Some of our politicians seeking to wrest power from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have distinguishing characteristics.
Their style of seeking power is different from the orthodoxy where the issues instead of lies and personal attacks are raised for the electorate to make informed choices.
The strategy of the NDC and its apparatchiks is to throw mud at their opponents to impugn their integrity and credibility. These characters are like vipers that are described as venomous and dwarfs that are also mysterious. Therefore, the NPP and its appointees should by now appreciate the “formidable” forces that stand in their way to break the eight.
The NDC, its leader, John Mahama and their leaders have perfected the act of lying about their opponents just to make the people angry with the ruling government. In the run up to the December 7, 2024 elections, the NDC’s agenda is to demonise the Akufo-Addo government and create the impression that the President is heartless and insensitive to the plight of the ordinary person.
The NDC and its supporters have given the President several names such as wicked man who must take the blame for our challenges, although they know the problems are the result of the global economic malaise.
Former President Mahama, when he has opportunity to speak at international engagements, would admit the challenges caused by Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, but when he gets similar platforms in Ghana, he blames President Akufo-Addo for our current difficulties.
The NDC and its leaders are experts in criticisms, but lack the capacity to provide alternative solutions. President Akufo-Addo said during the peak of Covid-19 that his government has the capacity to fix the economic challenges but lacks the wherewithal to restore the dead back to life. The honest in society would admit that, the President did that as Ghana recorded the lowest death rate during the Covid-19 in the world.
We must all appreciate the NPP government for the competent manner in which it contained Covid-19 and kept the economy running, albeit culminating in the high cost of living and the resort to the IMF bailout.
In all sincerity, could John Mahama and his party have managed the situation any better? John Mahama accused us of having short memories but majority of discerning Ghanaians have not forgotten how the John Mahama government handled the cholera outbreak in 2014 and 2015, resulting in hundreds of avoidable deaths. We have always reminded Ghanaians to be wary of the NDC lies and propaganda.
The next elections are not about lies but the records and how the NDC and NPP navigated the development challenges and opportunities when Ghanaians gave them the opportunity to rule the country. We may have short memories but we cannot forget the records of the NDC from 2009 to 2016 and that of the NPP from 2017 to date.
We urge all the political parties to make their political platforms the market place of ideas and how they hope to facilitate the use of our resources to advance our improved living conditions.
The NDC’s penchant for lies and fake news must be exposed now and especially during the elections. Characters like Okudzeto Ablakwa and Sammy Gyamfi have become the Goebbels of our generation.
We in the media have a responsibility to hold the government accountable to the people, and we also know that the opposition too has the mandate to ensure the prudent use of the public purse. The NDC has turned this heavy and big responsibility into a concert party to enact scenes for people to laugh and also deceive the media to follow it aimlessly.
Sometime last year, the media space was full of stories of one of the accused persons in the empty ambulance case called the “adakato” wrote to the Attorney General to take advantage of plea bargaining in order to avoid custodial sentence. That was when Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, the businessman in the deal had had their submission of no case shot down by the court.
Since that meant a prima facie case has been established by the prosecution led by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the accused persons were asked to open their defence. Then presto, the demon and evil person, Sammy Gyamfi representing the snake in the Garden of Eden decides to make unsubstantiated allegations against the Attorney General.
Where is the logic that Sammy Gyamfi wants Ghanaians to accept that a person who is on his knees begging for mitigation of custodial sentence is being “bribed” by the Attorney General to play ball to implicate Cassiel Ato Forson so that the court would jail the Minority Leader?