Mahama flip-flops and lacks focus – NPP

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on Ghanaians to reject former president John Mahama at the December polls because he lacks focus.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, August 31, 2020, the national director of communications of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, said Mr. Mahama’s records out rightly make him unfit to seek for another mandate.

“It is the NPP’s strong contention that candidate John Dramani Mahama does not have the focus and competence necessary to take this country in the right direction,” Mr. Asamoa noted.

Mr. Asamoa further stressed that the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) blew his chances and there is no way he deserves a second chance, which will lead Ghana into downhill.

He added: “Having had the most opportunity to affect Ghana’s fortunes positively, he blew it all, landing Ghana in the policy misery that saw him run to the IMF, barely 10 years after President Kufuor took us out of painful HIPC. Candidate Mahama’s omissions so impoverished Ghana that budgetary support to essential social services were cut, including the infamous cancellation of trainee allowances.

“Candidate Mahama’s omissions so impoverished Ghana that he refused the value of free SHS, blindly screaming that its implementation would collapse educational infrastructure and national finances. Candidate Mahama’s omissions so impoverished Ghana that we could not afford fuel oil to power our energy grid. Candidate Mahama’s omissions were so grave he supervised a caricature of financial Ponzi schemes and danced on the grave of the collapsed financial sector in Parliament, chastising Ghanaians for “looking for Alice in Wonderland” financial returns.”

He continued: “Former President now candidate Mahama’s record is one of riding the Presidency downhill, full of doubt and fear, without direction or brakes. His supreme political decision was to let the IMF decide for him.”

“Candidate Mahama flip-flops. He follows the wind. As you can see, he is now converted by the forward looking policies of the current administration, the strong, focused wind generated in the wake of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s credible delivery. Policies aimed at building a functional enabling state that provides social inclusion, human resource development and steady economic growth in an atmosphere of international stability.

“So, all the policies he rejected as impossible when in power, the good governance he could not deliver, he is now saying he will do. After Nana Addo-Addo has already delivered. Somehow, sitting on the side lines of governance for the past three and a half years, John Mahama is inviting governance partners-media, politicians, thought leaders, civil society influencers, voters, captains of industry and investment, international partners and competing fellow nations-to believe that he has made a magical jump from crass mismanagement, incompetence and corruption to a place where he will take over and successfully continue policies he never believed in.

“He believes the very lack of logic in his desire to take Ghana back into his half-baked experiments will escape the notice of Ghanaians, because he sincerely believes we have short memories of his gargantuan gaffes. He wants the Ghanaian voter to take the ship of state away from the committed, competent and compassionate delivery of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and entrust our future fortunes to his indecisiveness whilst he attempts to learn how to do what Nana is already doing,” he emphasised.

Mr. Asamoa, who doubles as the NPP legislator for Adentan constituency, therefore called on the media to help shape the minds of the public by playing an arbiter role between the two main political parties ahead of the general polls.

“So today, we ask of you. Please use your tools to better help governance partners to focus and debate the kind of leadership Ghana needs. Politicians, thought leaders, civil society influencers, voters, captains of industry and investment, international partners and competing fellow nations are all governance partners.

“Leadership is at the heart of the 2020 elections. National development rises and falls on leadership. Since the advent of the 1992 Constitution, there have been two contrasting political leaderships, the NPP and NDC. Of the two, the NPP is convinced that they have offered and delivered better leadership than the NDC. The NPP consistently performs better. We are better mangers of the economy,” he added.

“As the media, we expect that you remain steadfast independent arbiters in helping to redirect the debate to sifting the grain from the chaff and weighing the grain in the white light of fair inquiry. We hope that in this fast evolving media environment of competing claims, you use the versatile tools at your disposal to throw even more light on the real issues of poverty eradication and jerky growth hindering our forward march. Your role as gatekeepers has become even more important as Covid-19 locks society down with the new normal. You have become our eyes and ears.”