Who Needs Mahama 2.0 - update

“An autopsy is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present for research or educational purposes”. Wikipedia

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) would have done itself a great deal of good by setting up an impartial body to investigate its loss of power in 2016.

Unfortunately, the party did not do so and, given the response of some of the party’s partisans to my article “Who needs Mahama 2,0?”, the party is not one that is capable of self-introspection.

How on earth can a party that boasts of so many capable individuals continue to put its wrong foot forward by having its spokesman tell us that a superintending minister cannot be blamed for an action the government took over the ministry she supervised? How can the NDC continue to put forward men like Sam George who, live on the streets, threaten to deal with a uniformed police officer “when we took power”?

I was for several years a member of the panel on Radio Frittiti in Amsterdam (since suspended because of COVID-19), ably managed by @john. Frittiti is apolitical but leans more towards the Nkrumah’s Pan-African school of ideology. A few of the panelists harbor sympathy for the NDC. I still remember the passion with which I and my fellow panelists debated the 2016 elections that saw the NDC losing power to the NPP.

I consistently posited that the NDC will lose the elections and that, of course, did not go down well with my fellow panelists - most of them simply cannot stand the NPP.

Fellow panel @marcus will not countenance the arguments I presented on why Mahama will lose. We got into heated arguments and, occasionally, shouting matches.

I was not an NPP member or sympathizer and I still find the party’s brand of groveling neo-colonialism and tribal jingoism brand of politics utterly nauseating. In the course of my work as a journalist, I spoke with NPP leaders like Dr. Tamakloe who told me/us what to expect from a Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency. I was not naive or rooting for Mr. Mahama’s defeat, but I have trained myself to deal solely with objective realities.

No, I do not possess oracular power, the only thing I do is to try to be as dispassionate as possible and to be guided by nothing but objective facts.

My verdict: Mr. Mahama lost an election he could have won (his infrastructural development was awesome) because he refused to raise his game, be decisive and deal with his errant lieutenants and to fight (or give the appearance that he was fighting) the pervasive corruption that engulfed his government.

The rest, they say, is history.

It is quite sad to see that Mr. Mahama did not appear to have learned any lesson from his defeat. If he has there’s simply no way he will be going around doing the same things that led to his defeat.

What are his plans, programmes and where can we find his policy papers? Where can we find his visions on education (Ok, he will build more schools, but his advisers should tell him that there’s a lot more to education than physical buildings)? What ideas does he have on how to transform Ghana agriculture? Health? Where can we read his thoughts on industrial development?

Perhaps, we should simply ask: Has Mr. Mahama sat down with experts to think these things through and what did they come up with?

Rather than waste their energies to pick an issue with my article, the partisans of the NDC should tell us why we continue to see more of that loutish braggart, Sam George, speaking for the party whilst the reasoned voices people like Nii Boi Thomsom and Kpessa Whyte remain muted.

Read the original article: http://akogun.tv/blog/who-needs-mahama-2-0/

Femi Akomolafe

July 23, 2020