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Mahama Either Fails to Think or Thinks to Fail

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 Source: Agyemang, Katakyie Kwame Opoku

Prez Mahama Either Fails to Think or Thinks to Fail on Daily Basis - Katakyie

The assertion that John Dramani Mahama, together with his NDC is incompetent cannot be far from the truth, judging from their own record of achievement in government. Aside the failure to deliver the Better Ghana agenda, John Mahama, for me, is gradually making a mockery of God's special gift to mankind, that is, the gift of wisdom which separates human beings from animals and other inanimate objects. The least said about John Mahama's academic knowledge, the better, because if his sense of judgement, vision, and policies were to be assessed based on the kind of knowledge he received at school, then we cannot wait as a nation to conclude that our educational system needs an urgent total reformation.

To say that John Mahama has been a disappointment would be a very gross understatement; and I must say I pity all those who sold their conscience to see him at the presidency. Putting the late Prof. Mills' view on academic knowledge into context, let me hasten to state that John Mahama's academic knowledge has not been beneficial to mankind, especially the poor and vulnerable in the society. To Mills, any academic knowledge would come to naught if the person who acquired it cannot use the said knowledge to improve people's lives. But has John Mahama been able to maximise all the opportunities that became available to him? Did those opportunities prepare him adequately for this job? It is not surprising that Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, a former member of the NDC had suggested two jobs for the successive leaders of the NDC - Mills as a classroom teacher and Mahama as a Cattle rancher.

It is often said that difficult situations inspire ingenious solutions, hence the proverb; "Necessity is the mother of invention". Could it be that John Mahama was over-pampered from his infancy, hence his inability to make use of his brains in problem solving? Could it be that he never encountered any serious problem that demanded independent solution from him as a child? Having attended every school on grantis throughout his life by virtue of his geographical birthplace, John Mahama is on record to have been the luckiest Vice President ever. To him, he has only himself to beat when it comes to absolute opportunities in governance. He has had access to all our revenues - taxes, loans, and exports, including oil. So why should John Mahama's failure be so unparalleled in the face of relative peace and tranquility in this beloved country of ours?

Over 56 years ago some of our compatriots laid their lives for us to live a better life. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, for instance, was kind enough to build the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Akosombo Hydro-electric power for us. He envisaged that Ghana could strike oil sooner than later hence the need for the refinery. Also realising the increasing demand in electricity and gas and the need to maximise TOR as a national asset, His Excellency, John Agyekum Kufuor's administration discovered oil for mother Ghana and built the $622m Bui Dam. What was left for the NDC administration led by John Mahama was to refine the crude oil in Tema and also to distribute the electricity to all parts of the country - a country whose land size is about one-fifth of Nigeria.This, I believe was the simplest of all the tasks afore-mentioned. But what is the current situation?John Mahama's NDC cannot even give Ghanaians 12 hours of continuous electricity, though the Akosombo Dam is full of water. Neither could they give the 25m people common portable water to drink though a whole Ministry is in charge of Water Resources. Whilst John Mahama sleeps in an air-conditioned Presidential Palace with 24/7 electricity supply, the houses and businesses of 25m Ghanaians are engulfed with darkness. John, the presidency is not all about prestige; it goes with responsibility - a responsibility to manage our scarce resources to improve our living standards.

Regrettably, as a proven insensitive leader to the plight of the poor, John Mahama prefers Christian pilgrimage to solving socio-economic problems just because he wants to live a longer life. Could such prayers from Israel solve our energy and water crises, Mr. Prez? Where was John Mahama when his own party members, Messrs Ohene Agyekum, and Yaw Obimpeh, Ashanti Regional Chairman of NDC were invoking the spirits of Antoa Nyamaa to kill their political opponents? Who killed Atta Mills? Having collaborated with Afari Gyan to steal our votes, does John Mahama think prayers from Israel could save his soul? "Bible se, enti de3 onim papa na woanny3 no, 3y3 bone ma no", to wit, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (James 4:17).

After working so hard to make our country a force to reckon with in the comity of nations, Ghana is now a subject of ridicule in the global eye. The myriad of inconsistencies emanating from John Mahama as an individual and the NDC as a whole, have fuelled the perception that John Mahama is not a decisive leader. Inconsistencies in men, according to Edwin Louis Cole, are generally testimony to their immaturity. Therefore, whether John Mahama is politically mature to hold the presidential mantle, depends to a very large extent, on how he and his party could spare Ghanaians with their double-standards, mediocrity, dishonesty, and indecisions. It's good that the NDC's own foot soldiers have become aware of the consistency in their party's inconsistencies. The NDC, then led by Prof. Mills vowed to turn the Golden Jubilee House into poultry farm, but after 4 years, it has become a place of abode for John Mahama. The NDC secretly re-named the Jubilee House as Flagstaff House, then Jubilee Flagstaff House, and now back to Flagstaff House, a clear case of confused group of people.

The NDC decided to replace the National Health Insurance Scheme with one-time premium but ended up with "Capitation" in the Ashanti Region, and now we have the killer Cash and Carry system. The NDC rejected an invitation to the IEA Presidential Debate, but made a u-turn later without being ashamed of their earlier stance. They pooh poohed Nana Akufo-Addo's Free SHS proposal but later agreed that free SHS would be implemented in 2016. They planned to bury Mills at the Jubilee House, but later dumbed Atta Mills somewhere in the Asomdwee Park when Ghanaians complained. They said the NPP had no case at all in court and went ahead to say that; "Any idiot could go to court". But along the line they forced themselves to be joined in the court case and just last Thursday a joinder application for over 327 NDC members was also thrown out. The NDC suspended Kofi Adams as deputy General Secretary for leaking vital information to Gabby and prevented him from contesting a parliamentary seat, but today Adams is back into their fold as the prodigal son.

Fellow Ghanaians, let's all analyse the recent amateurish decision made by Mahama as regards his appointments. On his first ministerial list, Rashid Pelpuo was pencilled down for Tourism & Culture Ministry, but within 3 days, he was swapped with Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare. Besides, Mahama did not want to include both Emmanuel Kofi Buah and Haruna Iddrisu in his government, but he was forced to do so after incessant threats from their supporters. The straw that broke the Camel's back was the recent reshuffling by the illegitimate president. After appointing 10 Ministers to head specific regions, John Mahama has reshuffled them when the handing-over ceremonies of these new ministers had not been completed. What then makes John Mahama a proactive, visionary, intelligent, and effective leader? Can he justify his salary of 120m old cedis he receives every month, in view of his self-confession that danger always lurks around any decision he makes? By his poor performance, I can confidently argue that either John Mahama fails to think or thinks to fail per his political actions.

In winding down, I call upon all those who mistakenly voted for John Mahama to join the 200 Christians to Israel, kneel before their God and pray for forgiveness. By their action, they have contributed to the retrogressive direction of mother Ghana. Our country, which is 56 years deserves better; Ghanaians deserve better. Once again, I humbly appeal to the Supreme Court to expedite action on the petition in order to bring back the right leadership to move Ghana forward again.

God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Enfield, London. (Free SHS Ambassador) Official blog: (www.katakyie.com) katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk 07577626433 A native of Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri

Columnist: Agyemang, Katakyie Kwame Opoku