoo– Quincy Magoo the wealthy, short-statured retiree who not only suffers from near-sightedness but has a temperament of refusing to admit the problem ( I mean no malice when I say short-statured. I am only describing Old Magoo. I take exception with those who make Akuffo’s height as an issue. It’s plain stupid).

Then there is our Economic Don Quixote, fair enough he reads so much he is finally confused. With his weird way of thinking, he likes giving lectures.

Who needs them? People want something tangible not lectures. Lectures are for the class room. He has 171 questions for the Government. Do not worry, InhsaAllah, come December 7, you get 9,422,334 answers to your 171 questions. JMtoaso
God be with Mahama

Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullaha147@yahoo.com