Former President John Dramani Mahama
Former Consul General to Dubai, Daniel Osei, has fired former President John Dramani Mahama once again saying he cannot lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to win the 2020 presidential election because he has not changed from his old ways of doing things.
“He must stop or be stopped so our party can win again!” Mr. Osei who served under Mr. Mahama said in his latest article, and even described him as a “fraudulent variable” in the scheme of NDC affairs.
Fraudulent Variable
“From his moral turpitude to gross opulence and calculated maligning and treachery, and lack of vision, he’s hoping to return and in his own voice ‘teach people lessons.’ This fraudulent variable cannot be part of our calculus for victory,” he fired.
“It’s unfortunate we find ourselves as a party hijacked by this singular issue of Mahama’s return when any worthy political thinker can conclude it’s not good for the former president to contest again,” he insisted.
Not Changed
He disclosed, “I took a step back from my crusade to help advance the party’s chances at victory and listened to many people including all the flagbearer aspirants, members of our council of elders, and indeed many people from the former President’s camp. In my interactions with his people, I wanted to be convinced that if he were given the nod, he could lead us to victory.”
He lamented, however, that, “sadly, person after person from the former presidents camp, indicated the man has not changed.”
“We can’t win with this. The fact that Mahama had to apologize to so many people and caucuses in the first place, should raise eyebrows. Why did he offend so many people and treat so many people badly?
NPP Contrast
Contrasting what has transpired in the ruling party recently and what pertained in the NDC when they first won power, Mr. Osei posited “look at how Nana Addo rewarded Freddie Blay and his team, and juxtapose that to Mahama systemically and craftily removing Kwabena Agyei, Yaw Gyan etc and replacing them with Kofi Adams and co?”
“Indeed ‘the prince of darkness is a gentleman’ and only God knows how ruthless and scandalous he will be if he only had one term to govern.”
Money Machine
He observed that Ghanaians clearly demonstrated that they could not be influenced by money during the decision to remove the NDC from office on December 7, 2016, saying “Mahama was rejected because the electorate did not like him nor his governance. We lost because we had an uninspiring, self centered candidate who predictably failed us at the polls.”
“It’s not gonna be easy but it’s our only hope against the money machine. If all we needed to win is money; we will be in power still. If all we needed to win was a well known candidate, we should be in power still. Let us not conflate well known with popular nor well liked,” he explained.
Need For Change
Mr. Osei said “we must change that if we want to win 2020. His many apologies were simply because his politics was self centered and the electorate rejected him because his governance was terrible. Winning the presidency is not a primary contest.”
He stressed that “the primariesis only a step in the process and if we get it wrong, we are done! To allow Mahama to steal the primaries with money will be suicidal for 2020.
Real Division
He maintained that Mr. Mahama “is the most divisive factor in NDC today!” adding “there are real serious divisions within the party today, and Mahama cannot heal it.”
“He simply lacks the leadership qualities for unification and his team is bankrupt of ideas. The flashy opulence and fake unity walk fanfare nonsense, is for the birds,” he fired, adding “power is not a birthright and unless we as a party, are ready to work for it, we cannot win.”
“I must confess, it’s tiring to keep drumming the same message home time and again, but it’s important to do what it takes to help give our party a chance and we can only do so if we take the hard decisions and embrace change so we can offer a more hopeful preposition to the electorate.
“The civilized thing for Mahama to do is quickly step aside but given his indecisive trait, we just might have to take that decision for him at the polls,” he said.
By William Yaw Owusu