John Mahama
Ex-President John Dramani Mahama has descended blisteringly and without provocation on judges in the country, describing them as lacking impartiality.
His umbrage with the judiciary could have been triggered by the issue of the new voters’ register and other matters the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took to the Supreme Court, thereby losing miserably.
For him, the Supreme Court in particular lacks impartiality by endorsing the C.I. 176 regarding the replacement of the old voters’ register and the new proofs of citizenship for the sake of registering as voters in the country.
There is no doubt that his campaign would be largely executed on social media, with his Twitter handle set to haul scathing remarks about state institutions he disagrees with.
Bizarrely, the same judiciary that Mr. Mahama is bastardizing legitimized his controversial declaration of the 2012 Presidential Election after the results were challenged in court and the judges said he should continue to rule in spite of the overwhelming evidence that the election results were compromised.
His recent attack was not limited to the judiciary but others such as, expectedly, the Electoral Commission (EC) which in spite of threats of bloodshed and resistance towards a new voters’ register by Mr. Mahama and his NDC, went ahead to do so successfully.
Describing the commission as ‘pliant’ he seeks to present the electoral management body as one which lacks independence.
The NDC flagbearer differs from most Ghanaians who have given the commission a ‘thumbs up’ in the manner it has conducted the voter registration which has been devoid of logistical and technical challenges unlike previous registration exercises.
Some observers think that the removal from office of the former EC chairperson, constitutionally anyway, is something he is sulking over, with his tweet on the subject being a typical evidence.
Cynics have recalled the ex-President’s remark via an Akan proverb that regardless of one’s performance his adversaries would find nothing good in such feats.
The EC’s successful accomplishment in registering applicants for a new voters’ register would not amuse him because his ‘darling’ Charlotte Osei breached the standards of her office and was accordingly giving the marching orders as per law enshrined.
Politicization of Institutions
The Akufo-Addo administration, according to the ex-President, has politicized state institutions in his scathing tweet without convincing premises for his conclusions.
His treatise-like tweets describe Parliament where both the Minority and Majority have worked over the years as oppressed.
“It is difficult to fathom why the former President a former MP of many years standing would describe the vibrant legislature as oppressed, attack which could be directed to the Speaker of the House,” a governance expert told DAILY GUIDE.
“The Minority Leader is it doubtful would concur with the former President that the House is oppressed. He did not anyway point as the source of the oppression in his tweet,” he added.
Domelevo Issue
The Auditor General (AG) he appointed in the twilight of his regime and who has been ordered to proceed on leave, for Mr. Mahama, has only been ‘hounded’ from office.
The AG, who was appointed at the eleventh hour by the outgoing President John Mahama, is engaged in a running battle with the government over his compulsory leave. His preference for prosecuting his battle in the media has given the spat a partisan flavor, not forgetting his engagement with some civil society organizations to join him in the frontline.
The Military
No state institution is being in the former President’s ‘war’ of attrition as he sets his sight on the Ghana Armed Forces for the umpteenth time.
He regarded the deployment of the military to the frontiers of the country for Covid-19 duties as a misuse of the Ghana Armed Forces, something which has been reacted to by the Defence Minister, among other Ghanaians.
The NDC flagbearer appeared to say that anti-corruption institutions, as he put it, are ‘in bondage’, even though he could not back his cynical view with any evidence.
The media in the country, according to him, is intimidated and society terrified, even though the Ghanaian media is regarded as one of the freest in Africa.
The former President’s attempt at presenting a picture of a police state devoid of tolerance has fallen short of veracity compelling many to wonder whether he still thinks Ghanaians are amnesic as he once said about them.
Mr. Mahama even described the tenure of President Akufo-Addo as tragic and said it has set the clock of democracy back 20 years, adding that it would be a patriotic duty of all Ghanaians to, as he put it, ‘rescue the country.’
“I, John Dramani Mahama, will restore dignity and independence to our state institutions. I will depoliticize our democratic institutions and make them work effectively and independently for all Ghanaians.
“Ghanaians will respect the judiciary once again. Justice will be impartial and Ghanaians will be able to express themselves freely, once more, without fear of harassment or death,” he said, stopping short of pointing out persons who have been killed for expressing themselves in the country today.
By A.R. Gomda