On Why Presidents Lose Or Should Lose Elections In Ghana

A young man wrote on the Ghana Leadership Union Social Dialogue Forum:

“In 2016, the media played a major role in Nana's campaign.....They chastise the Mahama govt with any chance and even forgetting the good he has done...” (Mahani F. Short).

My reaction:

Young man- Wasn’t Mahama rather the incumbent with lots of stolen,, err,, I mean unaccounted for goodies and money all these Governments divert, and also more savvy with the Social Media?

John Mahama is a nice man but he lost because people in Ghana are dissatisfied after almost 4 decades of the PNDC/NDC since 1982, to NPP under Kufuor,, and then Mahama in 2014/2015 made more promises and yet the “fundamentals of the economy” as somebody said, were not good! I have been monitoring before many of you were born. From memory, the cedi went from

700 /$ in 1981 to

11,000 /$ in 2000

And then

21,000 /$ in 2010

55,000 /$ in 2020

Both the NDC and the NPP have failed the people of Ghana!

If you think people can keep paying 100% to 500% import duties and tariffs and VAT taxes and levies and charges for ever, think again! Did you see the Honda and BMW car on sale in California for cheap and one member quoted me Duties and charges to pay at the Ghana Ports?

Can you imagine finding a clean certified good used car for sale at $2,000-4,000 as a young man and come home and be asked to pay 65,000! Haba!! Even snails have some venom in them if and when it comes to time to unleash them!

Some of us are getting old. I love all these leaders and some of our contemporaries- Jerry Rawlings, John Kufuor, Atta Mills, John Mahama and Nana Akufo Addo like my brothers; but my prediction is that Nana Akufo Addo will also lose this election since his boastful free-SHS, a necessary thing that had to be done to correct the PNDC mistakes and failures, and the continuity NDCs, was not enough to lift Ghana out of the massive debts and hence further Economic hardships (Ahokyere)!

Its simple common sense all these educated book-long economists should have realized. When a Government borrows too much there is no money left for the Housing Industry, no money for lending to businesses, and no money for schools and health care facilities! And there is no more money to build good solid highways and no money to pay people well!

Honestly looking at some School buildings put up by Mahama and the Legon Hospital, the Circle Interchange, I am more inclined to think Mahama has more style and taste; but all of them are greedy and selfish! They think only of their families! Oh! Onipa bibinin!

Mahama had one greedy brother who wanted to chop the state of Ghana, but Akufo Addo has about 5-10 of his family members controlling the Justice, Finance and Housing sectors and on 3 major attempts I recall have been made to steal public legacy corporations like ECG, resources through devious schemes like Agyapa Royalties. He also has really sebe sebe un-wise egotistical grandiose African-leader Houphoet Boigny type visions like the Cathedral! For what?

Why would anybody vote for a man like that who borrows $1.1 Billion during a pandemic and cannot even have empathy for the businesses closing down and fails to do anything!

I am sorry oo if offend any of you.

Dr. K. Danso Oct.21, 2020

Author of: Life is War: A letter to Nephews, Nieces and Loved Ones Behind. Page Publishing,New York)

And Leadership Concepts and the Role of Government in Africa: The Case of Ghana (2007, XLibris)