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03.09.2014 Editorial

Gutter Politics Re-enacted

By Daily Guide
Gutter Politics Re-enacted
03.09.2014 LISTEN

Memories of gutter politics of yore were triggered last Saturday as President John Mahama descended into one of the drainages in old Accra, pretending to be cleaning the city.

An arranged publicity cover, cameramen et al, was at hand to capture the playacting President in his pretentious cholera-fighting mode.

The theatrical was taking place at a time when the cholera death toll was tipping 50. Those who witnessed the Rawlings-in-gutter days in the 80s sneered at the spectacle in derision, wondering why the President thinks it could win him some deference and sympathy.

Advisers of the President must counsel him about the drawbacks of certain actions because of their uselessness, given the changed circumstances and political variables today.

Re-enacting political ploys of the 80s at this time of social media are not only insulting, they are counter-productive – the originator of the ploy can attest. The President must turn to an alternative module to shore up his waned fortunes. But is there any at his disposal?

Perhaps splashing gold in the streets of the country could offer him a much-needed leverage, if that is possible. As for the people of Kumasi, he has already concluded that such a gesture would still not please them – an observation which earned him negative press earlier.

The President as Chief Executive Officer of Corporate Ghana, should be directing his subordinates to work and not engaging in such puerile actions himself. Indeed, such actions are suggestive of a President who is unable to push his team members to work.

Is he trying to undo what his Vice President did earlier with Accra garbage when he too visited a garbage collection centre at night?

He is failing in his responsibilities when a father begins washing the plates in the kitchen and performing chores his kids should perform at home.

Containing cholera is part of an expensive and well thought-out programme outside theatricals in selected gutters.

The cholera menace is an indictment on the government which has paid lip service over the years to important business of governance. When Mr. Okoe Vanderpuije, the Mayor of Accra, does more politics than ensuring that garbage management is put on a better pedestal, the outcome is the uncontrollable cholera outbreak in Accra.

The cholera epidemic has assumed another dimension as it spreads to other parts of the country, claiming the lives of an already impoverished citizenry.

Jumping into a partially cleaned gutter by the President in the midst of government appointees whose failings have led to the current sorry sanitation situation, not only in Accra but across the country is paradoxical.

The President was only engaged in an eye-service exercise to the nation. His appointees, Okoe Vanderpuije, Chief of Staff and the Greater Accra Regional Minister, were at hand to plod him on.

The man whose appalling performance is citywide knowledge – Okoe Vanderpuije – was the man who clapped in admiration of the President.

Nothing has changed. The gutters are still choked by excreta-carrying polythene bags as Okoe Vanpuije increases the tempo of his media remarks.

The President's men are paid by the tax payer - some of whom might have been infected by the cholera disease. If they cannot perform as expected, the only thing for him to do is to remove them from office. Or is this impracticable?

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