Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. – Joseph de Maistre
In the closing embers of his autobiography “My First Coup d’etat, ex-President John Dramani Mahama states: “All the decisions I have made in my life were regularly plagued with doubt…I have felt like that boy Dramani (himself) on the bicycle going downhill fast, without any brakes and not knowing which way to turn…what I have learned …is that the possibility of danger lurks at the edge of all life’s decisions. So too does the potential for the most exhilarating ride of your life…Anaa” How is the reader expected to understand this statement, this ambivalence? From Assemblyman to Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi: 1997 to 2009 to Deputy Minister of Communications, to Minister of Communications (1997-1998) to Minority Spokesman even in Opposition (2001) Vice President to Professor Evans Atta Mills, till Mills died on 24th July, 2012, and Mahama was sworn in as President, Mahama had scored several “firsts” and enjoyed the perks that go with all the offices he had held, not excluding (they say) a monthly salary of GH¢45,000; well-furnished office space, four staff, two security persons, chauffeur-driven cars, GH¢ 9,000 accommodation, government sponsored international travel. Kwame Awuah, Esq. is now 90. And the highest achievement in his life occurred when he was in Nigeria where he was teaching and his students called him “Oga-Barrister”. He lives in a modest 4-bedroom house, and he has not taken up a political appointment, besides running errands for some political top-men in Ashanti. He lives a fulfilled life. No perks!
But at 64, Mahama has succeeded to get his party, NDC, to vote for him to go to the primaries. Again? And in Ho, Mahama in his campaign launch punctuated his speech with references to the 1992 constitution, especially ex-gratia awards. Who will grudge him? Perhaps, only “political failures” Mahama’s lovers will say.
In Act III of King Henry IV by William Shakopee King Henry solilioquises: “Canst thou, O partial sleep give thy repose to the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude… Deny it to a King? … Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”. Guilty, tired, sick and beset by rebellion: King Henry was feeling the weight of his crown!
His Excellency Mahama appears to be fascinated by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias”: “I met a traveler from an antique land, who said- ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert… And on the pedestal, these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works ye Mighty and despair: Nothing beside remains. Round the decay. Of that colossal Wreck,…” It is not clear what prompted Mahama to introduce the poem “Ozymandias” in his speech-a poem: of a self-styled ‘King of Kings’ whose colossal monument is shattered depicting the precarious, transitory, fleeting nature of a king’s power (Greece’sPharaoh Ramses). Is Mahama thinking of becoming an Ozymandias – a famous, respected, powerful ruler who has been completely forgotten?
Then, Mahama waded into the debate on the 1992 Constitution, Review – review what Article, what aspect? Or is he like Professor Antwi-Danso advocating an entirely new Constitution to replace the existing one which has seen us through five governments: Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings, J. A. Kuffour, Professor Atta -Mills, J.D. Mahama, Nana Akufo Addo? Antwi – Danso says: “As stated in the constitution the transitional provisions (section 34) which granted indemnity from prosecution for members of the various former military regimes that were in place before the promulgation of the constitution… As stated in the constitution, the transitional provisions cannot be amended or changed in any way (entrenched provisions). It is one of the bases that l am going to be very controversial. I do not believe in amendment of portions of the constitution any more. I believe the whole constitution should be rewritten” So we re-write Territories of Ghana; Citizenship; The Laws of Ghana; Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms; The Directive Principles of State Policy; Representation of the people; The Executive Council of State; The Legislature; The Judiciary… all the twenty-Six (26) chapters, plus the schedules?
Well, “ungagged” Sophia Akuffo and Sam Okudzeto hold a different view: Sophia Akuffo thinks of: “…picking the parts that are not working to ensure that we continue with our constitution…”
Veteran Sam Okudzeto likened the constitution to a leaking roof. (We don’t pull down the whole house) … “We can try to correct the defects so that we can have a proper roof over our heads and something that can govern us efficiently”.
Then, Mahama talked about ex-gratia paid to Article 71 office – holders; (a) The Speaker, Deputy Speakers, Members of Parliament; (b) Chief Justice and other Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature; (c) Auditor – General, Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of the Electoral Commission, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and his Deputies, District Assemblies Common Fund Administration; (d) the Chairman, Vice Chairman and other members of (i) a National Council for Higher Education, however so described; (ii) the Public Services Commission (iii) the National Media Commission (v) the National Commission for Civic Education.
He says: “The payment of ex-gratia to member of the executive under Article 71 will be scrapped. And the necessary constitutional steps to abolish that payment will start in earnest in 2025…” What would have happened if Mahama had returned what he received- he could have “afedelised” it, just as TogbeAfede Member of the Council of State returned his or he could have made his beautiful wife, Lordina, return hers when the hullabaloo erupted in 2021 and Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Samira Bawumia returned theirs, leaving Naadu Mills and Nana Konadu Rawlings. Or shall we accept Mahama’s explanation that the GH¢ 230,000 he received was salary arrears?
Or why did Mahama not grace the occasion of the 66th independence anniversary at Ho? Or is he today telling the world that the celebration is otiose or is he re-echoing Sophia Akuffo: “We should celebrate our Independence Day but to gather and march does not matter. I think whatever money is going to be spent on this celebration with everybody going to the Volta Region if they had selected a deprived district and built a new school or selected a ramshackle district hospital or health centre and upgraded it and named it independence school or independence hospital, …that would be money better spent… they are going to talk, march, eat and come back and then that’s all”. Good observation, depicting the beauty of democracy (Ka bi ma menka bi: speak your mind, let me speak my mind). Great, to copy Tanzania whose President Samia Suluhu Hassan, cancelled Independence Day celebrations, 9th December, 2022, and directed that the budget of US $ 445,000 be used rather to build eight (8) dormitories (In 2015 then President John Magufuli cancelled the celebrations and diverted funds towards the building of a road in the commercial capital, Dar-es-Salaam).
But Professor S.K.B. Asante thinks “our unity is worth celebrating”. He was non-committal about the “mode” of celebrating it.
Where best to tell the story of Ghana? How could we kick the economic benefits of Ho, Adaklu? Who said “Kafodidi” (the debtor eats) although he does not eat “abenkwan” (palmnut soup). Tamale, Cape Coast, Kumasi have had their turn, what about the others?
Experience versus experiment: insatiable versus satisfied. Indeed!
By Africanus Owusu-Ansah