I bet flagbearer Mahama will experience more voter apathy in 2020

The 2016 election was extremely interesting. The NDC apologists were in high spirits, before and during the general elections.

However, the NDC faithful’s optimism became ephemeral, like a life span of a fly. They discovered their “real size” after the declaration of the election results. Their much touted ‘comfortable lead’ was soon metamorphosed into a humiliating defeat.

The ever so confident NDC loyalists impertinently kept bluffing before the election results declaration that the Ghana health authorities should, as a matter of urgency, assemble a fleet of ambulances with a view to transporting the NPP supporters to the nearby health centres.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be an illustrative cliché of ‘what goes around comes around’. The NDC faithful received a shock of their lives and they are yet to recover from the suspected heart muscle fibrillation.

Somehow, the NDC apparatchiks needless denials over the election defeat gave rise to a sleuth-hound Committee to let the “non-existent cat out of the bag.”

Bizarrely, though, the current General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketia and his cohorts were holding on to a phantom believe that their aggrieved supporters failed to cast their vote, and hence the historic defeat.

However, the founder of the NDC and the former president of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings holds a contrary view. Rawlings has been attributing the humiliating defeat to the leadership’s unobjectionable incompetence, corruption and shenanigans.

Former President Rawlings lamented: “Most people are yet to recover from the traumatic shock of the December 7th election results.

“But I will have to state that if we turn our backs to our history us a party, we cannot escape the responsibility for the result. I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well.

“But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us” (Rawlings, 2016).

I could not agree more with former President Rawlings. As a matter of fact, the Mahama government took Ghanaians for granted.

The fact of the matter is that the successive NDC governments have turned out to be the worst economic managers in Ghanaian political history.

Take, for example, Mahama’s government doubled the previously single digit inflation and budget deficit. The GH9.5 billion debt which former President Kufuor and his NPP government left in 2009 ballooned to inexplicable figures. Our total debt ballooned to GH122.4 billion as of December 2016.

What is more, the ever soaring inflation, the currency depreciation and above all the high costs of living were too much of a bother to discerning Ghanaians.

In spite of their abysmal performance, the NDC clamorous apparatchiks slyly resorted to disinformation metastasising, or to put it euphemistically, systematic propagation of propaganda.

Consequently, the erudite economist, Dr Bawumia warned the government: “The lesson from history for governments is that you cannot manage the economy with propaganda.”

But despite the persistent sound advice from prominent economists like Dr Bawumiah, the Mahama government failed to heed and wilfully sunk the economy into the mire.

Ghanaians thus ineffaceably stencilled all the agonies on their mental sheets and voted out the Mahama government in the 2016 general elections.

You may believe it or not, if the Akufo Addo’s government honours the Manifesto promises of one district one factory, one village one dam in the northern part of Ghana, one million dollars per constituency, free SHS, tax reductions, among others, I bet more Ghanaians will show their appreciation.

What is more, if President Akufo Addo and his NPP government keep to their promise and undertake the irrigation projects in the northern part of Ghana, clearly, there will be more happy faces.

If the Akuffo-Addo’s government erects factories all over the place, and the jobless youth were to blissfully engage in gainful employment, more Ghanaians will jump for joy.

Trust me, if Akufo Addo and his NPP government keep the utility bills to the barest minimum to ease the burden on Ghanaians, trust me, there will be more happy faces.

If the Energy Minister, Peter Amewu managed to keep the dumsor in check, Ghanaians will keep falling in love with the NPP government.

And, who says if President Akufo Addo and his NPP government give out one million dollars to each constituency for selected developmental projects, Ghanaians will not show their appreciation?

Moreover, if the Akuffo-Addo’s government pays more attention to the Zongo developmental projects, I could envisage more Zongo people showing their gratitude.

As a matter of fact, the dreadful errors in decision-making, coupled with the never ending business crippling dumsor brought untold hardships to the good people of Ghana, hence the vast majority of Ghanaians would not wish to experience such harsh conditions ever again.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com