THE MEANING OF 'I CARE FOR YOU' CAMPAIGN MESSAGE BY THE NDC

The 'I care for you' was a dominant campaign massage by the NDC led by President John Dramani Mahama during the 2012 General Elections. The understanding and meaning of the 'I care for you' message are; more jobs for the people, increased access to education through affordable fees, improved access to clean quality water in the urban and rural communities, no profligate expenditure, uninterrupted power supplies, and efficient as well as transparent use of state resources.

Others are, no tolerance for corruption, improvement in the social infrastructure, good conditions of employment in the public sector, punishment for all forms of impunity which always cause discomfort for the people, improved access to justice at all times, and general improvement in socio-economic conditions to make life more bearable.

These are the 2012 campaign messages the NDC sent out to the people. They felt the provision of those conditions can only be attained under them hence they resorted to all manner of fraudulent practices to win the election only to be confronted with the stark reality on the ground. They cannot fulfill their promises and thus bitterly disappointed the people. Ghanaians are now left in the lurch with no feeling of government intervention in their lives and are desperately gasping for hope and survival.

The election of NDC and President John Mahama on 'I care for you' message means nothing but imposition of severe hardships on Ghanaians. They used 'I care for you' as their flagship campaign message to deceive the people to vote for them. They are only interested in winning election without any workable plans and programmes to govern the country so as to maximize the welfare of the people.

After the election, the 'I care for you' message has been operated to achieve high rate of unemployment, high school fees, lack of access to clean potable water, profligate expenditure, exuberant lifestyles, disruption of existing social intervention programmes, and inefficient as well as lack of transparency in the use of public resources.

Others are massive corruption, deteriorating infrastructure, erratic power supplies (Dumsor), poor working conditions in the public services resulting in massive industrial actions across the length and breadth of the country, highest form of impunity exhibited by state official without any sanction by the government, poor access to justice as a of result of high filing costs at the courts.

There is abject poverty and deprivation in the country. Life is now unbearable and to quote Honourable K.T Hammond 'The living are envying the dead'. This is because the living thought they had died and left this world of suffering behind them forever. No wonder young Ghanaians graduates are joining ISIS to escape life threatening economic conditions of the country. The Bible says 'Ye shall know them by their fruits'. Nobody can feel the 'I care for you' in tangible and practical terms. It was not only a campaign tool but a political chicanery to win the election.

It is imperative to note that the Presidency is a combination of character and achievement. It is for achievers and creative thinkers but not for the mediocre and underperformers. Lack of seriousness on the part of the President has whittled down his influence in Ghanaian body politic. There is massive corruption everywhere and the President cannot fight it. It is not surprising that our dear country is labeled as the Republic of Corruption by the West Africa Magazine. This tag is more of a serious concern than the High Indebted Poor Country status we attained in 2000. Ghana is fast sliding into economic backwardness and stagnation under the NDC government led by President John Mahama.

The highlight of every political administration is the legacy it leaves after exiting office. For instance Ex-President Kufour introduced many social intervention programmes to lessen the plights of Ghanaians which included NHIS, School Feeding, Capitation Grant, Free Metro Mass Service to students and pupils, LEAP, NYEP now GYEEDA, mass cocoa spraying for cocoa farmers and many others. These are the socio-economic breakthroughs which ushered Ghana into massive prosperity under former President Kufour thus representing the sum total of legacy he bequeathed to Ghanaians.

However, President Mahama and his NDC government destroyed these laudable social interventions introduced by Ex-President Kufour. President Mahama represents an incompatible personality to the Presidency which demands seriousness in the running the affairs of the country. He goes down into the political history of Ghana as the only President who could not propose any meaningful solution to the problems facing the country including the fight against corruption thus destroying the destiny of Ghana with careless abandon.

In the face of the abysmal performance of the NDC government led by President John Mahama, no serious effort is being invested in providing solutions to mitigate the harsh socio-economic conditions of the country. It is surprising under this situation for the General Secretary of NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia to focus his attack on the opposition party instead of attacking the socio-economic problems confronting the country. He flew into emotional tantrums and launched scurrilous attack on the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the NPP for exposing the electoral fraud perpetrated against Ghanaians.

The focus of NDC and President Mahama is to cling to power and perpetuate irresponsible governance practices and reckless management of our resources. At this stage of our socio- economic development, Ghanaians hope that the NDC and its General Secretary will apply themselves to the formulation of strategies to address the massive social problems confronting the country.

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia claims that he has every right to defend the voters' register because he is a Ghanaian. By this, he ignorantly assumed the position of PRO for the EC. As a Ghanaian he can defend only the voter's register but not reckless doling out of money to party cronies in the name of judgment debt and other massive corrupt practices such as inflated contract sums, GYEEDA, SADA, guinea fowls project, allegation of $1m bribery payment from TAQA to NDC and the purchase of Embraer 190 Jet by President John Mahama at a controversial cost.

The defence of the voters' register by the NDC and its General Secretary is a clear demonstration of parochial partisan interest. The 'create, loot and share' syndrome which underlines and defines corruption under President John Mahama does not tickle Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia. Where is the nation building spirit on the part of Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who is no means a person than the General Secretary of the ruling NDC government? Parochial partisan interest supersedes nation building effort, and the love for our dear country is sacrificed on the altar of party politics. I firmly believe at this juncture that every Ghanaian lacks the appetite to reason with Mr. Asiedu Nketia on this matter.

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia claims to have known everything under this sun from good governance to statistics. He sees himself in absolute term as far as wisdom, knowledge and power are concerned. You can watch his posture on television screens; he depicts somebody who knows all and shares ideas with nobody even though his arguments are arrant display of intellectual recklessness, or as Mr. Kweku Baako will put it, 'intellectual impotence.'

It is important for the NDC and President John Mahama to know that the objective of government is not the glory of the rulers or princes but the happiness and safety of the governed, particularly, the poor and the vulnerable in the society. Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia should know that his party has subjected Ghanaians to extreme deprivation, hopelessness and despondency through bad governance. The tendency to cling to power at all cost to grab wealth is detrimental to the future of this country. The NDC should not think they are in government to indulge in corruption as a way of governance.

At this juncture of our socio-economic development, it is critical for Ghanaians to rewrite the history of this country by rejecting the NDC, President John Mahama and all NDC Parliamentary Candidates. To vote for them means voting for hardship, poverty, dumsor, unemployment, strike actions, high school fees, high fuel prices, high transport costs, high utilities charges, mismanagement of the petroleum sector, high infrastructure deficit, high interest rate, high exchange rate, high cost of living, reckless fiscal management and general underperformance. Reject NDC in all parts.

Leo-Nelson Adzidogah