John Mahama
I must confess, I was not the least surprised a bit when I heard that former President Mahama has refused to render an apology over his controversial ‘do or die’ comment.
Former President Mahama, I am afraid, has been creating a niche of sarcasm for himself over the years.
If you remember, sometime last year, the former president chose to endorse an obvious ethnocentric epistle by the MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, and refused to apologize following the widespread condemnations.
The abhorrently ugly article was titled: “Agyapa Royalties fraud is the last straw: The Akyem Sakawa Boys and Grandpas must go.”
Indeed, it is quite disappointing that no less a person than Ex-president could keep uttering distasteful epithets and pronouncements.
I must point out that former President Mahama’s desperation to return to power is really getting out of hand.
Dearest reader, if you may recall, Ex-President Mahama was featured in the news a few years ago for wrong reasons following his unsavoury comment on the unfortunate incident which occurred during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on Thursday 31st January 2019.
He is reported to have poured his heart out: “We are not going to joke in 2020, and I’m sounding a warning to the NPP – we are going to match them boot for boot. “I want to sound a caution that NDC has a revolutionary root and when it comes to unleashing violence, no one can beat us to that.”
In one of his countless press conferences during his time in office, Ex-President Mahama outlandishly went ahead frolicking by giving needless descriptive nicknames to the then-acting chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay.
Amazingly, Ex-President Mahama sarcastically referred to the gentleman as ‘OPANA’, (literally means ‘trouble maker’).
Unbeknownst to many Ghanaians, former President Mahama can be pugnacious. Thus I find it really difficult to understand why he has been given the appellations: ‘Humble, respectful, peacemaker, etc. To be quite honest, I do not think President Mahama deserves those descriptive nicknames.
The preceding assertion may seem frivolous to many of his apologists. However, President Mahama’s seemingly condescending comments on Alhaji Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia during the 2016 electioneering campaign really exposed his hypocrisy.
I recall in one of his then ‘changing lives’ speeches, President Mahama sarcastically suggested that Bawumia had not been a president before and therefore cannot impugn incompetence on his government.
Strangely, however, former President Mahama went ahead and asserted that only our two former Presidents, Kufuor and Rawlings have the pedigree and therefore may criticize him.
Apparently, according to former President Mahama, the rest of Ghanaians did not have the right to criticize him and his government because we have not sat on the presidential seat before.
Obviously, such a thought process is extremely dangerous and undemocratic and should not have come from the lips of a humble president.
I recall Ex-President Mahama went to Kumasi and labelled the entire people of the Ashanti region as ungrateful lots. He referred to Ashantis as ungrateful lots who would never even be content with gold-plated roads. How bizarre?
As a matter of fact, it was uncharacteristic on the part of a supposedly humble President to impugn that all Ashantis are unappreciative.
I recollect in one of the Parliamentary sittings, former President Mahama had an impertinent boldness to insult Ashantis indiscriminately. He openly said: “People of the Ashanti origin have problem with letters L&R”.
In other words, Ex-President Mahama was implying that Ashantis cannot pronounce words that have letters L&R. That was not funny by any stretch of the imagination.
That was indeed an irrevocable cheek from a supposedly submissive leader! Do Ghanaians call such an individual humble and respectful?
Again, in the wake of the public discourse on the suitability of the proposed burial place of our departed president Mills, Ex-President Mahama condescendingly stated that Ghanaians who took part in the debate both on radio, television, and even in their private homes and workplaces engaged in a “USELESS” discourse.
I am afraid, that was uncharacteristic of a leader who had been tagged as humble, respectful, God-fearing, etc.
With all due respect, Ex-President Mahama’s ceaseless sarcasm is out of this world. He is simply not submissive.
Former President Mahama, to be quite honest, has an innate predilection for abusing those who show divergent views to his.
I recall during a debate on the STX Housing deal, former President Mahama, then Vice President, abused our Members of parliament who opposed the deal.
He unkindly and lividly told them: “BALONEY”. In other words, Ex-President Mahama was implying that the Parliamentarians were engaging in “foolish discourse”. How bizarre? Humble indeed!
I also remember when the Attorney General’s office charged Kennedy Agyapong with Treason, Terrorism & genocide and former President Kufuor humbly appealed for calm, and further suggested that we should avoid ‘killing a fly with a Sledge Hammer. Ex-President Mahama replied hastily and lividly: “We will kill a fly with a Bulldozer”.
Honestly stating, that cheeky remark can only come from the lips of a bellicose, but it should not have come from the lips of a supposedly submissive and peaceful President. Frankly stating, Ex-President Mahama can be very careless in his pronouncements at times.
Let us however remind ourselves that we (Ghanaians) have been taught to respect the dead. So I was extremely dumbfounded when after the death of Professor Mills, I heard former President Mahama impoliticly suggesting: “God in his own wisdom has taken the old man, Professor Mills away to pave the way for youthful Mahama to take over the mantle”. How pathetic?
And, subsequent to that infamous declaration, Ex-President Mahama went to the Northern Region and opined somewhat unfairly that it was about time ‘Northerners’ took over the mantle of Presidency, because they (Northerners) were fed up serving in the Vice Presidency post.
In fact, former President Mahama, more often than not, fails to anticipate the dire consequences of his pronouncements.
I recall during the 2016 electioneering campaign, A number of prominent Ghanaians and civil society groups, including the then Chairman of Peace Council, Professor Emmanuel Asante and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) beseeched Ex-President John Dramani Mahama to refrain from making comments deemed ethnocentric against the NPP and its running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
“President Mahama while campaigning at Lawra in the Upper West Region, said the NPP will not allow Dr. Bawumia to be their flagbearer because the party is largely not in support of northerners taking up such positions” (cityfmonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 21/11/2016).
Former President Mahama pontificated somewhat carelessly: “Sometimes I feel sad when I see some of our northern brothers running and also doing this. They will use you and dump you.
Let anything happen today and let our brother Bawumia say he is standing for president in NPP. They will never give it to him I can assure you”.
In sum, Ex-President Mahama must not and cannot keep insulting Ghanaians intelligence.
Kwaku Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com