“I will not be distracted in my quest to win the upcoming elections to lead the country into the land of prosperity from 2017, despite the insults and personal attacks from members of the governing NDC. First they said I was a drug addict. It didn’t work. They said I was sick. It didn’t work. They said I was too old. It didn’t work. They said I was a hunchback. It didn’t work. They said I was a dwarf. It didn’t work. They said I was in a wheelchair. It didn’t work. They said I am a murderer. It didn’t work. They said I will die in June. It didn’t work. They said I was a dictator. It didn’t work. They said I was intolerant. It didn’t work. They said I was violent. It didn’t work. They said I had a secret agenda to destabilize the country. It didn’t work. Now they say I have cancer. It will not work” – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, standard flagbearer of the NPP
“Corruption has been transformed under President Mahama, with headline cases such as Woyome, GYEEDA, Smartty’s scandals, among others. Today corruption is running like a Ford Expedition coming from Burkina Faso.” –Dr. Alhaji Bawumia – Running Mate to Nana Addo.”
After reading the above mentioned quotations by the flagbearer of the NPP and his running mate, I had to quickly rush to the washroom to urinate because if I had waited a little longer I would have wetted my pants. When my sixteen – year old granddaughter heard me laughing even though I was not discussing anything with anyone since only two of us were together, she surprisingly asked me why I was laughing alone. I gave the newspaper to her to read and after reading she also burst into an uncontrollable laughter.
Dr. Bawumia in particular made my day when he made the quotation above. The man is a weaver of words and a clever guy. In my mind’s eyes, I saw a Ford Expedition running at top speed from Burkina Faso, across the Paga boarder on its way to the Flagstaff House to be presented to Mr. John Mahama as a gift from Kanazoe, the Burkinabe private contractor. I compared the speed of the Ford Expedition to how corruption has become rampant under the Mahama administration and couldn’t help but side with Dr. Bawumia. Today in John Mahama’s Ghana, corruption has been institutionalized and everybody in government is grabbing whatever comes their way and making hay while the sun shines.
If you have the opportunity to speak with some of them privately, they will tell you they have to make it quick because the grounds are slippery. In fact, deep down their hearts, they know their party will lose the December 7 elections and so they have to quickly stockpile money and wealth so that when they are out of office they could continue to live luxurious lives as they are currently doing. As for the president he likes to hear only good things about his administration and he is not short of bootlickers who will continue to mislead him into thinking that all is rosy. So he goes about telling people that his good deeds will win votes for him to continue ruling or misruling this country.
To continue to milk the country dry, his Regional Ministers have colluded with the MMDCEs to tell him naked lies and describe to him phantom projects which he will never see but will continue to lie to Ghanaians that such projects exist. The Ghanaians of yesteryears are not the Ghanaians of today. The current crop of Ghanaians know very well that it is the duty of every government to build roads, schools, clinics, hospitals and other amenities. Other than that why do we pay taxes and why is the president junketing the globe to seek loans on behalf of Ghanaians? If John Mahama goes around to tell them that he has been able to build such facilities, the people know very well that since the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, governments after governments have build schools, roads, hospitals clinics etc.
I have been challenging the president in this column to tell Ghanaians any extraordinary thing that his government has been able to execute since he became the president of Ghana. Mr. Rawlings can boast of building the University of Development Studies, the introduction of the District Assembly concept etc. Mr. Kufour can boast of building the Bui Dam and the introduction of social intervention policies like the School Feeding Programme, the Free Maternal Care Policy, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Kufour Bus among others. And the late Professor Mills can boast of establishing a university in the Volta Region. As for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, I cannot get enough space in this column to enumerate the numerous legacies that he left behind in a matter of barely nine years.
In less than three years in office, the late Professor Busia was able to build low cost houses in almost all the districts in Ghana and build Health Centers in every district. Like Professor Busia, Dr, Hilla Limann also left an enviable track record in a matter of two years in office. It was Limann who introduced the Trade Liberalization Policy which led to the flooding of the markets with goods in a matter of six months when Rawlings and his AFRC had sold everything at give away prices when they seized power. The meek and humble president Limann also bought brand new four cargos vessels for the Ghana Black Star Line and continued with the building of low cost houses. He revamped many collapsed factories left behind by the Osagyefo and improved drastically agriculture in the country so much so that Ghanaians had enough to eat and even export to neighbouring countries. If the distribution of outboard motors, pans, baskets, clothes, head dryers and the giving out of landcruisers to chiefs and queenmothers is anything extraordinary, Mr. Mahama should forget it because those things are fraudulent. And if the institutionalization of corruption is what Mr. Mahama thinks he has done to deserve praise, he should bend his head down in shame because it is not a legacy worth leaving for generations yet unborn.
Anytime I hear the NDC apparatchiks making ugly noise that Nana Addo has no message for Ghanaians, I begin to think whether they do know what is a campaign message. The man started his tour with a clear message that he will build one factory in one district and the NDC goons said it was not possible. He said the Free SHS that he promised in the run-up to the 2012 General Election will come to pass and the NDC hound said they will rather do it in a progressive manner having said in 2012 that it was not possible. He went to the Brong Ahafo Region where majority of the farmers cultivate cashew nuts and promised that when voted to power he will establish a Cashew Marketing Board and President Mahama rushed to the Brong Ahafo Region to tell the people there that he too will establish a Cashew Marketing Board. Habba, Mahama!!
When Nana went to the Western Region he told the chiefs and people there that he will create another region in the Western Region so that administering the region will be easy and John Mahama rushed to the same region after the Cape Coast launching of the NDC campaign to tell the chiefs and people of the Western Region that he too had an idea to create a new region when he gets the second term. Ebei Mahama.
And when the chiefs who had the opportunity to meet Nana Addo when he went there told him of the deplorable state of their roads and Nana promised to fix them when he gets the nod, John Mahama arrogantly insulted the senior politician by tell the chiefs that Nana was sleeping when he visited the region. The president did not know that his tour guides circumvented the bad roads and took him through the few good roads to make it look as if all was well with the people as far as the roads in the region was concerned. Even before he concluded his campaign tour of the region, people had started demonstrating for the fixing of the bad roads in the region.
Then Nana rushed to the Northern Region, the president’s home region and visited Yendi where he interacted with Andani Regent and Abudu Regent and promised them that his main mission is to find a lasting peace in Dagbon so that development could be quickened. When Mahama too went to Yendi, he did not give any message and he did not promise as his party did and even included in their Manifesto that they will establish “a truly independent presidential commission to look into the murder of the Yaa Naa”. He just gave them cars and flew away in a helicopter because the roads were just too bad.
Nana Addo told the people of the Northern Region that he will establish a dam each in every village and hell broke loose. The usual noise, “he cannot do it” took center stage in their daily ranting. The NDC people did not know that a mechanized borehole can be used to create a mini dam for irrigation. It was Mr. Roosevelt, the late President of the US who once said great minds discuss great plans but little minds discuss personalities. If you can’t think big and somebody does, why envy the person? If President Mahama thinks giving out cars and other goodies can win him votes, he should concentrate on that and leave Nana alone because Ghanaians know the difference between the wheat and the chaff.