President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Apparently, individuals have different reasons for joining politics. Some people enter into politics for their unconditional love for their nation. Others just view power as an excellent opportunity to amass wealth and enjoy the juicy trappings that come with the job.
It would thus appear that some politicians do not care about the plight of the masses; they only scramble for power in order to pursue their vested interests.
I have always insisted that governance is a serious business and as such it requires a forward-thinking, serious and committed group of people to bring about the needed advancement.
Nevertheless, it has not been always the case in Ghana’s political landscape. The emergence of multi-party democracy has given birth to both purposeful and coarse political parties.
As a consequence, we have over the years been electing ‘lousy’ economic managers who cannot see their backsides from their elbows and have only succeeded in sinking the economy deeper and deeper into the mire.
Truly, the below par performance offered by the erstwhile Mahama administration will long be stencilled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations.
Unfortunately, however, the following cacophonous renditions have been the usual anthem of the brassbound loyalists of National Democratic Congress, who are still nursing the wounds from their humiliating 2016 and 2020 general elections defeat.
“You shrieked, grumbled, censured and labelled us corrupt and incompetent and as a result the vast majority of Ghanaians bought into your isolated thinker’s assertion and voted us out of power, so stop your relentless grouching and fix the country”.
“Indeed, we failed woefully to resource the security forces adequately and as a result they could not confront the rampant crimes head-on. But you are now in charge so equip the security forces and see to it that the insecurity is brought under control as soon as practicable”.
“We informed you that we have voraciously consumed all the meat on the bone, but you ignored us and told discerning Ghanaians that we were kidding and that we are sitting on money”.
“Now that you are in power, display your magical powers and put more meat on the bone and fix the country”.
“You are absolutely right, we could not manage the economy and that was the reason why discerning Ghanaians voted you into power, so put a stop to your endless lamentations and breathe life into the asphyxiated economy”.
Dearest reader, this bizarre attitude, so to speak, could be seen as a listless resignation on the part of a political party that wants to win power. With all due respect, why are they so desperate to reclaim power if they are indeed not prepared to govern?
It is extremely frustrating to listen to the views of inflexible NDC supporters, whose lives did not transform under the NDC government, contrary to what their leaders would want us to believe.
Sadly, however, the inexorable apologists won’t depart from their so-called loyalty.
What is more, despite their leaders much touted social democratic ideals, the successive NDC governments failed to implement a single social intervention, but the die-hard supporters are unmoved by such an unpardonable dereliction of duty.
Apparently, it was the NPP under the able leadership of President Kufuor that introduced the free Maternal Care, the School Feeding Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Mass Transport System, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the National Youth Employment Programme, now known as GYEDA, and many other social interventions.
As a matter of fact, the NDC leaders have been manipulating their way into power all the time. For they usually resort to vague rhetoric and political gimmicks.
Yes, they are cunning lots who are ever so desperate to secure power for their own vested interests. For if that was not the case, how come they turned their back on almost all the promises they gave to the unsuspecting Ghanaian electorates?
Ironically, with all the promises, former President Mahama and his NDC government failed to end the dumsor, failed to implement the one-time NHIS premium, jobs were not readily available for the jobless, the economy sunk deeper and deeper into the mire, they reneged on their promise to keep ‘lean’ government, Ghanaians became poorer and poorer, sleazes and corruption escalated to immeasurable proportions, endless borrowings amongst others.
So, to the brassbound NDC loyalists: engage in a carefully considered reflection and consider voting instead for Madam Akua Donkor since you love to hate NPP for no apparent reasons.
As a matter of fact, Madam Akua Donkor, who has no classroom education whatsoever, will not even go for unreasonable loans and then resort to IMF stringent conditionalities.
And more so, Madam Akua Donkor, who is a devoted farmer, knows the importance of agriculture in the economic growth of a country like Ghana.
So, Madam Akua Donkor, a diligent farmer, will definitely pay attention to the agricultural sector and ensure that the sector does not grow 0.04 as happened in Ex-President Mahama’s administration.
It is quite bizarre that the brassbound NDC faithful who are currently enjoying uninterrupted electricity, reductions in electricity tariffs, low inflation, tax reductions, favourable economic growth, gargantuan savings on free SHS, amongst others would have the temerity to censure the NPP administration.
Ghana under the erstwhile NDC administration, so to speak, went into economic meltdown which regrettably brought to pass harsh socio-economic standards of living.
Thus, it would be somewhat irrational for anybody to suggest that Akufo-Addo is ‘not living up to the expectations’, so the same people who moved the economic growth from 14% to 3.4% must be given another chance so soon.
K. Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com
