John Mahama campaigning
I have been reading with utter incredulity in respect of former President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC supporters wild claims that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lied their way to power by giving supposedly unrealistic Manifesto promises during the 2016 electioneering campaign.
It is, indeed, quite ironic that despite all the harsh economic conditions amidst corruption allegations (Bus branding, Brazil World Cup, SADA, SUBA, GYEEDA, SSNIT, NCA, Ford Expedition Vehicle, amongst others), Ex-President Mahama can still go ahead and aim accusing fingers at his opponents of promising the electorates the moon which led to his humiliating 2016 election defeat.
Well, it would appear that the NDC’s humiliating 2016 election defeat has unsettled the nerves of the party loyalists, judging from their weird posturing.
What makes the topic under discussion so bizarre is Ex-President Mahama and his teeming supporters insistence that unlike the NPP, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is an honest political party which presents the truth to Ghanaians at all times.
Ex-President Mahama, in a desperate attempt to motivate his dispirited and unsuspecting followers, has been pontificating inexorably: “the NDC is a party that do not tell lies. What we cannot do, we do not say we will do it and whatever we promise to do, truly, we deliver”
But contrary to Ex-President Mahama and his loyalists isolated thinker’s assertion, I am pretty certain that not all Ghanaians suffer from chronic memory loss, and hence can vividly recall the NDC’s previous broken Manifesto promises.
It is, indeed, quite irritating that an experienced politician, who is also a historian, would blatantly fail to recollect past events.
More so isn’t it unreasonable for anyone to expect a government that has been in power for a little over 23 months to honour all its Manifesto promises within such a short space of time?
With all due respect, it was Ex-President Mahama who once strangely claimed that they, (the NDC government) had edaciously consumed all the meat on the bone.
Apparently, former President Mahama was speaking in parables in relation to Ghana’s unprecedented economic collapse as a result of mismanagement and rampant sleazes and corruption under his watch.
It is, therefore, extremely baffling to keep hearing and reading from the same people who wilfully collapsed the once thriving economy up in arms shouting from the roof top about the supposedly slow pace of development, barely 23 months of NPP government assuming power.
How on earth would individuals who revoltingly send Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire in a space of 96 months turn around and accuse the NPP government of not turning things around quickly in barely 23 months into 48 months mandate?
In fact, it was the same x-President Mahama’s government that licentiously spent excessively and above its means, and, in the process needlessly increased our total debt from GH9.5 billion in 2009 to GH122.4 billion as of December 2016 with a little to show for.
This means that there was virtually no money left in the national purse for the incoming NPP government to turn things around as quickly as possible.
It is, therefore, quite unreasonable for the minority NDC operatives to expect the NPP government to keep all its promises within a short space of time.
Let us however be honest, despite the massive economic mess left by the erstwhile Mahama’s maladaptive administration, the current NPP government under the able leadership of President Akufo-Addo has prudently undertaken a number of social interventions to the delight of Ghanaians.
Since assuming power, the Akufo-Addo’s government has taken estimable strides to improve the social mobility chasm through implementation of poverty reduction policies such as Free SHS, one district one factory, one million dollars per constituency, tax reductions, tariff reductions, a dam per village in the northern part of Ghana, among others.
It is also worth stressing that in spite of the huge economic mess created by the outgone NDC government amid stunted economic growth, the Akufo-Addo’s government has efficiently raised the economic growth from a nauseating 3.6 per cent as of December 2016 to around 8.5 per cent within a short space of time.
Upon taking office, the NPP government has dramatically reversed the inflation rate to a single digit from a little over 15 per cent as of December 2016 (GSS 2017).
Clearly, President Akufo-Addo and his government are graciously delivering on their Manifesto promises to the delight of the vast majority of Ghanaians.
Believe it or not, there have been uncountable NDC broken Manifesto promises, but the one that has stencilled on discerning Ghanaians mental sheets to date, is the one-time NHIS premium. That promise, so to speak, was destitute of honesty and integrity. So, who says that the NDC is an honest party?
It would be recalled that prior to the 2008 and 2012 general elections, Ex-President Mahama and his NDC made a number of Manifesto promises to Ghanaians. But as to whether they honoured those promises, is a million dollar question.
It goes without saying that the NDC solicited votes from Ghanaians, and, in exchange, they guaranteed everyone protection of life, property, provision of social amenities, better socio-economic standards of living and to a certain extent liberty.
Dearest reader, if you may recall, during the 2008 and 2012 general elections, the NDC gave a cornucopia of Manifesto promises, including one-time NHIS premium, free SHS, ‘making dumsor a thing of the past, putting money in Ghanaians pocket, creating more jobs for the jobless, stabilising the economy, protecting Ghanaians from the menaces of galamsey and Fulani herdsmen, bringing an end to dubious judgement debt payments, fighting the rampant sleazes and corruption amongst others.
Regrettably, however, after giving all those richly interesting, albeit unrealistic promises with a view to deceiving Ghanaians for their mandate, the NDC government, as expected, woefully failed to honour the promises, and, consequently, a total of 55.6 per cent (44.4 for Mahama) of the electorates rightly voted them out of power in 2016.
In retrospect, the NDC government failed terribly to initiate expedient policies to overturn the failed policies of agriculture, poverty reduction and resource allocation in the areas of healthcare, education, finance, supply chain management and security sector planning, amongst others.
Based on the preceding facts and figures, it would be disingenuous for anybody to claim that NDC is an honest party that does not lie to Ghanaians.
K. Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com
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