Mr john Dramani Mahama
The 2020 general election is a payback time for Fantes and Voltarians. It was my late political godfather, Mr. G.O Boateng, a former District Commissioner during the CPP era, who told me that if anyone treats me unfairly, I should pay him back while alive so that when we all die God would be the judge as to who did wrong. He said God will have the opportunity to choose between the lesser of two evils.
While Koku Anyidoho, a Voltarian, was criss-crossing the world seeking for cure for the good old Professor Mills, Mr. John Dramani Mahama was back at home planning how to hold the reins of power in case Professor Mills died. That day came to pass when Professor Mills mysteriously died at the Castle, the seat of government, and was conveyed in an ambulance without dispatch riders to the 37 Military Hospital. The ambulance first drove to the female ward before nurses told the driver that the man should be taken to the emergency ward. Nurses who rushed to carry the ‘patient’ to the ward realised that he was already dead. As at the time I was composing this piece, the elusive answer as to what killed the former president is still illusive.
Some prominent Fantes called for the autopsy report of the former president but, it fell on deaf ears since Mr. Mahama had already taken over power. In fact, Mr. Mahama became the first politician in Ghana to inherit the Presidency when Mr. Mills died. Mr. Mahama shed crocodile tears as the good old professor was taken to the Asomdwee Park to be buried.
When another Fante, Paa Kwasi Amissah Arthur, was chosen as the running mate of Mr. Mahama for the 2012 general election, the Fantes thought they had been compensated. They had it all wrong. When the NDC controversially won the election and P-Kay eventually became the Vice President of Ghana, the Fantes still had the hope that at least their kinsman was the number two gentleman of Ghana and they jubilated. Again, they had it wrong. Even in the run-up to that election, huge billboards embossed with beautiful pictures of Mr. Mahama and his wife Lordina Mahama could be seen across the country. During the four years that Mr. Mahama misruled the country, Amissah Arthur was relegated to the back bench as Lordina Mahama took the centre stage of the affairs of Ghana.
Amissah Arthur was so shabbily treated that when his funeral was organised at the forecourt of the State House when he too died mysteriously, his wife went mad at the NDC members who went to commiserate with the family. She referred to them as hypocrites who maltreated her husband when he was alive only for them to come to his funeral pretending they loved her husband. Fantes should have known that Mr. Mahama had a wicked plan against them.
Then Mr. Mahama turned his gun on the founder of the NDC (Mr. Rawlings). To prove to Rawlings that he was no longer in charge of the party, Mr. Mahama unleashed his attack brigade on Mr. Rawlings.  The man forgot that Rawlings was the guy who made him what he is today. He looked the other way while the ‘babies with sharp teeth’ took Rawlings on unduly. For the sake of political expediency, Mr. Mahama continued to refer to the Volta Region as the world bank of the NDC. Mahama is a smart guy who practises what the Americans refer to as ‘smash and grab guy’. Mahama is power drunk and will do everything to get political power.
Mr. Mahama was at his mischievous best when the NDC opened nomination for the national executive positions. He clandestinely formed his shadow National Executive officers and together with his brother, Ibrahim Mahama, sponsored them to win all the top positions. This, he did at the wrong side of Voltarians. His first target was Koku Anyidoho who was a thorn in his flesh when Mills was in power. He saw no reason why the late Mills trusted Koku Anyidoho so much that the old man confided in Anyidoho more than he did to Mahama.
It was at the congress grounds that the delegates from the Volta Region realised that they have been tricked. Delegates were paid huge sums of money to vote against Voltarians who were seeking to occupy high positions in the party. Mr. Mahama had the ambition to consolidate his power in the party and as such he did everything possible to make sure his team won at the congress. Koku Anyidoho eventually lost at the end of the day and an angry Koku stormed out of the congress grounds, cursing those who made sure he lost. He has since been silent. The man has come to realise that silence is golden.
The number two target was Mr. Dan Abodakpi, an old horse in the party who served during the days of the PNDC and NDC 1. Mr. Mahama looked into his crystal ball and saw Abodakpi as a threat to him if he became the party’s national chairman. He knew Abodakpi was the right hand man of Rawlings and so if he became the national chairman, he will bring Rawlings back to prominence in the party. And so Dan must go, and truly Dan went and still cannot be heard.
Target number three was Anita De Soso, another Voltarian. Mr. Mahama subtly threw his weight behind Hanna Bissiw and sponsored her in one way or the other. It was at the congress grounds that Anita realised that she had been done in. Even before the votes of the chairmanship race were counted, Madam Anita told journalists that the delegates will vote out all Voltarians who contested top positions in the party.  Today, vociferous Anita De Soso has adopted silence as a weapon. Today, Mr. Mahama is in full control and bidding his time to choose a running mate. If he chooses a Voltarian, the people of the Volt Region should not take him seriously because it is a way to get their votes. The harm has already been done to the people of the Volta Region ? and the rest is history. Excuse me while I go to my farm.
Eric Bawah