The Villain Returns- John Mahama's Political Warfare

My mother always says, if she were John Dramani Mahama she would not contest the seat of presidency again, according to her that will be a sign of integrity because she believes for the first time John Dramani Mahama was given the nod to lead the country he failed so why should Ghanaians trust him again?

Not my mother alone, but many other several individuals share this same idea. The talk of integrity is true, because there is a saying which goes "always bow out when the applauds are loudest."

John Dramani Mahama was voted out of power, the first of its kind if the fourth Republic is concerned and he also lost at a very huge margin to then candidate Akuffo Addo. This means that Mahama at the time was very unpopular in the country, Akuffo Addo's won aroused a feeling of joy and happiness in the people which in all its entirety spoke this expression "our saviour has come". But seven years on in his reign this supposed saviour has turned out to be not so much what the people were expecting.

Now according to my mother, if the people's saviour has failed them what will the past villain be able to do? Nothing she says, she adds another, John Dramani Mahama is desperate she says, he wants to be leader so badly he is putting his integrity and personality on the line.

But when I wear my political lense, I find my mother's statements to be unrealistic to the situation at hand. So I always tell her, this is politics, and it is politics indeed.

Right now in these turbulent times, John Dramani Mahama feels vindicated, coming out in public to make a claim to the presidency was not a problem because President Akuffo Addo failed to honour his promise of restoring balance to the economy. So the villain has now learnt his lesson and has decided to save the people. Mahama will always have a counter argument to why he was not able to deliver when in power. It was his first time, he made mistakes, he was not experienced, but now look the man you brought in to deliver has rather failed you, so try me because among all the other candidates, I have been there, I know what it takes to run this country, I have made all the mistakes already and will not make them again.

That will be John Dramani Mahama's counter argument, and it will be his word against the others.

THE FLAGBEARERSHIP RACE
John Dramani Mahama has launched his campaign, and his first test is to win the party primaries as the flagbearer to contest in 2024. Right now, the only candidate worthy to give him a run for his money is Dr. Kwabena Duffour. But it does not mean Dr. Duffour stands a chance, this is because John Dramani Mahama although is not flagbearer yet has been the de facto leader of the party since 2017 even when he lost the elections. Remember he was chosen to lead the party again in 2020 and almost won the election. Which means he never went away, John Mahama was seen asking for alms from the people to support the National Delegates Conference of the party, John Mahama is seen giving public lectures on the economy, wherever you go in the NDC John Mahama is there, his embargo is on every wall of the party.

Now, John Dramani Mahama is using a certain sort of political brand, the brand of influence. Something every leader must have, he has been able to sell himself in an affluent way, always influencing decisions in the party. You will see that all the recently elected executives are in the camp of John Dramani Mahama, from the Chairman Aseidu Nketiah to the General Secretary Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey. If he controls such relevant aspects of the party what stops him from winning the primaries?

Do not forget that he also has majority of the MP's on his side, in the history of the NDC I have not seen a person with a strong hand on the party. Trust me, he must have been condemned because he failed to lead the party into winning the 2016 elections, but nothing of that sort has happened, instead it his views majority of the party folks use in making their arguments.

Dr. Kwabena Duffour on the other hand, has always been silent which makes me think he is not eager to be president. When there are hardships, it is the duty of politicians with intension to always have a national discourse. They must be heard and seen making arguments and proffering solutions, their social media accounts must bear signs of criticisms, they must fight and must always try to talk the mind of the people, only then will they be able to get the people on their side. This is what I call political communication, but Dr. Kwabena Duffour has done the opposite of that. He has not been making much noise, you see John Dramani Mahama made known his intentions to contest a long time ago through his communication, he has even launched his campaign and has started outlining his promises and policies. Dr. Duffour on the other hand is still silent and not barking enough. In politics too, silence does not win elections, but talking with facts does.

MAHAMA VS THE NPP
In my political view, John Mahama poses a bigger threat to the NPP than any other member of the NDC. Why is it so, this is because Mahama has the experience, he has the track record and is not in government now. Any candidate of the NPP has a lot of questions to answer and a lot of rectifications to do, especially those who resigned from government to contest. They were part of the work that has not yielded any positive results in the economy and now they want to run the economy by themselves after failing in their respective fields. Their job will be a much difficult one especially now that their party has become very unpopular even in its strongholds. Now, how far can someone like Alan Kojo Kyeremateng go in next year's election when contesting against Mahama? Maybe he can go far, maybe he cannot but all that will depend on his assertiveness and clarity of communication. He has started his campaigns and in his talks he is trying to exonerate himself out of the problem which his government seems to have created. But he was trades minister and also a member of the economic management team which means he was at the center of affairs as far as running the economy is concerned. So how can he fix the economy as president if he was not able to do so as trades minister. As far as it goes he plus Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia have a chance of winning the primaries, the others like Kwabena Agyapong and Dr. Akoto Afriyie can but be contenders who will just watch the real fight from afar.

Winning the next election for the NPP will be very hard, because they have a lot of questions to answer, especially going against a candidate whom they had beaten before but almost lost against to in the last election. Well for me, in the next election the NDC are at the advantage, although we cannot dispute the fact that this is politics. Because at the end of the day, that party which sells its policies well, will be the one to be crowned king.

By Adom Desmond