FLASHBACK: ‘It’s a recipe for mediocrity’ - Mahama on comparison of records

John Dramani Mahama says it’s a recipe for mediocrity to compare records during an election year.

In a viral video, Mahama, then a vice-presidential candidate to Prof. John Evans Atta Mills noted that no government should be happy building more infrastructure than the previous government.

“A presidential candidate launched his campaign; he said this election is about a comparison of records. That’s a recipe for mediocrity,” Mahama said after his formal introduction by Prof. Atta-Mills at the National Theatre, Accra on May 7, 2008.

“The fact that the government before you built 20 hospitals and you built 23 hospitals; you’re happy that you’ve performed better than the government that preceded you, it’s a recipe for mediocrity.”

Mahama stated further that the records of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) were incomparable because of the huge foreign investment capital injected into the economy by donors in the last seven years.

“From 1960 to the year 2000 total loan agreements signed and that includes Akosombo Dam, it includes Kpong Dam, amounted to $10.4 billion. From 2001 to 2007 total loan agreements signed amounted to $ 4.7 billion. If after all this injection into this economy, today Ghanaians feel even more financially emasculated than they did in the year 2000, then what point do you have asking for a comparison of records,” he asked.

John Dramani Mahama then urged the parties to focus on the development needs of the country instead of comparing records.

“The challenges that face Ghana today [are] not about the comparison of records. It’s about how many hospitals does Ghana need and how many was I able to provide?

“In any case, if they want a comparison of records, we are willing to give it to them because our record was impressive,” Mr. Mahama said.

Watch John Mahama in the video below: