If they said Mahama was incompetent 8 years ago, has he since turned over a new leaf?

While the Mahama diehard supporters are blissfully clamouring for his return to the presidency, the concerned Ghanaians believe that it would be extremely catastrophic if Mahama was to go back to the Jubilee House, notwithstanding the calamitous errors in judgement which led to the business crippling dumsor amid massive economic collapse(dragged 14% economic growth in 2011 to 3.4%, and 15.4% inflation in 2016) in the absence of a pernicious coronavirus and Russia/Ukraine protracted conflict.

In his time in Office, former President John Dramani Mahama was given a descriptive epithet, ‘the incompetent one’ by his adversaries.

His opponents would argue that although there was no known diffused global crisis during his time in office, he could not manage the economy.

In his short spell at the presidency, the late Mills left an auspicious economic growth of 14%, and Mahama dragged it to a meagre 3.4%, the late Mills raised agricultural growth to 7.5%, and Mahama reversed it to 3.0%, the late Mills single digit inflation was perfunctorily raised to 15.4%, GDP of GH47Billion shrunk to GH40billion by Mahama in the absence of the ecumenically diffused coronavirus or Ukraine/Russia intractable conflict.

Unsurprisingly, prior to the 2020 general elections, the reputable Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reported that former President John Dramani Mahama was going to find it extremely difficult to convince discerning Ghanaians into accepting that he is the preferable manager of Ghana’s economy.

In all this, the teeming supporters of former President Mahama are contending passionately that even if former President Mahama was perceived as incompetent during his tenure in office, there is no Messiah with the ‘Midas touch’ to turn around the fortunes of the country other than him.

The crucial question we should be asking the diehard supporters of former President Mahama is: if the former president indeed lived up to the expectations, why did over one million voters vote him out in 2016 and was rejected massively again in 2020?

The truth, however, is that former President Mahama did not work his socks off but only managed to undo all the excellent performances put in by his predecessors.

My dear reader, isn’t it quite strange to keep hearing and reading the NDC brassbound supporters flimsy excuses that the loyalists of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) maliciously lied about NDC’s incompetence and corrupt practices and deceptively pledged juicy, albeit unachievable Manifesto promises which led to their 2016 and 2020 landslide victories?

The fact of the matter is that Mahama’s dreadful errors in judgement which unfortunately sent Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire to some large extent, cost them the 2016 and 2020 elections and not the supposedly ‘wicked’ lies put out by their opponents.

How can Mahama admirers keep singing his praises when his sibling Ibrahim Mahama allegedly refused to pay import taxes in the tune of over GH12 million during his tenure in office?

Why should the supporters of Mahama gleefully exalt him when he egregiously gave away 58% of Ghana’s bauxite to his sibling to the utter disgust of discerning Ghanaians?

How could former President Mahama fecklessly give apologists like Madam Akua Donkor of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) two four wheel drive cars and a luxury bungalow (estimated to cost a staggering $470,000) for no work done, and turn round and blame his adversaries for the humiliating defeat?

Why must the diehard supporters of former President Mahama blame anyone for his humiliating defeat when he wilfully dragged an economic growth of 14% in 2011 to a miserable 3.4% in the absence of the pernicious coronavirus and Russia/Ukraine impasse?

Mahama’s adversaries could not have caused his defeat when he abysmally raised Ghana’s total debt from GH9.5 billion in 2009 to a staggering GH122.4 billion by December 2016 in the absence of insidious coronavirus and Russia/Ukraine intractable conflict.

Mahama cannot blame his opponents for his defeat when he dreadfully reduced the GDP of GH47 billion in 2011 to GH40 billion by December 2016.

How can Mahama blame his contenders when the agricultural sector grew consistently in the negative?

His competitors could not have masterminded his defeat when the industry sector grew appallingly.

How can Mahama blame his opponents for his defeat when he egregiously ‘consumed all the meat on the bone?’

In all this, former President Mahama and his praise singing bandwagon are refusing to acknowledge the painful fact that his calamitous errors in judgement amid rampant corruption, untold economic hardships and business crippling dumsor largely contributed to his 2016 humiliating election defeat.

The fact of the matter is that Ex-President Mahama and his praise singing bandwagon believe that Ghanaians still suffer from chronic memory loss and can keep taking everyone else for granted.

K. Badu, UK.
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