Dr. Sekou Nkrumah
Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, the son of Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, has advised ex-president John Mahama to step down from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential race.
He made the call in a Facebook post on October 29, 2018, apparently suggesting that Mr. Mahama is ‘too corrupt’ to inspire any hope in Ghanaians, saying “JM should step down and show true leadership and love for NDC!”
According to Dr. Nkrumah, the 2016 massive defeat was the result of the poor performance in power exhibited by Mr. Mahama who, in spite of incumbency advantage, suffered a humiliating loss that rendered a first sitting president to lose a presidential election in Ghana.
Then opposition candidate and now president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, defeated Mr. Mahama by a vote difference of about one million, bringing the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to power in January 2017.
Previously, several people have called on former President Mahama to stay out of the race to pave way for a new candidate deemed to be ‘corruption free’ to lead the NDC, as his administration has been badly tainted with allegations of corruption, incompetence and mismanagement.
But Mr. Mahama grossly appears adamant, as he had gone ahead to launch his campaign for the flagbearer bid of the NDC, opening himself up for fierce battle against his own former ‘employees’ namely ex-minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah; former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah; among others.
Dr. Nkrumah believes that the former president will only be doing himself and the NDC more harm than good should he force his way through.
After being in power for eight years as both vice-president to the late Professor John Evans Atta Mills and subsequently president, Dr. Nkrumah wondered what extra thing Mr. Mahama is seeking to do for Ghana again as president if he is elected.
He chided ex-president Mahama’s poor performance at the presidency, saying that “it is not like you performed well. You could not address corruption with your government!”
“The quality of life for the ordinary Ghanaian did not change for the better. So please just stay out of the NDC presidential race and enjoy your political retirement,” he added.
BY Melvin Tarlue