John Mahama is more Trustworthy, Authentic, Competent, Independent, Honest, and Responsible – By Eric Delanyo Alifo, Esq.
I hasten to propound that the general elections of December 2024 must not be merely about political rhetoric; populist promises; or even sweet-sounding policy statements, whether contained in party manifestos, or announced on political platforms; and the eloquence and theatricals in articulating them. The 2024 general elections must be taken more seriously, particularly, by the youth, because their very future depends on it, as that of all Ghanaians does.
In my view, voters must be primarily concerned about which political party is more responsive to the needs of the population, and which Presidential Candidate is more believable and reliable to pursue a truly, independent agenda to achieve the dreams and aspirations of the people and nation.
For the reasons that follow, I am fully convinced, and I wish to state so to all Ghanaians, that H.E. John Dramani Mahama is more trustworthy; more authentic; more serious; more competent; more honest; and more responsible for the position of the President of Ghana than Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia is. John Dramani Mahama is therefore, overwhelmingly, a more reliable candidate than Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, and I invite readers to read on for my reasons.
Trustworthiness:
Undoubtedly, Ghanaians do not have any problem at all in trusting and having confidence in John Dramani Mahama. In fact, some people even think that he is too candid and not noted for political subtleties and gimmicks. He is very gentle and honest, but not rude. Veep Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, on the other hand, is viewed differently by a huge portion of the population. He is sadly described by many as a liar, and while that may be harsh and unfortunate, there is some basis for this perception about him, which constitutes a baggage, a blot, and negativity on his political personality.
Though it is true that Veep Alhaji Bawumia is sometimes characterized as a liar because of some political promises he made but which have not been fulfilled, and it is arguable if he could be described as a liar in such circumstances, there are very clear instances, and many of course, where he made promises that he knew, or ought to have known, could never be fulfilled, and yet he made them recklessly just for votes, and he cared very little about how Ghanaians would feel, and the consequences for his reputation at the time he made those promises.
Some of his outrageous promises made in 2016 purposely to hoodwink gullible Ghanaian voters included the promise that in 18 months after his government would assume power, no community in Ghana shall have water and toilet problems. He also promised that roads shall be built all over the country with concrete instead of with asphalt. He again stated that Ghana would not have to take loans to build roads, but his government would just toll roads and raise sufficient funds to build all the roads Ghana needed.
After assuming the reign of government in 2016, Alhaji Bawumia continued to make unbelievable promises such as promising that all SHS students would be given tablets in 2023. He promised that they would build model SHSs in all Zongo communities in the country. He also promised that they would move Ghana from taxation to production. He also dabbled in unnecessary politicking by making unfounded statements on economic indicators such as the exchange rate, inflation, etc. The Vice President seeks to dishonestly take credit for the advancement of all of the digitization that has gone on in Ghana so far by usurping all the compliments for introducing online passport application, mobile money interoperability, and more.
Again, contrary to Alhaji Bawumia’s narrative that John Mahama had left empty coffers for his government, the facts reveal that John Mahama had actually left several millions of dollars in a few established special funds, such as the Sinking Fund, for repayment of certain previous loans contracted during President Kufuor’s reign; the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF); and the Stabilization Fund. John Mahama also left two oil fields, which he had not benefited from at all. Surprisingly, Veep Bawumia also recently failed to credit John Mahama for stopping load shedding in the power sector, although he had alluded to this fact a few years back. Again, after his recent policy statement to the nation, a number of experts have questioned the sources of some of the economic indicators he put out.
There is no better way to describe the promises; pronouncements; and the conduct of Veep Alhaji Bawumia in this section than to refer to them as lies, and therefore refer to the one who knowingly made them as a liar. Accordingly, on this score, Ghanaians do not think Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu is trustworthy enough, and as better than H.E. John Dramani Mahama.
Authenticity and Honesty:
H. E. John Dramani Mahama is indisputably credible. He sticks to facts; he is always serious when he speaks to the people; and he does not act or engage in performances; so he is worthy of belief. H.E. John Dramani Mahama is very presidential and well-composed. This cannot be said of Veep Alhaji Bawumia. I hate to repeat how Mr. Hassan Ayariga described the performance of the Vice President in his most recent broadcast to the nation, that the Vice President had acted like a DJ. Sadly, a lot of Ghanaians think this is a fact.
Closely related to his authenticity, originality, and gentleness is also his candidness and integrity. During his reign for about 5 years, a lot of rumours about corruption flew about, and a great deal of dirt was thrown at him. He took all in good faith and still stood tall and respectable. Although so much noise was made about an airbus scandal allegedly involving him, he remains unscathed for nearly eight years of the vindictive government of Nana Akufo Addo and Alhaji Bawumia.
The same cannot be said of Alhaji Bawumia. He is named in a few corruption scandals, which shall never be investigated by his government for Ghanaians to know his true involvement. He was mentioned as the person who had changed the requirement of a bank guarantee to an insurance guarantee in the infamous PDS deal that was hatched by his government for cronies to acquire the over GHc20 billion worth of assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana. There is official information that Ghana lost about $2 billion dollars in the botched deal, while electricity revenue totaling about GHc1.5 billion, which was received by the people behind the PDS has never been returned to the state company.
Vice President Alhaji Bawumia has also been suspected as somehow involved in the alleged misappropriation or stealing of 10,000 bags of rice from the port by the Director of Administration in his office, Mr. James Keck Osei. The rice belonged to a private business man, and Mr. Keck Osei gave out the rice as Ramadan donation. Although Mr. Osei is being prosecuted by the OSP, he is still at post in Alhaji Bawumia’s office. This is incredible. Think about it.
Competence:
This is one requirement for leadership, which was brought into sharp focus by Alhaji Bawumia in the run-up to the 2016 general elections. Based mainly on economic indicators, and the cost of living at the time, Alhaji Bawumia had harassed President John Mahama constantly and labeled him as “incompetent.” He ensured that the label stuck throughout the campaign, and until the new government had ruled for a considerable period enough to enable Ghanaians to compare its performance with the previous one of John Mahama. It was only then that the bubble began to burst, and Ghanaians discovered, all of a sudden, that if competence in government was all about economic indicators and cost of living, then John Mahama was far more competent than Nana Akufo Addo and Alhaji Bawumia who were in charge of the economy at the time.
After about eight years of being the Head of the Economic Management Team, today, the scorecard is out on the National Debt; Exchange Rate; GDP; Debt to GDP Ration; Inflation; Credit Rating; Revenue generation; Unemployment Rate; Budget Deficit; Corruption Perception Index; and many more, and the evidence is that H.E. John Mahama’s era was far better in all of these indicators than the era of Vice President Bawumia and Nana Akufo Addo. As for the cost of living in Ghana presently, it is not for this writer to convince the reader of whose reign is better. These economic indicators are official and in the public for anyone who desires to learn more about them.
Before anyone would be confused by Alhaji Bawumia and NPP’s usual excuse that their government was doing pretty well until COVID struck, and Russia-Ukraine war set in, it is important to state the fact that in 2017, the year in which Alhaji Bawumia’s government took over the reign of government, and part of 2018 during which period the economy did fairly well, the new government had not performed any magic at all to bring about the successes touted by them. The government had instead benefited heavily from the investments that were made by H.E. John Mahama in 2016 and the year before, and the IMF program, which he had bequeathed to the new government.
A classic example was the investment by H.E. John Mahama in two new oil fields, which began to generate substantial revenue only in 2017. The persisting IMF program also provided over $630 million dollars to the new government in 2017. The real competence or otherwise of Alhaji Bawumia and his boss began to manifest in the later part of 2018 as they ran after loans everywhere and made personal profits from them until they had taken much more than necessary and the country became unworthy of credit and was kicked out of the capital market. This was the situation COVID and the war in Ukraine came to exacerbate. Consequently, in terms of competence, it is now evidently clear to all Ghanaians that Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia is no where near H.E. John Dramani Mahama.
Taking Responsibility:
Taking responsibility for one’s actions is an important trait of good leadership. The person who takes responsibility exudes a sense of duty and great confidence. John Mahama does not make excuses where he owes a duty. That was why even though load shedding (dumsor) had existed on and off, under Jerry Rawlings, John Kufuor, and President Mills, before him, he took full responsibility for it when certain conditions during his tenure had worsened the problem. He pledged to Ghanaians that he would do everything necessary to solve the problem before the end of his tenure. He did, and added 800 Megawatts to the nation’s generation capacity.
Again, in a media interview when he was taking over from the late President Mills, John Mahama, who was just transitioning as he Vice President, described himself as a spare driver to his former boss, and promised to continue to serve the people of Ghana diligently. Describing his similar position (Veep) recently, Alhaji Bawumia likened himself to a driver’s mate, who may not be liable for any faults of the driver, the President, in this case. In the meantime, the Vice President was quick to take credit for every seeming achievement of the government. The Vice President adopted that posturing because he knew that his government had failed Ghanaians and was very unpopular in the eyes of the people.
He now pretends that he was not a key player in the government in which he is the Veep and the Head of the Economic Management Team, and he has pledged to revoke a number of tax handles imposed on the people of Ghana by his government when he is elected as President. This is not a person we can trust to stand with us in joy, and in adversity. Ghanaians must always remember this.
Respective Major Policy Proposals:
From what I have heard so far from both candidates, I cannot put a finger on any major game-changing policy other than John Mahama’s “24-hour Economy” policy proposal. A great deal has been written and said about this proposal, which is targeted mainly at the youth, and basically intended to raise millions of jobs through a three-shift system, which shall reduce unemployment drastically; increase productivity and revenue; and improve earnings, GDP; and the standards of living considerably. I wish to encourage readers to read more about this policy proposal and familiarize with the details.
In Vice President Mahumudu Bawumia’s proposals, “digitalization” is what is most prominent. To be frank with readers, I have never been hoodwinked by the digitization argument. The reason is simple: whereas most of what Veep Alhaji Bawumia has said about digitization, particularly, the benefits expected from it, are true, and are the natural consequence of the technology, I know too well that digitization is the natural way forward for all nations in the era we are in, and whatever Alhaji Bawumia is talking about shall not be executed by only him, but by anyone who shall be the President of Ghana, including H.E. John Mahama, in this era and age.
Indeed, the records are clear that digitization in Ghana did not start with Alhaji Bawumia. The process had started long before he came to the scene. He tried to advance it to the best of his ability, and others shall push it (digitization) forward as a matter of course. In sum, H.E. John Mahama shall embark on, expand, and improve digitization in addition to his game-changing “24-hour economy.” But I am not very sure what else Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia shall do besides “digitalization” and which John Mahama shall not do.
Their Respective Political Parties:
Notwithstanding all the arguments thus far, in considering how to vote in the 2024 general elections, we cannot ignore the effect of the political parties that are sponsoring the leading candidates. Political parties have ideologies, and a government is always formed from a political party that is victorious at the poll. For some unclear reasons, no political party has ever been voted into power for three consecutive terms in Ghana in this Fourth Republic since 1992. The New Patriotic Party (NPP), which believes in property-owning democracy is rounding up its second term of eight years, this year, after having enriched many of their family, friends, and cronies, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which practices social democracy ideology and cares more about the ordinary citizen, is poised to take over in accordance with the wisdom of Ghanaians.
All of us have observed the difficult eight years of the NPP, where state and independent institutions including the Electoral Commission, the Judiciary; and the security agencies like the Military, the Police; Immigration Service; Fire Services; the Prisons; etc have been heavily politicized and thereby threatening their objectivity and fairness to all Ghanaians. The current NPP government of which Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia is the Vice President has seriously eroded confidence in our institutions, and voters must not ignore these dangers and elect the NPP again for a third term to entrench or finish up their agenda of state capture. The NPP has ruled the nation with careless abandon and must never be given a third term only because the one at the head of the party’s ticket is different from the present President. NPP must not form the next government, and certainly, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia must not continue Nana Akufo Addo’s third term. It must never happen!
Independence:
It is important for Ghanaians to elect an independent-minded President this December. This person is certainly not Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, whose entire political experiment is owed to Nana Akufo Addo, Ken Ofori Atta, and Gabby Asare Otchere-darko. We must remember that Alhaji Bawumia was not a stalwart of NPP until Nana Akufo Addo made him his running mate. He could not have won the position of flag bearer of NPP if he had not been supported largely by his sponsors aforementioned, who were prepared to see NPP divided and destroyed in order to install their chosen one – Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, who shall in turn protect his sponsors and do whatever they shall wish. It should be obvious to all Ghanaians that John Mahama is not in any such quagmire at all, so he must be the obvious of all of us in December, 2024.
Conclusion:
You have read all of this article, and you understood the arguments very well. If you have contrary views to any of the arguments, you may contact the author for a debate. Otherwise, the point has been made that H.E. John Dramani Mahama is the better between him and Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia as the next President of Ghana. The point has also been made that the NPP has had its two terms of eight years, and going by the two terms each for each political party, it is time for another party to be elected into power. The article has also highlighted the havoc NPP’s eight years has brought on the nation. It has been established also that the election of Alhaji Bawumia shall be tantamount to giving Nana Akufo Addo a third term in office, and the likes of Gabby Asare Otchere-darko shall remain in charge of the country, and they shall never be called upon to answer questions about their activities in the present administration.
From these, it is obvious that H.E. John Dramani Mahama must be elected by all of us on December 7th, 2024. If any reader, upon reading all of this, would not vote for John Mahama, then it may simply be as a result of a certain stereotype – the unexplainable hatred for the NDC and/or John Mahama. Unfortunately, people with this mentality shall not be making any meaningful contribution to building the Ghana all of us want, and which shall serve us well and prepare a better society for generations to come. I hope all of us can boldly eschew this dangerous trait and vote for the experienced, tried, and tested John Dramani Mahama on December 7th, 2024 as the next President of Ghana.
About Author:
Eric Delanyo Alifo, Esq. Is a private legal practitioner; a Member of NDC Legal Team; the President of Lawyers in Search of Democracy (LINSOD); and a two-time parliamentary aspirant for the Ho West Constituency of the Volta Region
