Opinions of Tuesday, 13 October 2020

Columnist: Conduah Baba

President Akufo Addo and his vice, Dr. Bawumia lack credibility

Vice president, Dr. Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo Vice president, Dr. Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo

Greek Philosopher, Socrates is reported to have said that, no one goes into politics and regains his integrity.

Humanists also have it that, to know the true identity of someone, give him power and his true colours will come to light.

So, is President Nana Addo incorruptible? Before the 2012 general election, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) told Ghanaians about who president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo true character was but the blinded media fellows diverted the truth.

Knowledgeable and development-oriented Ghanaians saw the true meaning of visionary leadership in the former President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC and then trusted them with the victory.

President Nana Addo after losing the 2012 general election, kept the entire country on hostage for close to eight months with fear and panic. The verdict from the apex court of the land did not comfort the so-called preachers of democracy to accept defeat but rather resorted to accusing our highly respected King of the Asanteman for allegedly influencing judgment. Otumfou, may your reigns last longer.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) successfully repackage old wine in a new bottle and presented to Ghanaians that Nana Addo was the better option if truly development is the focus for the 2016 general election.

This palpable lie is an amount to deceit. The 2016 election went to the President Nana Addo and the NPP on a sympathy basis. Some electorates believed the President has suffered a lot and therefore deserved to be tested. the president himself called Ghanaians to test him and if he performs abysmal, Ghanaians should vote him out.

Apart from the hurriedly implemented Free Senior High School program, the Nana Addo led government has nothing to tell Ghanaians for a second term when it comes to health, roads, good governance, and the usual forced-agenda, infrastructure.

There are several reasons why Ghanaian electorates are going to punish Nana Addo and his Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for exhibiting inconsistency and lying in the process. The act of exhibiting inconsistency and lies implies that President Nana Addo and his Vice, Dr. Bawumia lack credibility.

President Nana Addo told Ghanaians that, the former President John Dramani Mahama, was mismanaging the country's resources through the huge size of ministers of state and presidential staffers.

Strangely, President Nana Addo will go into the record as the president with the highest number of Ministers of state and presidential staffers. The cost of managing this elephant-government personnel will be enough to have provided basic needs to some Ghanaians.

Again, President Nana Addo is the number one president since independence to have ran family and friends’ government.

Is Professor Stephen Addae in Ghana and has eyes to see what he preached and campaigned against Mahama in favour of then-candidate Nana Addo?

President Nana Addo has manipulated governance to the extent that every sector of our government, there is family relations there. This is a purely patrimonialism government. The Akyem mafias are all over, in the government ministries and other agencies. Ghanaians are now wide awoken and will punish President Nana Addo and his Vice, Dr. Bawumia comes December 7, 2020.

When the waves of credibility gather clouds on President Nana Addo, Vice President Dr. Bawumia was not left out of the equation. Dr. Bawumia seems to lose value in the very party that he classified as an economic wizard. Who really asked the NPP government to go for infrastructure debate with the opposition NDC?

Interestingly, when the face of Dr. Bawumia has successfully been ditched into ‘barrowmia’ and ‘bawuliar’, the Vice President was struggling to explain how toilet structures have become an achievement of the central government. Common tangible deliverables that Assemblymen and women would use for accountability, the Vice President, live on television talking about building toilets. What a shame!

From the discussion, and more to come, President Nana Addo and his vice president will learn to respect electorates by being consistent and truthful.