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Opinions of Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Columnist: Innocent, Ivan Kyei

Mahama 2013 And The Emerging 2014

A year is dead and a new is born, as the Spanish giants, FC Barcelona
dominates the Laliga with comfort so as Bayern Munich continues to rule the
Budisliga with much comfort but tension continues to mount at the front
gates of Ghana politics, Mahama this, Mahama that, Mahama everywhere making
the name Mahama the most popular in Ghana for 2013.
Dispassionately putting the entire one year under perspective, one would
realise that the Mahama-Amisah Arthur led administration have done a
tremendous work in the first year despite all the challenges and hindrances
brought on it tails by the global economic meltdown and the unpopular
election petition.

Some critics in one way or the other have contributed immensely to the
daily shaping of the administrative walls of the nation for the one year
under review although many were unjustifiable and hypocritical criticisms
expecially by the opposition just to make the government unpopular and
double their chances for a sure return but the intelligence of the
ordinary Ghanaians have prevailed against such cheap propagandist tool
normally used to erode smooth administration and good governance.
A lot have gone down to the good books of our political history in 2013,
the good, the bad, the assurances and the betrayals, the deliveries and the
rhetorics.

A lot of promises were as well made to Ghanaians by the Mahama - Amisah
Arthur led administration, the most resounding one was the popular 50 SHS
to be constructed every year.

But the year is dead and not a single sod was cut to begin the construction
but the hope of several who vouched for the "edey bee k3k3 " mantra are
still alive because to some, Mahama is a man of hope and will still deliver.

The president, to others us deserves congratulations, for showing a great
deal of commitment in the fight against corruption. A canker that has eaten
deep into the fabrics of the society, a canker which most governments had
frown at in the past.
The fight against corruption has been made a top priority and victims are
dealt with decisively without fear or favour setting the precedent for
future references and evaluations.
But it still remains a subject of interest to listen to some arguments in
the media tagging the president and his men as the most corrupt ever and
surprisingly, these clueless commentaries are being led by people who claim
to be politically intelligent and deserve to be compensated with the
governance of this nation. The corruption fighter is the corruption Lord,
funny politicking indeed.
Going forward there are a lot to be done, government must roll out policies
and strategies to assess the functional intelligence of its internal
employees (his ministers and other appointees).
For instance, several contradictory and conflicting information regarding
government and its businesses do sometimes emmates from the outfits of the
information ministry. The glaring ineptitude in the exercise of their
functions keeps dwindling the reposed confidence in the popular " edey bee
k3k3 " mantra which umdeniably brought the Mahama administration into
being.
At times some us watching them from a distance only take embarrassment for
a reward.
The most recent is the statement made by Murtala Mohammed, deputy minister
of information and media relations, accusing Akuffo Addo for sabotaging the
construction of the 50 SHS in the first year as promised. Such statements
may only comfort those with NDC running through their veins but to the
discerning voters who determine who should be president, it was loose talk
and totally misplaced afterall government was never shutdown during the
court proceedings although to some of us it was a needles exercise.

Moving on, those entrusted with the running of the nation must get serious
and walk out of the game called propaganda, we cannot continue to take the
intelligence of the ordinary Ghanaian for a ride just because we have the
opportunity.
The media has become a vehicular tool use to project the image of a
particular government and at the same time use to destroy, the
indiscriminate selection of personnel to discursive platforms relating to
government and its businesses and other sensitive issues which requires
experts knowledge are at times thrown to political sycophants, the
situation turns muddy when some unpolished politicians are ought into the
scene. With little or no understanding of the issue under discussion, they
resort to invectives, insulting people from their grandparents to their
children.

The preponderance of damage being done to the Mahama - Amisah Arthur led
administration requires a swift damage control mechanism from the
information ministry but nothing of that sort is seen . Going forward l'm
sure Felix Ofosu Kwakye and his counterparts will address these unfolding
scenes.
We don't expect them to rebut less privilege and unwholesome accusations
but those with damaging effects should be taken care of.

The opposition must exercise circumspection when criticising the
government, cheap accusations should be relegated from the system.

One of these days l was listening to a radio discussions on the topic
"Mahama assess his appointees" honestly that was a perfect move by the
President to put his minister on track per the performance contract signed.
This exercise is tipped to trigger efficiency and productivity in the
various ministerial portfolios but Interestingly a representative from the
NPP was bold enough to tout the whole process as useless and a joke, infact
l was l amazed and the only question which came to mind was simple, isn't
this exercise better than rewarding services with dog-liked chains which
only balloons our debt?

The indications are clearer, Ghana is rocked with fractious and
contentious interest leading to the reluctance towards the utilisation of
human capacity and intelligence to solve genuine problems facing us.

We appeared to have been be infected with certain level political
selfishness and paranoia only to be seen by the Western world as people
with low intellectual standards as we continue to rock the cycle of
frustrations and heckling only to see others fail.
Letting go all the political deceptions and nuances, we can undo the damage
done to the nation by teaming intelligence genuinely for a better political
course.

Going into 2014, l think the various media houses should be considering
soliciting experts opinion on issues instead of political sycophants who
only talk to satisfy their paymasters.
Such characters are no good examples and must not be entertained.
Going forward into 2014, a great deal of political savviness and mental
alertness is required from the media

In 2014, prolong debate on irrelevant issues must cease, those praising the
government at the point of defaults must review thinking acuteness and
others who wake up only to criticise the government must learn to utilise
their political intelligence appropriately.
Those on a misson on radio to shout, lie and insult should revise their
strategy because the opportunity provided them by the mercy hand of
democracy cannot continue to suffer abuse, criticisms should have a sense
of right purpose and justification.

At the economic front much is expected from Mahama and his men, "realigning
the budget to meet keep national priorities" which is the main theme for
this year's budget is promising, sounds much convincing and comes with
hope, setting the grounds fertile, a sure recipe for economic advancement
in 2014.

Businesses can not afford to take failure from government, Mahama must
deliver, SHS leavers expect much from Mahama. ., market women as well as
the NPP expect much from Mahama and according to Mahama, the real business
starts at 2014 but in the face of the emerging situation, Bible is my
witness.

From; Ivan Kyei Innocent / nanakyei81@gmail.com/0206262717