John Dramani Mahama
WHEN IT comes to politics in Ghana, John Dramani Mahama is a fox. He is cunning and very dangerous anytime there is power struggle in his party. Behind his smiling face is a man who has vindictiveness embedded in his stomach. Anyone who screws with him does so at his own peril. If ghosts have voices, Ghanaians would have heard the voice of the late Professor Atta Mills. Dead men don’t talk. Mills would have told Ghanaians his pains and travails. His corpse did not end up at the Maternity Ward of the 37 Military Hospital for nothing.
Mahama doesn’t show his face anytime he starts his political maneuvering. The man started showing his true colors when Rawlings left office. He knew Rawlings as the founder of the NDC, had full control over the party and he was revered to the extent that his word was law in the NDC even when he was not in power. To clip the feathers of the old man, Mr. Mahama released his hounds to attack the strong man. The situation became so nasty that Mr. Asiedu Nketia referred to Rawlings as a chained dog who could not bite anyone who wanted to enter the house so all those who left the party because of Rawlings should come on board. Out of anger, Rawlings referred to these hirelings as babies with sharp teeth. “Who born dog?” Rawlings boomed barked.
In the run-up to the NDC last National Delegates Congress held at Kumasi, Mr. Mahama set his divisive agenda in motion. He knew Voltarians who contested for national positions in the party were thorns in his flesh. Haven ‘subdued’ Mr. Rawlings and his wife, his final push to take full control of the party was to make sure Voltarians did not occupy key positions in the party. Together with Asiedu Nketia, the two set out to make sure Dan Abodakpi, who contested for the national Chairmanship position, Anita De Sosoo, National Women Organiser aspirant and Koku Anyidoho, who wanted to destool Asiedu Nketia as the General Secretary, were cleverly pushed out of the way. When Anita De Sooso granted an interview with a journalist at the congress grounds after she had lost her bid to retain her position as the National Women Organiser, she said all Voltatrians will lose key positions they were vying for, and it came to pass. Have you ever heard the voice of Dan Abodakpi after that fateful congress? The man is ‘sitting his somewhere’ in the ‘World Bank’ and minding his own business. After all, wetin? Yaw Boateng Djan, a dye in the wool cadre was also seen as a threat to the agenda of Mr. Mahama so Mr. Mahama, the fox, sponsored a candidate to urge out the man from the race. Wofa Yaw Boateng has since been restive and ready to pounce on anyone who will step on his toes. Once a revolutionary, always a revolutionary. Aluta Continua!!
Haven succeeded in this way, the fox turned his attention to the “Fante Confederacy” gurus. He sidelined all the Fante “old horses’ in the scheme of things of the party, including the Ahwoi brothers, the late Ama Benyiwa Doe, Nana Ato Dadzie and the rest who worked with Rawlings to nurture the NDC and made the NDC what it is today, were dumped in the dustbin of history. Mahama felt unsafe with these guys lurking behind him and so they must not come to the limelight, he decreed. With all the experience and political pedigree of Spio Garbra, Mahama made sure the man never came anywhere near political power. As for Uncle Allotey Jacobs, he saw the treachery coming and decided to ’sack himself’. Allotey has many secrets of the party under his sleeves and so the party fears to touch him. Let them dare and see how a mad buffalo reacts to threats. When Santana is in town, all cowboys have to run for dear life.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor is a good presidential material but sadly, he has found himself in the wrong group. When I heard that he was going to contest the flagbearership position of the NDC, I laughed. The man is going to throw himself into a snake pit. Mr. Mahama is one politician in Ghana who hates fine brains. He is always comfortable with the ’wayaa, wayaa’ guys who want to eat, drink, enjoy and die if even Rome would burn. The man is desperate for power and will do everything to grab it. If a man who was once an Assemblyman, a Presiding Member, four times Member of Parliament, a Deputy Minister of Information, a substantive Minister of Information, a Vice President, and the Executive President of God’s own country with some chieftaincy titles still wants to be the President of Ghana, people should keep their distance. Such greedy and power-drunk persons can kill to get what they want. In fact, they can spit fire. Mahama becoming the flagbearer of the party is a done deal. The man started his scheming way back in 2020 when he lost the election and has since not rested.
The numerous demonstrations he organized in this country after the declaration of the 2020 Presidential Election results were to prepare the minds of NDC supporters in his bid to contest the flagbearership race. He was trying to play smart but he was not clever enough. Everybody knew of his plans. The reason why he has refused to concede defeat and congratulate Nana Akufo Addo, two years after his defeat was to make it look as if he never lost the election. Handlers of Dr. Duffuor should advise him to use his money for something else because Asiedu Nketia will do everything possible to make sure Mahama becomes the flagbearer of the party.
Ganging Up Against The Pentecost Elder
I don’t think Elder Samuel Ofosu Ampofo hears the drum being beaten around him. The drum is sounding louder and louder as the days roll by. The fox and the mosquito are on the prowl and their target is Mr. Ofosu Ampofo, the National Chairman of the NDC. Mr. Mahama has never liked the Akyem people simply because President Akufo Addo is an Akyem man. It was Mahama who went to Kyebi to arrogantly tell the people in their faces that Kyebi is the headquarters of galamsey. He also refers to the government of Nana Addo as “Akyem Mafia’ anytime he gets the opportunity. In fact, the man doesn’t respect the Akyem people and treats them like dirt. I don’t know what the Akyem people have done to this Gonja man but he simply hates them. The Akans call it ‘Otan hunu.”
Mr. Ofosu Ampofo is an Akyem man so to Mahama, the sins of the father must visit the son. Hence, his attempt to make sure Mr. Ofosu Ampofo loses his bid to win the National Chairmanship race. The fox looked around to find somebody who could suck the blood of Ofosu Ampofo and give him a hell of time and his eyes fell on no other person but General Mosquito, the political vampire. If Mr. Mahama succeeds in this fight against Ofosu Ampofo, he will then become the master of all that he surveys in the NDC. A new NDC, answerable only to Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Bole/Bamboi Macho man will be born. The cadres of the Rawlings revolutions who are already sidelined will be finally dumped into history’s dustbin of discarded revolutionary ideology and slogans. Mark my words! And majority of these cadres are already old, sick, poor, unemployable and dying. Come to my holy village and see the sorry state of Comrade John Anaaba, a former rifle-wielding and dreadful militia of the defunct revolution.
But how will the fall of Ofosu Ampofo look like? Will there be a new political party with Koku Anyidoho, Allotey Jacobs, Yaw Boateng Djan and other peeved NDC gurus leading the onslaught? I shudder to broach this topic. Me and my pontifications!!!
BY Eric Bawah