But Niece, Have You Soon Forgotten About One-Time NHIS Premium?

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Politics in Ghana has indeed become a scorned profession, not a well-respected profession it used to be.

The fact of the matter is that the men and women who are currently in charge of affairs do not seem to know their backsides from their elbows. They are only good at propaganda metastasising and vague rhetoric.

Once upon a time, anyone elected as president, or gained a seat in parliament was looked up to and respected by all, but alas, this is not the case anymore.

Obviously, it hurts so much to show deference to incompetent and corrupt politicians who are only good at mismanaging our scarce resources.

They rule by lies and manipulations. They don’t care for the electorates; they only scramble for power in order to pursue their vested interests.

Take, for instance, in the previous general elections, the NDC Party promised to implement the one-time NHIS premium but only to turn their backs on unsuspecting electorates.

Yet Mahama and his NDC government keep spewing vague rhetoric and political insobrieties-‘Better Ghana Agenda’; ‘We care for you’; ‘people matter, you matter’; ‘we are transforming lives’.

It is against this backdrop that I disagreed with my niece’s suggesting that to err is human and therefore Mahama and his NDC government must be trusted to deliver on their 2016 manifesto promises.

Interestingly, my niece who happens to be a die-hard supporter of the NDC Party insisted that even though President Mahama and his NDC government have failed miserably to honour manifesto promises such as one-time NHIS premium, President Mahama has delivered some infrastructural projects and thus deserves another chance in office. No; I would not acquiesce.

As a matter of fact, I was extremely excited when former President Kufuor implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana.

In fact, I became equally excited, when in the subsequent general election the NDC Party gave a manifesto pledge of implementing one-time NHIS premium if voted into power.

It was for that reason that I besought my niece and other minions to ponder over the NDC’s expedient policy of one-time NHIS premium and if possible give them the nod of affirmation.

Apparently, my niece and minions bought into my advice and went ahead and voted massively for the NDC Party.

Regrettably, however, after clasping the ultimate power, the NDC government shamefully reneged on its pledge of implementing one-time NHIS premium.

Ironically, however, some discussants contend that such a policy is never done anywhere and as such the NDC government did not do anything wrong by not implementing their own manifesto pledge of one-time NHIS premium. How bizarre?

Well, my question to the disputatious discussants then is, did the electorates put a gun to their head and demand one-time NHIS premium? I don’t think so.

Obviously, they lied their way to power. It was the usual vague rhetoric and inebriations of deceitful lots who were so desperate to secure power for their own vested interests.

For if that was not the case, how come they have turned their back on almost all the promises they gave to the unsuspected Ghanaian electorates?

Ironically, with all the promises they gave prior to the 2012 general elections, President Mahama and his NDC government have failed to end the dumsor, have failed to implement the one-time NHIS premium, jobs aren’t readily available for the jobless, the economy is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire, they have reneged on their promise to keep ‘lean’ government, Ghanaians are becoming poorer and poorer, sleaze and corruption have escalated to immeasurable proportions, endless borrowings etc.

In any case, the only advice I could give to my niece and her associates on this occasion is for them to engage in a carefully considered introspection before casting their votes in the forthcoming general election.

K. Badu, UK.