2024 'Do or Die' : Mahama is violent, suffers from emotional imbalance — NPP vice chairman

Ex-President John Dramani Mahama

Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) branch in Finland, James Mckeown has described ex-president John Dramani Mahama as a person suffering from ‘emotional imbalance’ over his ‘do or die’ comment.

This follows comment made by the former President on a Techiman-based radio station, Akina FM, that the 2020 elections has taught the NDC that elections can only be won at the polling stations, thus they will not let their guards down in 2024.

“We were clearly robbed but we accepted the verdict for the sake of peace, but I want to state here that the next elections would be won or lost at the polling station. So at the polling station, it will be do or die,” Mahama said.

Reacting to that comment, James Mckeown in a statement says just like some Ghanaians have said, he also believes the ex-president is a violent person.

According to him, Mahama suffers from "emotional imbalance" and is now using desperate means in an attempt to return to power.

“I have always maintained John Mahama is violent and suffers emotional imbalance. Have you forgotten how Mahama as vice president describe Ghanaians as ‘’foolish’’ and ‘’baloney’’ for criticizing an amendment to the petroleum revenue management bill which sought to use the expected oil revenue as collateral to secure loans? That is Mahama for you.

“Don’t be deceived!! He is a desperado seeking to do everything including sacrificing the lives of his supporters to come back to the presidency to mess up again. Pathetic,” the NPP Finland vice chairman has said in a statement.

James Mckeown insists that John Mahama must let his children lead the ‘do or die’ agenda in 2024 if indeed that is how he wants to wrestle power from the ruling NPP.

Find below the full statement from James Mckeown:

JOHN MAHAMA’S CHILDREN MUST LEAD THE ‘’DO OR DIE’’ AGENDA – NPP VICE CHAIRMAN

The NDC and civil society groups in Ghana roundly condemned Nana Addo’s ‘’all die be die’’ in relation to 2012 election and used it as a political campaign to tag Nana Addo as violent. In the campaign leading up to 2020 elections, Mahama also said the NDC will match the NPP boot for boot and went ahead to say the NDC has revolutionary roots and that when it comes to unleashing violence nobody can beat them at unleashing violence. Civil society was quiet and ignored it. This has emboldened John Mahama to continue to reveal his real character and the extent of his desperation to now tag 2024 election as something that will be a ‘’do or die’’ affair. I have always maintained John Mahama is violent and suffers emotional imbalance. Have you forgotten how Mahama as vice president describe Ghanaians as ‘’foolish’’ and ‘’baloney’’ for criticizing an amendment to the petroleum revenue management bill which sought to use the expected oil revenue as collateral to secure loans? That is Mahama for you. Don’t be deceived!! He is a desperado seeking to do everything including sacrificing the lives of his supporters to come back to the presidency to mess up again. Pathetic!!

It is palpably shocking to hear John Mahama himself and the NDC who condemned and made political capital out of ‘’all die be die’’ busily defending ‘’ do or die’’. I have seen john Mahama jumping from one FM station to the other in a fruitless attempt to defend this ill-thought-out statement by making reference to the dictionary. Very interesting. Now when Mahama speaks Ghanaians need dictionaries in order to make sense of whatever he says. Please, let Mahama know that Ghanaians have no difficulty in making sense out of the puzzling and the pure didactic. Ghanaians are not dumb. Mahama says ‘’do or die’’ is different from ‘’all die be die’’ because one is Pidgin English the other is ‘’proper’’ English. Actually, Mahama thinks he deserves backslapping from Ghanaians for this unstatesmanlike language and posturing. How pompous and insulting!!

Now, let’s analyze the ‘’do or die’’ lexicon. Do or die simply means to persist, even if death is the result. It means to take the biggest risk to avoid failure. The question is why would John Mahama want to turn our democratic election into a risky affair? Why would he want NDC supporters to do (do) everything they can including the risk of death (die) just to win an election just to come and showcase how much more incompetent he has become since losing 2016 elections? How can this same John Mahama defend ‘’do or die’’ but condemn ‘’all die be die’’? Hypocrisy Extraordinaire!!

In communication, context and audience are everything. If you speak in 10 seconds and you need 10 minutes to explain, it means you are either a poor communicator or you are doing damage control. In this case, John Mahama is both. Ghanaians touted John Mahama as a good communicator simply because he studied communication at the university. There is a difference between studying communication and being a good communicator. Mahama’s utterances demonstrate that he needs more catching up in communication. He is terrible!!

The same Mahama who says his wife has retired from politics because she cannot take common insults in politics wants his supporters to fight till they die to make him president again. Tell Mahama to let his wife and children ‘’do and die’’ for him. Ghanaian lives are previous and nobody deserves to die for John Mahama in election 2024. Absolutely nobody!!

James Mckeown

Vice Chairman

NPP Finland