Shame Mahama, Shame NDC

With just a few days to the 2020 general elections, the opposition NDC and their leader, John Dramani Mahama, are simply churning out a lot of rubbish on Social Media to throw dirt at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with the view to hoodwinking the unsuspecting Ghanaian voter.

ONE: Mahama was on air some six days ago accusing the government of paying bribes to security personnel before the special voting exercise but barely 24 hours later, the inspector-general of police (IGP) quickly debunked the LIE being peddled by the former president and made it clear that the monies paid were “allowances and not bribes”.

TWO: The NDC flagbearer alleged during an interview with the Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., last Saturday that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) had connived with the Minister of Finance to use criminal means to close GRA’s 2019 revenue gap. But Prof Adei, the Board Chairman of GRA, has not only repudiated the claim but labelled it ‘untrue, false, malicious and unbefitting of a former head of state” and demanded an unqualified apology.

THREE: On Tuesday, December 1, 2020, a civil society group calling itself Alliance for Public Equity and Accountability (ASEPA), which is openly linked to the NDC, held a press conference and alleged that some GHc52billion of tax revenue had been moved from the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) transit account to an unknown destination and gave the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) 48 hours to retrieve every single penny or face the wrath of the young people of the country. But in a statement on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, the management of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) totally rubbished the doctored audit letter and denied the allegation of effecting authorized transfers, describing it as “false and mischievous”. The audit service also waded into the matter to provide further clarity.

FOUR: In the morning of Wednesday, December 2, 2020, the Communications Director of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, released a video on Adom TV with the caption “Akufo-Addo caught hands down collecting bribe”. It was followed by what was described as an EMERGENCY PRESS CONFERENCE at the NDC party headquarters, which was addressed by Fiifi Kwetey and others while the Alliance for Public Equity and Accountability (ASEPA) quickly waded into the matter and called for a CHRAJ probe.

But not too long after that ‘huhudious’ show, Manasseh Azure, a well-known and respected anti-corruption crusader, was quick to describe the said video as “a malicious political propaganda” while the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a press conference addressed by Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister for Inner City and Zongo Development, who also doubles as the Deputy National Campaign Manager, said CATEGORICALLY that the original video was doctored by the NDC for their selfish political aim and to promote propaganda and described it as a “political gimmick”.

He didn’t stop there. Fortunately, both the original and fake videos were aired one after another at the NPP press conference and except for those who watch things while standing on their heads, it was as clear as daylight that some mischief had taken place. What was clearly a donation to the party in 2016, had been made to appear as something else. No wonder, Dr Abdul-Hamid minced no words when he declared that: “The showing of the fake video on some local TV stations was unprofessional and unethical and we shall take them on”.

Interestingly, some T-shirts linked to the bribery video had the inscription ‘arise for change’ which gave credence to the stance of the NPP that the video was doctored because no current NPP t-shirt has that inscription.

Another stimulating development is that the lady in this alleged bribery video is said to have threatened to take legal action against Adom FM, Joy FM and Sammy Gyamfi and it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

But the big question on everybody’s lips is: Why is the NDC so anxious and so desperate to hang a corruption tag on President Akufo-Addo and why have they chosen a few days to the 2020 General Elections to embark on such a dirty job?

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind, isn’t it? Whichever way one looks at it, one thing is very clear: these dirty actions are simply “the desperate kicks of a dying cockroach” (as my good friend, K. K. Dako, would put it). Indeed, such wicked machinations can only come from the collective thought process of a group of mischievous, treacherous and desperate people who are bent on usurping the will of the people by capturing political power through foul means.

But the good people of this country are wide awake and very discerning and would not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by these frantic efforts of a group of drowning people. It would simply not wash.

One may ask: Is politics no more a game of ideas? How come in our part of the world, it has become so dirty, unethical and so chaotic? How come it has become a game of name-calling, propaganda and character assassination?

‘Haba’, Mahama, ‘Haba’, NDC, I am totally disappointed in you. And I know many right-thinking members of the Ghanaian society are equally flabbergasted.

S-H-A-M-E: SHAME!!!!