There was absolutely nothing baffling when the vast majority of the NDC delegates overwhelmingly threw their support behind ex-President John Dramani Mahama in the NDC’s 2019 flagbearership race.
We cannot also stand accused of harbouring an inborn predilection for suggesting somewhat passionately that there are not many patriotic Ghanaians who will gleefully shrill and thrill over the return of Mr. Mahama with the exception of the diehard supporters who probably laid hands on big chunks of the national cake, ostensibly, shared unequally by the former president.
Obviously, the Mahama’s praise singing bandwagon never experienced the harsh socio-economic standards of living their ‘redeemer’ Mahama wilfully brought upon the nation. So, what do you expect? They will definitely clamour for the return of the spoon that over fed them.
If you may recall, during the NDC’s 2019 flagbearership contest, the other potential presidential aspirants emitted vehemently and inexorably that former President Mahama was the main reason why NDC lost the 2016 election.
Unsurprisingly, however, the multitude of concerned supporters within the NDC were in solidarity with the then aspiring flagbearers.
The aggrieved supporters uncompromisingly ventilated their illimitable indignation over the comeback of former Mr. Mahama.
Bizarrely, while the sceptics were insisting that Mahama was not up to the task during his tenure in office and must therefore be replaced with a much more capable flagbearer, the Mahama loyalists were moving heaven and earth to have him back as the party’s next presidential candidate.
To be quite honest, some of us are struggling to get our heads around how and why anyone with reflective thinking prowess could aim accusing fingers at the critics for insisting that Mahama kept his eyes off the prize, and therefore does not warrant another chance at the presidency.
Let us be honest, inasmuch as former President Mahama commands some respect among the NDC footsoldiers and a section of ordinary Ghanaians, the sceptics could not be far from right for being doubtful over Mahama’s 2020 electoral chances.
Given the circumstances, it came as no surprise to some of us at all when a group of organisers within the opposition NDC beseeched the national executives of the party to allow Mr. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin to go unopposed in the party’s 2019 flagbearership contest (See: Alban Bagbin must go unopposed – NDC organisers; ghananewsagency.org/ghanaweb.com, 12/03/2018).
“So many people in the party feel Hon. Bagbin is the best person to lead us into 2020 and the reasons are pretty clear: he is the exact contrast to former President John Mahama in the matter of marketability and yet retains the Northern extraction that will satisfy the need to have a Northerner complete an eight-year mandate.”
Back then, the spokesperson for the group insisted forcefully that since corruption would be a key campaign theme in 2020, and the fact that former President Mahama administration had issues with corruption, Ghanaian voters would be forced to reject him if he was to be elected as the next flagbearer.
In fact, it is not only the aggrieved NDC organisers who have been expressing concerns about the corruption in the erstwhile Mahama administration.
Sometime last year, the NDC founder and the former President of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings, audaciously came out and disclosed that the corruption in the Mahama administration was so pervasive to the extent that a former NDC minister licentiously bought two luxurious mansions worth at a staggering $3 million from an estate agent in Accra shortly after the Mahama’s government exited power (see: ‘NDC minister grabs two mansions’; dailyguidenetwork.com, 12/06/2018).
And more so prior to the NDC’s 2019 flagbearership contest, the Honourable Bagbin, the MP for Nadoli Kaleo and a contestant of the NDC’s presidential race, attributed the humiliating defeat of Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 general elections to bad governance (See: ‘Mahama’s boys bought V8, built mansions in 4 years – Bagbin; myjoyonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 19/08/2018).
Mr. Bagbin was reported to have lamented: “Don’t tell me that the boys that suddenly came closer to the president within four years can build mansions and buy Land Cruisers and you say there are no resources, where are they getting the money, their salaries?”
The crucial question, however, is: is former President Mahama the only capable leader in the NDC?
In fact, I will not be surprised a bit if the teeming supporters of the other potential presidential aspirants revolt against Mahama during the 2020 general elections as the NDC hierarchy would want us to believe it happened in the 2016 election.
To be quite honest, some of us are struggling to get our heads around how and why any real patriot would seek the return of someone who disastrously collapsed the country’s economy to the detriment of the poor and the disadvantaged Ghanaians.
So the Mahama loyalists would want us into believing that every single Ghanaian was oblivious to the happenings in the country prior to the 2016 general elections?
The fact of the matter is that the diehard NDC supporters were living in a denial about the harsh economic conditions prior to the 2016 general elections.
Back then, the vast majority of Ghanaians struggled to make a living or eke out an income. The dreadful errors in decision-making, the incompetence and the unbridled corruption culminated in untold economic hardships.
In fact, one cannot help but to agree with those who insist that former President Mahama lacks effective leadership skills.
The sceptics, however, argue that it was due to former President Mahama’s poor leadership qualities that a GH¢9.5 billion debt in 2009 rocketed to an incredible GH¢122.4 billion in just eight years.
Besides, the critics have been maintaining that former President Mahama’s dreadful errors in decision-making accounted for Ghana’s economic downslide.
Take, for example, Ghana’s GDP shrunk from $47 billion to $40 billion in just five years.
Somehow, Ex-President Mahama’s decision-making came under sharp scrutiny when he abysmally dragged an economic growth of around 14% in 2011 to a nauseating 3.4% as of December 2016.
Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com