Aliu Mahama & the Middle East crisis

I have monitored with apprehension the smearing campaign by some defeat anticipated NPP aspirants to link the candidature and a future Aliu Mahama Presidency to the Middle East crisis. According to the proponents of this smearing campaign, Ghana will suffer a serious set back if Aliu Mahama with his religious inclination is voted for as the flagbearer of NPP and for that matter the President of Ghana because of the current scuffle between United States, its allies and the Middle East.

This is a ditch heading piece of propaganda and a defeatist tactics employed by some of the aspirants to derail the Vice President from what is already obvious, becoming the flagbearer of NPP and the next President of Ghana. This calculated politics of religion is something the Constitution frowns upon as well as NPP’s own philosophy and it should not be accommodated in our current political dispensation. The NPP delegates and the people of Ghana are aware that Ghana is a sovereign state. They would therefore not allow the politics of some other jurisdiction to influence them in electing who they believe is the best for the party and the country.

In any case, those donor partners have being working with Aliu Mahama as Vice President of Ghana even though they are aware he is a Muslim and will work with him as the President of Ghana. The Vice President is one person who does not mix his religion with his politics. He doesn’t also discriminate as to where one stands on the political divide and he is even on record to have visited NDC offices in time past. It is also undeniable truth that Alhaji Aliu Mahama is a symbol of tolerance and unity in Ghana politics.

Now, what if somebody also says that a Christian flagbearer and President of Ghana will attract the venoms of Al – Qaeda and other terrorist groups? What kind of politics would we be practicing then? This kind of school boys playing politics by people who are supposed to be heavy weights within NPP abhors and they should desist from it. Besides, who says America’s foreign policy in Middle East and Asia is about religion? What shows that the US attack on Iraqi was about religion? Again what also shows that America does not do business with Islamic leaders or countries whose leaders are Muslims?

Currently, one of America’s biggest economic and business partners in the world is Saudi Arabia, which is an Arabic country and also the hometown of US number one enemy, Bin Laden. Not long ago, United States announced that Saudi Arabia is no more a terrorist country and became America’s economic partner.

The former US President, George H. W. Bush who is the father of the current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is in business with Bin Laden’s family conglomerate through an international consulting firm called Carlyle Group. The business link was even started by Prescott Bush, the grandfather of the current US President. Other top Republicans such as former Secretary of State, James A. Baker is also associated with the Carlyle Group. Osama Bin Laden’s family runs a multi – billion dollar business in Saudi Arabia and is a major investor in the Senior Bush’s firm. There are also reports of Billy Gate, Jimmy Carter’s brother also in business with Libya. So what is this politics about Aliu Mahama and his religion?

I believe America and the West will even be happy to have Alhaji Aliu Mahama as the President of Ghana to mediate between them and the Middle East. America’s problem is not with Islamic Leaders or religion but rather with terrorist. Ghana is not a terrorist country and the Vice President, as we all know, can’t even harm an ant let alone to become a threat to another country or a donor partner to stop that country from assisting Ghana.

Beyond that, what we need as a party, is a winnable candidate. The delegates, who are the kingmakers of the party, have been with the Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama and they know him as the only candidate that has acquired the required training for the job of a President. They would therefore not be bought by this below belt and character assassination politics by some of the aspirants.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.