Who do you say is least corrupt, Mahama or Bawumia?

In Ghana, the traditional exemption of the incumbent and former heads of state from prosecution despite the evidence of a case to answer is wrong, so to speak.

If unbridled bribery and corruption, dubious judgment debt payments, stashing of national funds by some greedy opportunists, misappropriation of resources, and crude embezzlement by some politicians do not warrant criminal charges, then where are we heading as a nation?

To me, it is about time we expunged and tossed the ludicrous indemnity clauses from the Constitution into the bin to pave the way for the prosecution of the suspected incumbent and former presidents.

Despite the fact that corruption is a serious economic, social, political, and moral impediment to nation-building, some of our officials are bent on siphoning our scarce resources to the detriment of the poor and disadvantaged Ghanaians.

While it is true that the 1992 Constitution of Ghana gives every sound adult Ghanaian the right to compete for the presidency of the country, it is quite erroneous for anybody to create the false impression that someone who ascended to the presidency previously, albeit voted out in 2016 and rejected again in 2020, and is puzzlingly seeking a return to the high position, cannot be put under strict scrutiny.

The crucial question we should be asking the diehard supporters of former President John Dramani Mahama then is: if the former president indeed lived up to expectations, why did over one million voters vote him out in 2016 and be rejected massively again in 2020?

My dear reader, you may believe it or not, but the fact remains that the squeamishly endless corrupt practices amongst the political elites have regrettably been culminating in massive economic meltdown amid excessive public spending, a less efficient tax system, a needless high public deficit, the destabilisation of national budgets, heightened capital flight, and the creation of perverse incentives that stimulate income-seeking rather than productive activities.

Given the bizarre circumstances, the Western counterparts cannot stand accused of harbouring innate risible racist tendencies for honestly pointing fingers at our African leaders for their incompetence and corrupt practices, which have resulted in our underdevelopment.

In any case, the available evidence speaks for itself, and therefore, it is about time we put the men and women who want to lead under strict scrutiny to avert the never-ending shenanigans.

Interestingly, while the Mahama praise-singing bandwagon is gleefully clamouring for his return to the Jubilee House, the concerned Ghanaians believe that it would be extremely catastrophic if Mahama were to reclaim the presidency, given the dreadful errors in judgement that led to the business crippling dumsor amid massive economic collapse (dragged 14% economic growth in 2011 to 3.4% and 15.4% inflation in 2016) in the absence of the deadly coronavirus and Russia/Ukraine protracted conflict.

But in all this, the loyalist NDC supporters would want discerning Ghanaians to believe that the erstwhile Mahama administration dutifully provided exceptional governance.

The fact, however, remains that the rot in the erstwhile NDC administration was as pervasive as the odour of garlic, which led to some diehard supporters emitting their displeasure and threatening to boycott the 2016 election.

If you may remember, during the NDC’s 2020 flagbearership contest, the other potential presidential aspirants and their supporters emitted vehemently and inexorably that former President Mahama was the main reason why the NDC lost the 2016 election.

The aggrieved supporters uncompromisingly vented their illimitable indignation over the comeback of former President Mahama.

While the sceptics were insisting that Mahama was not up to the task during his tenure in office and must therefore be ditched and replaced with a much more capable flagbearer, the Mahama loyalists were moving heaven and earth to have him back as the party’s next presidential candidate.

To be quite honest, some of us cannot get our heads around how and why anyone with reflective thinking prowess could upbraid the critics for insisting that Mahama kept his eyes off the prize and therefore does not warrant another chance at the presidency.

But all said and done, much as former President Mahama commands some respect among the NDC foot soldiers and a section of ordinary Ghanaians, the sceptics could not be far from right for being doubtful over Mahama’s electoral chances.

So it came as no surprise to some of us at all when a group of organisers within the opposition NDC urged the then National Executives of the party to allow Mr. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin to go unopposed in the party’s 2020 flagbearership contest (see: Alban Bagbin must go unopposed, NDC organisers; ghananewsagency.org/ghanaweb.com, 12/03/2018).

“So many people in the party feel Hon. Bagbin is the best person to lead us into 2020, and the reasons are pretty clear: he is the exact contrast to former President John Mahama in the matter of marketability and yet retains the Northern extraction that will satisfy the need to have a Northerner complete an eight-year mandate.”

Back then, the spokesperson for the group insisted vehemently that since corruption was going to be a key campaign theme in 2020 and the former President Mahama administration had issues with corruption, Ghanaian voters would be forced to reject him if he was to be elected as the next flagbearer.

In fact, it was not only the aggrieved NDC organisers who expressed concerns about the corruption in the erstwhile Mahama administration.

The NDC founder and the former president of Ghana, the late Jerry John Rawlings, audaciously came out and disclosed that the corruption in the Mahama administration was so pervasive to the extent that a former NDC minister licentiously bought two luxurious mansions worth a staggering $3 million from an estate agent in Accra shortly after the Mahama’s government exited power (see: ‘NDC minister grabs two mansions’; dailyguidenetwork.com, 12/06/2018).

Besides, prior to the NDC’s 2020 flagbearership contest, the Honourable Bagbin, the then MP for Nadoli Kaleo and a contestant in the NDC’s presidential race, attributed the humiliating defeat of Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 general elections to bad governance (see: ‘Mahama's boys bought V8, built mansions in 4 years – Bagbin; myjoyonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 19/08/2018).

Mr. Bagbin was reported to have quizzed somewhat dejectedly: “Don’t tell me that the boys that suddenly came closer to the president within four years can build mansions and buy land cruisers, and you say there are no resources; where are they getting the money, their salaries?”

Paradoxically, it was the so-called anti-corruption crusader, former president Mahama, who secretly accepted a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle worth over $100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor called Djibril Kanazoe, whom he allegedly showered with Government of Ghana contracts.

Then again, an investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in 2020 confirmed that Mahama was the government official who was cited in the Airbus bribery and corruption investigation carried out by the United States and United Kingdom officials.

I have always held a firm and unadulterated conviction that the numerous corruption allegations hanging on the neck of former President Mahama largely led to the NDC's 2016 humiliating election defeat.

In fact, some of us were expecting Mahama to lock horns with the Attorney-General under the Mills/Mahama administration, Martin Amidu when he unhesitatingly told Ghanaians a few years ago that the late President Mills set up a committee to investigate a suspicious Brazilian aircraft deal negotiated by the then Vice President Mahama, but he has since refused to square up with Amidu.

The truth is, not every single Ghanaian was oblivious to the revoltingly ugly events in the country prior to the 2016 general elections.

It was, therefore, quite ironic when Ex-President John Dramani Mahama dared
President Akufo-Addo to arrest, investigate, and prosecute him or any member of his administration if there is incontrovertible evidence to suggest that they amassed wealth illegally during their time in office (see: Catch the'supposed’ thieves to prove your charges; Mahama dares Akufo-Addo; ghanaweb.com, 30/04/2018).

But contrary to former President Mahama’s endless denials of rampant corruption in his administration, a competent court of jurisdiction has since convicted four of the numerous corruption suspects in the erstwhile NDC administration and sentenced them to prison.

Let us be honest, being the president of a nation is a serious job and as such, it requires a serious and committed person. Therefore, if corruption cases are hanging on the neck of an individual who is going to look after the national coffers and has so far been unwilling to seriously disprove such allegations, then Ghanaians have to be really careful about handing him another term in
office.