Mulling over Mahama’s second coming: Who is not scared of dumsor?

The recent announcement by Ex-President Mahama to contest the NDC’s forthcoming flagbearership race has received mixed reactions from Ghanaians. The Mahama loyalists are jumping for joy, while the Mahama critics, many of whom are inside and outside NDC, have been shrieking and nagging over his anticipated comeback.

Given the harsh socio-economic standards of living under his watch, I am not least surprised that even some concerned supporters within the NDC are expressing their arousing disgust over the anticipated comeback of former President Mahama as the NDC flagbearer for the 2020 general elections.

Ghana under the erstwhile NDC administration, as a matter of fact, went into management asphyxiation amid massive economic collapse.

It is, therefore, quite bizarre that the Mahama loyalists who are currently enjoying uninterrupted electricity, low inflation, tax and utility tariffs reductions, favourable economic growth, gargantuan savings on free SHS amongst others, are squeamishly clamouring for the return of Ex-President Mahama and their beloved NDC, who willfully brought irrevocable miseries upon the people of Ghana.

Well, the die-hard supporters of Mahama should accept the fact that discerning Ghanaians have overcome their supposedly memory loss, and cannot so soon forget the terrible errors in judgement which culminated in economic hardships.

The vast majority of unhappy Ghanaians, rightly so, voted against the NDC and Ex-President Mahama in the 2016 election largely due to the unresolved business crippling dumsor, the unpardonable incompetence and the wanton sleazes and corruption.

Gratifyingly, the hitherto asphyxiated economy and the business crippling dumsor have since been brought under control by the NPP government under the able leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo to the delight of discerning Ghanaians.

Strangely though, whilst the Mahama loyalists are fighting tooth and nail to have him back as the party’s next presidential candidate, the sceptics are insisting that Mahama was not up to the task during his tenure in office and must thus be replaced with a capable flagbearer.

Unsurprisingly, however, the seeming squabbling has culminated in a heated tussle over the choice of a suitable flagbearer to lead them to recapture the elusive victory in the 2020 general elections.

Whichever way you may view the issue under discussion, it is quite ironic that the brassbound Mahama loyalists do not want to acknowledge the fact that Ghana’s economy was in such a state because a large portion of the country’s resources went down the drain from the unobjectionable mismanagement and the wanton sleazes and corruption perpetrated by the officials of the erstwhile NDC administration led by Mahama.

With all due respect, it would appear that Mahama loyalists are living in a denial. They have indeed lost touch with the reality.

In fact, we do not have to look any further than the 2016 general elections results to acknowledge how Ghanaians abhorred Mahama’s dreadful errors in decision-making which culminated in economic meltdown.

You may believe it or not, the fact remains that discerning Ghanaians have overcome their electoral benightedness and are ever prepared to vote on issues if the just gone election is anything to go by.

Undoubtedly, the Mahama supporters are somehow jumping the gun. They are impatiently having a tussle over the choice of a viable flagbearer for the 2020 election.

Much as the sceptics hold the preponderance of the argument about former President Mahama’s unpopularity, the diehard supporters will somehow succeed in their quest to bring back Mahama as their flagbearer.

Indeed, the vast majority of the NDC Party loyalists are living in a denial about former President Mahama’s much touted popularity and will thus choose him over any other presidential aspirant.

But the question one may ask the brassbound Mahama loyalist is: where is the justification about former President Mahama’s popularity and competence when a GH9.5 billion debt former President Kufuor left in 2009 rocketed to an incredible GH122.4 billion in just eight years?

How can the diehard supporters convince some of us about former President Mahama’s ability to lead Ghana again when he woefully shrunk Ghana’s GDP from $47 billion to $37 billion in five years?

How could the gleeful Mahama supporters justify former President Mahama’s suitability to lead the nation again when he abysmally dragged an economic growth of around 14 per cent in 2011 to a nauseating 3.5 per cent as of December 2016?

The Mahama loyalists must accept the fact that discerning Ghanaians cannot so soon forget the dreadful errors in judgement which culminated in economic hardships amid the unbridled business crippling ‘dumsor’.

You may believe it or not, but the fact remains that the vast majority of aggrieved Ghanaians voted against Mahama in the 2016 election largely due to the unresolved dumsor.

The dumsor has since been contained by the NPP government under the able leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo to the delight of discerning Ghanaians.