Alhaji Inusah bounces back

Ghana?s political maverick, Alhaji Issaka Inusah, who did a 360 degree political somersault on the eve of Ghana?s last presidential and parliamentary elections, says he has not abandoned his dream of a strong come-back to help influence the political landscape for the betterment of Ghanaians.

Alhaji Inusah told the Chronicle that for the time being he would prefer to sit back and wait.

?My current silence is golden and it is intended to give the Kufuor administration the opportunity to move itself. It is not fair to start criticising a government which is barely two years old, you know,? he admitted.

Alhaji Inusah, who joined forces with the then government in power, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after resigning with drama from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), now in government, noted that the September 11 attack on US by terrorists, the Yendi conflict and the Accra Sports Stadium disaster are all distractions that have combined to weaken the government?s efforts at reconstruction, because of funds that have to be channelled into repairing the damage caused by the tragedies.

?It is a bad omen for the Kufuor administration, but I know they have good intentions.?

He said if the NPP are, however, to be judged by their promises to the electorate then they do not deserve to be in power after 2004, because by that time they would not even have fulfilled one half of the promises they made to the good people of Ghana.

?People are becoming more analytical and politically aware, but if we have to go by what they told us on the basis of which the NDC lost power, then they (the NPP) would certainly find themselves out of power.?

Alhaji Inusah, however, conceded that if the Kufuor government is able to meet the electorate halfway in fulfilling their promises, especially that of creating employment for the youth, then they have a brighter chance of going beyond 2004.

?They campaigned on the cash and carry system, the poor quality of education and particularly unemployment.

I remember JAK on several rally platforms ask the teeming youth, ?How many of you here are gainfully employed??

And to which they replied in the negative. I wonder if the same scenario would play out today in Kufuor?s favour,? he quipped.

Alhaji Inusah, who had very strong words for our chiefs and politicians, blamed them for the woes of the nation.

?Politicians have been interfering in chieftaincy matters since independence, and chiefs and their contractors on the other hand trap politicians to get them commit themselves by making promises they cannot fulfil.

?Our houses of chiefs allow cases bordering on land and chieftaincy to drag on for decades, creating conditions for civil strife and ethnic conflicts.

?It is time for all of us to learn our lessons and stop talking loosely and knocking our people?s heads together. That is when Ghana can be what we all want it to be. But I shall surely come back, as sure as the sun rises and sets,? he assured Ghanaians.