8 years of Akufo-Addo governance has taught Ghanaians useful lessons - John Mahama

Presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has called on Ghanaians to remember the bitter lessons they have endured in the hands of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government for the past 8 years.

Citing the many promises the New Patriotic Party (NPP) made to Ghanaians during the 2016 elections, the former President said the experience has been a "very useful" one for Ghanaians since in life, any experience one goes through provides the person with lessons to learn from, going forward.

According to him, the experience has made people realize that making lots of sweet enticing promises to the electorate is not what defines one as a good leader but honesty should be the hallmark of a good leader.

"And so these 8 years have not been wasted. They've been a very useful experience for the people of Ghana. That it is not the person who makes the sweetest promises that makes the best leadership. That's the lesson the last 8 years have given us. That it is not the person who makes the sweetest promises, who will make the best leader. The one who makes a good leader is the one who tells you the truth. It's the one who's honest. It's the one who'll tell you what he cannot do. It's the one who does (something) and does not talk. That's the leader we're looking for," he intimated.

He cautioned against experimenting with the leadership of the country in the upcoming elections in the hands of the Vice President and NPP's Presidential Candidate - Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia - as they did with then-candidate Akufo-Addo he said, has left many regrets voting for him to rule the country.

He charged the electorate to choose a candidate who had been there before with the requisite skill set and experience to steer the country to the promised land.

He stated: "We're looking for a leader who has the experience, we cannot experiment with our lives again. The young people of this country don't have the luxury of time to try and error again. The same thing we did in 2016, try me, try me, try me, was what Akufo-Addo was telling everybody and we tried him. The result is what we're seeing today."

"In 2016, Akufo-Addo had no track record of leadership as president at that level and in 2016, Bawumia was just a technocrat with the Bank of Ghana. He had no track record in leadership and so, there was no basis for comparison," he added.

He said this Saturday, October 12, 2024, at Wechiau in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region as part of his three-day campaign tour of the region.

After touching down in the Wa Municipality Saturday, the former President paid a courtesy call to the Overlord of the Waala Traditional Area, Naa Fuseini Pelpuo IV, to seek his blessings to embark on the tour where they held a closed-door meeting before he kicked start his campaign at Wechiau amid a charged atmosphere of party supporters and sympathisers drumming and dancing with heightened euphoria.

According to the presidential candidate of the NDC, the kind of decision one makes in life can have dire consequences for the person's future should the choice tend to be a bad one.

"In elections, we're required to make choices about leadership, about who will be our president, about who'll be our member of Parliament. If you make the right choice, it leads to success. It leads to a better life. It leads to development. It leads to improvement. If you make a wrong choice, it leads to pain, it leads to hardship. It leads to suffering."

"In 2016, we made the wrong choice because people came and said a lot of sweet things to us and remember there's an English proverb that, not all that glitters is gold. It's not everything that's shining that's gold. Sometimes it's bronze. Sometimes it's it's brass. And so when you're faced with making a choice, pray that God gives you a sense of discernment to make the right choice."

"On 7th December, we're going to make a choice. 80% of Ghanaians have said that our country is going in the wrong direction and when you're going in the wrong direction, what do you do? You reset. You change the cause and follow another leader who knows the road. And so, the time has come for us to make a choice and I know that this time, the people of Wa West, the people of Ghana will not make a mistake."

The former President lamented that despite all the many developmental milestones chalked by his government, the numerous irresistible promises made by the NPP in 2016 were so enticing Ghanaians had to succumb to them, appealing to the electorate not to be swayed by such sweet promises again.