John Mahama
Election seasons in our country have always occasioned all kinds of public discourse, especially from the camp of opposition NDC.
Always very desperate for power, their “serial” presidential candidate, Mr. John Mahama, and other members of the NDC afflicted with verbal diarrhoea resorting to lies and misinformation to smear the ruling NPP government in the eyes of the right thinking members of our society.
In this polemics, the goal of the NDC is to succeed in its so-called “rescue mission” instead of putting the interest of Ghana first.
From where anybody wants to look at the posturing of the NDC, we are of the opinion that for most times that John Mahama and his followers have tried to poison the atmosphere with those wild allegations such as accusing the President of “packing” the court, they must be resuming their beds after bouts of “sleep walking.” Thus, we may not be far from wrong to say that their claims were not well reasoned out but very illogical because they are on a so-called rescue mission as a life or death endeavour.
Ghanaians have not forgotten the Ford Expedition “gift” to him by a Burkinabe contractor who executed a contract in the Oti Region and millions spent on bus branding under the supervision of late Dzifa Attivor, not to talk about inflated contracts across the country.
It was also on record that before the demise of President Atta Mills in 2012, he had set up a committee to probe the importation of some airplanes under the direction of former President Mahama.
For these and many more, the former President choked when he was asked in 2015 whether he had taken bribe before. We have not forgotten his reaction to the BBC probe whether he had taken a bribe before… and his counter, “You mean as a person,” for the journalist to say, “Yes, as John Mahama.” His response left many Ghanaians very embarrassed to such an extent that Mahama has to save his credibility by rationalising his answer severally. In that interview, he said that in an environment where people are allowed to speak freely on any issue including corruption, the perception is created as if corruption is on the rise.
But Mr Mahama, today that you have the new strength to always accuse President Akufo-Addo of corruption, what has changed? Under your watch it was a perception, but under Akufo-Addo it is real, making it one of your campaign messages. We know Ghana is miles away from winning the fight against corruption, but our efforts so far has not been for want of trying.
One major setback in the fight against corruption is the tendency to limit it to politicians. Meanwhile, all of us including Mr Mahama and his NDC, some people in public and private endeavours are the people who are involved in corruption and giving Ghana the bad name. Going forward, we think the fight against corruption must be embraced by all instead of the politicians making it a campaign tool.
Again, if we still remember what President Obama said to us in 2009 that, to make progress as a country we need strong institutions but not strong men, and work hard to strengthen anti-graft institutions.
The tendency for the pot calling the kettle black will not win us the fight against corruption but bring the country into disrepute like responses such as “as a person, or as a president” to a simple question like, “have you ever been offered bribe?” and Mr Mahama trying to redeem himself by explaining that he was caught off guard.
Certainly when it comes to the crusade against corruption, Mr Mahama cannot be the standard bearer or the good example.