With all due respect with no attached condescension whatsoever, I am taking the NDC’s 2020 flagbearer, former President Mahama’s recent promise of free primary healthcare if voted into power in 2020 with a pinch of salt, given the previous experiences.
There is no doubt whatsoever that governance is dynamic, and therefore it is impossible for political parties to honour all their manifesto promises while in government.
However, it is extremely nauseating to keep hearing unrealistic manifesto promises from the same people every four years with the view to hoodwinking the voting public.
Ironically, the NDC loyalists have been accusing the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of lying their way to power by giving unrealistic manifesto promises during the 2016 electioneering campaign.
It would, however, appear that the 2016 humiliating election defeat has unsettled the nerves of the NDC loyalists, judging from their bizarre posturing.
If you would recall, prior to the 2008 and 2012 general elections, Ex-President Mahama and NDC gave a slew of Manifesto promises to Ghanaians, but as to whether they honoured those promises, is a million dollar question.
During the 2008 and 2012 electioneering campaigns, Mahama and NDC gave a myriad of manifesto promises, inter alia, one-time NHIS premium, free SHS, ‘making dumsor a thing of the past, putting money in Ghanaians pocket, creating more jobs for the jobless, stabilising the economy, protecting Ghanaians from the menaces of galamsey and Fulani herdsmen, bringing an end to dubious judgement debt payments, fighting the rampant bribery and corruption, amongst others.
Nevertheless, after giving all those richly interesting, albeit unrealistic promises with a view to deceiving Ghanaians for their mandate, the NDC government, led by former President Mahama, as expected, wilfully failed to honour the promises, and, consequently, a total of 55.6% (44.4% for Mahama) of the electorates rightly voted them out of power in 2016.
Mind you, there have been numerous NDC’s broken manifesto promises, but the one that will long be stencilled on discerning Ghanaians mental sheets, is the one-time NHIS premium.
The NDC’s manifesto promise of one-time NHIS premium, so to speak, was destitute of honesty and integrity.
The overarching question then is: what will make the unhappy 56% of electorates change their mind and repose their absolute trusts in Mahama in 2020, given the encouraging signs of auspicious economic growth under the Akufo-Addo’s leadership?
Gone are the days when society anecdotally attributed leadership to a trait from birth. And more so leadership was only ascribed to tall, handsome and well-connected individuals.
Frankly stating, it was wholly illogical. The fact of the matter is that leadership skills can be acquired through remedial tutorials or routine training.
What is the difference between a leader and leadership?
In theory, a leader is a person who is appointed, elected or informally chosen to direct and co-ordinate the work of others in a group (Fiedler, 1995).
The preceding extant definition underscores the fact that the formally appointed leader cannot always be a real leader, but it is also confines the notion of leader to a group context.
If we take the word ‘group’ literally, this definition precludes leaders of nations, large corporations and so on, except in so far as they lead a small group of senior colleagues.
On the other hand, leadership can be considered to be the personal qualities, behaviours, styles and decisions adopted by the leader. In other words, it concerns how the leader carries out his/her role. Hence, while the role of leader can be described in a job description, leadership is not so easily pinned down.
The crucial question every well-meaning Ghanaian should be asking then is: with so many people purporting to be leaders these days, how do we distinguish between a true leader and a demagogue?
Well, to be able to do justice to the preceding question, we must pause, reflect summarily and ask: what is it that a leader is trying to achieve?
In fact, a true leader wants nothing more than to make people independent, as leaders in their own rights. Instead of trying to deceive us with his or her superlative oratory, a true leader reflects our own light back to us.
A true leadership, in practice, must give people a long-term vision that absorbs their lives with meaning; it must point them in a new direction and show how their every action is an indispensable part of a positive change.
More importantly, a true leader always comes up with pragmatic ideas with the view to transforming the lives of his/her subordinates.
Somehow, we tend to believe that a leader is a person who is well-connected, who is powerful or charismatic or wealthy.
We normally judge our leaders by what they have. But a true leader should be judged by his/her extraordinary qualities, not—ego, impertinent boldness, and self-interest.
A true leader, in theory, sees his/her work as altruistic service toward accomplishing a goal. That is by putting the acquired skills, experience, knowledge and empathetic qualities at the disposal of the needs of his/her subordinates. As the sages say, “Leadership is not just power and dominance; it is service to mankind.”
Candidly, after observing Nana Akufo-Addo over a long period of time, I do not need the likes of ex-President Mahama and his supporters to tell me that Akufo-Addo has the attributes of a visionary leader.
Experts observe that visionary leaders are noted for their positivism, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration (Nemanich and Keller, 2007).
Some experts, however, explain that idealised influence depicts visionary leaders as most respectful, reliable and meritorious. And more so idealised influence explains leaders unparalleled ability in setting vision and implementing it to impact on their subordinates (Bass et al., 2003).
On the other hand, inspirational motivation explains how visionary leaders consistently raise team spirit and encourage their subordinates to be creative (Bass et al., 2003).
If you may recall, during the 2016 electioneering campaign, the then presidential candidate of NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, insisted passionately: “I am promising you that within 18 months of a new government of the NPP, under my leadership, the face of our country, Ghana, is going to change”.
As a matter of fact, the preceding statement underscores Nana Addo’s positivism, commitment and enthusiasm.
Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com