Prez. Mahama begs for ceasefire

President John Dramani Mahama is calling for a ceasefire from his political opponents, particularly the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), over what he describes as “senseless politics and arguments that lead nowhere.”

The president, who was not spared for using intemperate language like 'baloney', 'useless argument' and “what the hell” on his political opponents, when he was the vice president, was now calling for a truce with the heat turned on him.

Mr. Mahama, who spoke to Patrick Smith, the editor-in-chief of Paris-based Africa Report Magazine late September, as published in the October edition, conceded that he was not comfortable with personality attacks in political discourse, saying he would rather prefer debates.

“A decent and dignified life can only come from debate, not attacks on personalities or insult that lead nowhere”, he told the magazine.

“Politicians should heed what people want or they could get punished for continuing with the old type of politics”, he reasoned.

President Mahama's recent contention about personality focused political discourse was a marked departure from the initial position taken by several officials of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), who were convinced that the scrutiny of the personalities of political leaders was part of the broad political discourse.

Hence, for a couple of years, the NDC had focused its attention on the character of the leader of its main opponent, the NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo, whom almost all the communication aides at the Presidency had tagged an aggressive war-monger and womaniser.

With the heat turning on him and questions being asked about his moral life, the Number One Citizen said enough was enough, running for cover.

During the launch of the NDC manifesto in Ho, President Mahama repeated his call for decorum, criticizing the spate of attacks on political leaders.

He was particularly passionate about this call because his conduct had been questioned about in the alleged sneaky loan deal between his brother, Ibrahim Mahama, and top management members of state-owned Merchant Bank as well as other transactions spearheaded by the president.

However, officials of the NPP appeared unperturbed by this call.

According to Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, deputy Communications Director, the NPP would continue to raise questions about President Mahama's inability to take firm decisions.

“On his new billboard, we are told that the President is 'decisive' . This is a very big joke. Why would the NDC want to lie to the good people of Ghana that President John Dramani Mahama is decisive when the President himself admits that his single biggest problem in this world is that he cannot take a decision?”

Mr. Asamoah was speaking at a press conference organized by the NPP on the Merchant Bank GHC57 million loan secured by the President's brother's company, which had been mostly left un-serviced.

“Ghana has a president who suffers from a chronic ease of indecisiveness. We are simply using his words”. Charged Buabeng Asamoah.

Apparently, President Mahama has written in his recently launched memoir, “My First Coup D' etat' thus: “All the decisions I have made in my life were regularly plagued with doubt. It can be challenging to sustain that feeling of hope or the belief that things will turn out for the best.

Again and again, I have felt like that boy Dramani, on the bicycle going downhill fast, without any brakes and not knowing which way to turn.”

“Is this the same man that today, in an attempt to re-brand himself for the presidential election, has turned around to say one of his greatest attributes is his decisiveness? This is a big lie! The question then is this: how many other big and small lies has he told us and is going to tell us? President Mahama cannot be trusted. You just can't trust John Dramani Mahama”, the NPP spokesperson challenged.