I remember former president Jerry John Rawlings struggling to say Bosnia Herzegovina on national television (GTV) during the early or mid ‘90’s. That war was fought between 1992 and 1995. After fruitless attempt to say the Baltic name right, Mr. Rawlings gave up. But he gave up with a statement that has since stuck with me: “Language is not ours,” he said.
My childhood football club Accra Hearts of Oak has this unyielding motto: ‘Never say die until the bones are rotten.” It’s a stubborn motto that makes (or should I say made) the players stubborn, the coach stubborn, the management stubborn, the chapters stubborn and the club’s supporters stubborn. Needless to say today, we don’t find ourselves at the pinnacle as we used to back in the day.
The reason, I suppose the stubbornness has waned and the glint has found himself in/with the underdogs—Wa All Stars, Berekum Chelsea, Ashanti Goldfields FC etc. Our arch rivals the Porcupine Warriors—Kumasi Asante Kotoko are in the same boat with us.
I cried whenever, we lost a game!
Isn’t that something?
Truth is when we serve honourably in any capacity anywhere we’re always honoured and even when the undying death snips our lives we’re immortalised and our souls live on.
Didn’t Nigeria’s Buhari come back?
And didn’t the US state of Arkansas re-elect former president Bill Clinton as governor after a sore defeat?
I couldn’t do with this write up without citing one of the 40 greatest quotes from Winston Churchill. The former British prime minister said this: “I may be drunk, Miss but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”
A Tory hater, Bessie Braddock (born Elizabeth Margaret Bamber a Labour MP had called the premier a drunk to which Churchill responded you are ugly.
Well, it appears one Ghanaian registered voter’s statement parallels what the greatest world leader of the 20th century said over 7 decades ago. More so, it seems the voter isn’t speaking for himself alone but for many registered voters in Ghana who aren’t satisfied with the performance of the Mahama-led administration.
Bismarck Richardson (his pseudonym) a scrap dealer resident in Accra– Ghana’s capital city made these remarks during a chat-up on WhatsApp: “Once we were blind. Once we were fools and once we let our guards down. And they took advantage of us…”
But today, I can assure you we’re wiser and wide awake. We’ll take their money, we‘ll take their rice, we’ll take their outboard motors and laptops, we’ll take their roofing sheets/cements, we’ll take everything they’ll bring to us, and will never vote for them. And there we’ll see who’ll have the last laugh. “
The voter said multi-party democracy is only good for Ghana if those given the mandate to rule would give their all and not be selfish or greedy. He noted: “Politicians are liars and not what they say is what they do. Too long they took us for a ride and it’s about time we paid them back. We’ve resolved to do this.”
Ah…Haven’t we heard this before, one might ask?
What makes Bismarck’s statement different from the previous ones?
Or is there a movement unknown to us that’s driving this audacious pronouncement?
And does the statement lend any credence to the footage we saw on our TV screens and on social media platforms worldwide?
Earlier last week President Mahama was booed during his campaign tour in the Greater Accra region—a province he won in the last election (2012).
Where specifically did he go?
He was at Kokompe— a scrap dealing enclave in the Okaikoi South Constituency. The footage revealed an unhappy crowd racing towards the president’s convoy amid shouts of— ‘we’re done with you’, we’re not voting for you,’ and the popular one ‘boys abre’ meaning the youth are tired’.
At Ablekuma North constituency also in the Greater Accra region while speaking at a rally Mr. Mahama said something that rarely rears its head until crisis erupts like volcano. And he’d his chief critics in mind– the opposition NPP, stressing that if the NPP won’t credit him for his ‘good works’ God sees that.
That sounds like someone who’s losing traction. And I might not be wrong to state that probably the duck that laid the golden eggs is hibernating now.
Before a gathering the president made this humbling statement: “I am human, I’m not God. I’m not saying I have done so much, but I have done what I can and if others say they have not noticed what I have done, God who is in heaven is my witness and he sees the good works NDC has done.”
There you go… What did Churchill say?
“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.” You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.’
Without a doubt, the president’s statement calls for scrutiny. And I think a few questions would help us understand what he implied by this—: ‘I’m not saying I have done so much, but I have done what I can… let’s stop right there!
Question: How much is so much?
And did that much satisfy the critical mass?
Does the average Ghanaian feels, that much is good enough to put food on the kitchen table?
An Economic Think Tank, IMANI Ghana has released what it terms ‘IMANIFesto Program’. It’s a framework that assesses political parties manifestos using a coding system comprised of quantitative indicators. It is a final report on the implementation of the 540 promises in the 2012 NDC manifesto titled: ‘Advancing the Better Ghana Agenda.’
In summary, IMANI’s out-based assessment of NDC’s manifesto promises yielded an overall result of 52.% indicating that about 53.% of the promises by the ruling NDC in 2012 have been achieved. The report explains that based on the institution’s designated scale, 52% is interpreted as Fair performance.
President of IMANI Ghana Franklin Cudjoe says per this assessment the Mahama-led administration didn’t perform poorly in terms of keeping its promises. “But at the same time, the NDC government under president Mahama did not excel in keeping its promises to Ghanaians, “he said.
According to the report about 47 per cent of the promises the party made to Ghanaians during the 2012 election have not been fulfilled.
So would the president’s claim: ‘I did what I can..,’ warrant or justify his reelection?
For example if the nation hired a football coach (A) to win the coveted All Africa Nations Cup (a trophy which has denied Ghana for decades) and (B) qualify the national men’s football team to the World Cup Games but failed to deliver:
Would that coach be rehired because we participated in the competition?
And this is what Churchill meant by ‘doing what is necessary’…i.e achieving the result.
All that Ghanaians are asking for is— bring back the trophy home and take us to the World Cup.
Another interesting quote from the president is this one: “God who is in heaven is my witness and he sees the good works NDC has done.”
Well, we won’t know that until the elections are held on December 7, and thank God we’re inching closer there. But I can bet on two things here — there will be a victor and there will be a villain. Of which I’m reminded of this popular axiom: ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’.
If the people re-elect the president that means God who sits high in the heavens has indeed seen his ‘good works’. However, a loss would mean rejection and non-performance.
Thing is it becomes incredulous, the idea that whenever it’s election time politics or politicks finds a way to lubricate its squeaky gears—churning out lies, empty promises, quoting biblical verses known and unknown and so on and so forth.
Basically, the idea is to make them look good and perhaps appear saintly.
No doubt it’s a crucial time and the smarter and cleverer one is the better…
So, who else could be identified as the president’s critics apart from the opposition NPP?
Well, they could be the likes of Bismarck who have made up their minds not to vote for the Umbrella in the December 7, elections. And that’s troubling news —an indication that the Greater Accra region could go all-blue, all-white and all-red (NPP colours).
Suffice to say the sturdy horse that pulled the wagon is possibly dead. If so why flog it?
I should point out that the president’s earlier remarks humanises him. It underscores his infallibility as mortal being .That I think was humbling coming from the first gentleman of the land. It contrasts the usual bravado style of our politicians. I can however not guarantee whether this emotive appeal was pulled up because of the season we find ourselves.
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