Last Saturday at the State Banquet Hall, during the 21th edition of the Ghana Journalists Awards, President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Affail Monney, cautioned politicians who have made it their trade to attack fellow politicians to control their acidic tongues to ensure decency in the electioneering campaign towards the December 7 polls.
It is our hope that President John Draman Mahama and members of his National Democratic Congress would take the advice from Mr Monney in good faith and refrain from attacking their political opponents, instead of telling Ghanaians what they have done and intend doing if given another term to govern.
President Mahama has made Nana Akufo-Addo, Presidential Candidate of the NPP, a target for personal attacks since he ‘officially’ started his campaign.
Interestingly, members of the NDC on several platforms have sought to justify the attacks from the President, giving the impression that their campaign strategy is to run away from Mahama’s sticking governance records, and rather make the opposition leader a target for vilification, in the hope that the electorate will not find him worthy of their mandate.
In a show of clear leadership, Nana Akufo-Addo has openly rejected the invitation by President Mahama to descend into the gutter with him. He has over the years demonstrated that he sees politics as a contest of ideas as to how the development of the country can be moved to the level where the basic aspirations of the people can be met.
Nana Akufo-Addo’s long and respected career in politics, at both the national and international levels, is something worth emulating by other politicians.
The campaign strategy adopted by President Mahama clearly shows that he is finding it difficult giving satisfactory account of his stewardship to the people.
For instance, the people in the three regions of the north want to know why he used SADA as a vehicle for the looting of the national coffers for campaign activities in 2012. Unfortunately, he could not make a single statement about SADA during the campaign tour to the northern sector.
According to President Mahama, the 8-year old NDC government he leads has used the last four years to lay a foundation for the economy and so he needs another term to deliver prosperity to the people. He says this as if he is not aware he was the Chairman of the Economic Management Team as the Vice President to the late President Mills. So, what did he do in the first four years of the Mills government? Did he use the period to destroy the foundation the NDC government inherited from the NPP, only to build it again from 2012? Ghanaians want explanation from President Mahama on this issue, especially so when during the 2012 electioneering campaign he said a solid foundation had been laid and so the nation was going to witness economic take-off from 2012.
During the 2012 Presidential Election Petition trial at the Supreme Court, President Mahama told the whole world that he was not perturbed at all, and that the business of government was not being negatively affected. Yet, now be blames his non-performance on the Election Petition. How does he expect Ghanaians to trust him and take what he says serious? These are matters he should explain to the nation, if he wants to enjoy the trust of the people.
It is clear the President will be found wanting if he joins Nana Akufo-Addo in elevating this year’s campaign to a contest of ideas and issues, hence the resort to unwarranted personal attacks.
But, we can assure him and his NDC that the Ghanaian electorate has now grown to be more discerning, and so will not be influenced by the attacks they launch against the NPP presidential candidate in deciding who to vote for when they go to the polls on December 7.