Opinion › Feature Article       24.03.2019

Only God can forgive and forget Mahama’s business crippling dumsor

We cannot ignore or deny the fact that for well over five years, dumsor regrettably crippled businesses across the country to the utter dismay of Ghanaians.

In fact, back then, His Excellency Vice President Bawumia rightly informed the good people of Ghana that the dumsor was a financial problem more than anything else.

Suffice it to state that the situation is being managed prudently by the NPP government much to the delight of the good people of Ghana.

It is, therefore, quite disheartening to see the NDC loyalists whose businesses were wilfully asphyxiated by Mahama’s appalling dumsor are squeamishly clamouring for the return of Ex-President Mahama and their beloved NDC.

With all due respect, it would appear that the Mahama loyalists are living in a denial. They have indeed lost touch with the reality.

In fact, it would only take a disputatious character to suggest that discerning Ghanaians have soon forgotten and forgiven Mahama for collapsing their businesses as a result of dumsor.

The dumsor was so irritating to an extent that my uneducated, albeit reflective thinking mum, who had a soft spot for NDC, underwent a carefully considered reflection and graciously detached herself from the Umbrella fraternity.

Well, the loyal supporters of Mahama should accept the fact that discerning Ghanaians have overcome their supposedly memory loss and cannot so soon forget the terrible errors in judgement which culminated in the business crippling dumsor.

In fact, we do not have to look any further than the 2016 general elections results to acknowledge how Ghanaians were disgusted over Mahama’s terrible errors in decision-making which culminated in business crippling dumsor.

It is absolutely true that the vast majority of unhappy Ghanaians voted against the NDC and Ex-President Mahama in the 2016 election largely due to the unresolved business crippling dumsorthe.

In retrospect, the 2016 election was extremely interesting. The NDC faithful were in high spirits, before and during the general elections.

However, the NDC supporters optimism became ephemeral, like a life span of a fly.

Apparently, the NDC loyalists discovered their “real size” after the declaration of the election results.

The NDC supporters much touted ‘comfortable lead’ was soon to be metamorphosed into a humiliating defeat.

Astonishingly, the ever so confident NDC loyalists impertinently kept bluffing before the election results declaration that the Ghana health authorities should, as a matter of urgency, assemble a fleet of ambulances that can transport the NPP supporters to the nearby health centres.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be an illustrative cliché of ‘what goes around comes around’.

The NDC faithful received a shock of their lives and they are yet to recover from the suspected heart muscle fibrillation.

The needless denials over the election defeat apparently gave rise to a sleuth-hound Committee to let the “non-existent cat out of the bag.”

Bizarrely, though, the current General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketia and his cohorts were holding on to an elusive believe that their aggrieved supporters failed to cast their vote, and hence the historic defeat.

However, the founder of the NDC and the former president of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings harbours a contrary view. Rawlings has rather been attributing the humiliating defeat to the NDC leadership’s unobjectionable incompetence, corruption and shenanigans amid the business crippling dumsor.

Former President Rawlings thus lamented: “Most people are yet to recover from the traumatic shock of the December 7th election results.

“But I will have to state that if we turn our backs to our history us a party, we cannot escape the responsibility for the result. I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well.

“But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us” (Rawlings, 2016).

I could not agree more with former President Rawlings. As a matter of fact, the Mahama government took Ghanaians for granted.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Mahama’s government doubled the previously single digit inflation and budget deficit. The GH9.5 billion debt which former President Kufuor and his NPP government left in 2009 ballooned to inexplicable figures. Our total debt ballooned to GH122.4 billion as of December 2016.

What is more, the ever-soaring inflation, the currency depreciation and above all the high costs of living were too much of a bother to discerning Ghanaians.

But in spite of their abysmal performance, the NDC clamorous communicators slyly resorted to systematic propagation of propaganda.

And, despite the persistent sound advice from prominent economists like Dr Bawumiah, the Mahama government failed to heed and wilfully sunk the economy deeper and deeper into the mire.

Ghanaians thus ineffaceably stencilled all the agonies on their mental sheets and voted out the Mahama government in the 2016 general elections.

Let us, therefore, be honest, if the Akufo Addo’s government honours the Manifesto promises of one district one factory, one village one dam in the northern part of Ghana, one million dollars per constituency, free SHS, tax reductions, among others, I bet more Ghanaians will show their appreciation.

What is more, if President Akufo Addo and his NPP government keep to their promise and undertake the irrigation projects in the northern part of Ghana, clearly, there will be more happy faces.

Frankly stating, if the Akuffo-Addo’s government erects factories all over the place and the jobless youth were to blissfully engage in gainful employment, more Ghanaians will jump for joy.

Trust me, if Akufo Addo and his NPP government keep the utility bills to the barest minimum to ease the burden on Ghanaians, trust me, there will be more happy faces.

If the Energy Minister, Peter Amewu, managed to keep the dumsor in check, Ghanaians will keep falling in love with the NPP government.

And, who says that if President Akufo Addo and his NPP government keep giving out one million dollars to each constituency for selected developmental projects, Ghanaians will not show their appreciation?

Indeed, if the Akuffo-Addo’s government pays more attention to the Zongo developmental projects, I could envisage more Zongo people showing their gratitude.

As a matter of fact, the dreadful errors in decision-making, coupled with the never-ending business crippling dumsor brought untold hardships to the good people of Ghana, therefore the vast majority of Ghanaians would not wish to experience such harsh conditions ever again.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com

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