2024 elections: Let it be John Dramani Mahama

Martin Luther King Jnr famously said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” In view of this, honest people always remain honest in the face of lies, hatred and character assassination. Honest and upright people don’t relent nor flinch overnight, they stick to their principle no matter what.

Former president John Dramani Mahama has demonstrated a great deal of patriotism, honesty, integrity and vision during his first term as the President of this country. However, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) effectively deceived the Ghanaian populace during the 2016 and 2020 general elections. As we go into the 2024 elections, we must reflect and give the former President another opportunity to transform this country. We should not be deceived by the NPP again.

One of the common strategies used by desperate political opponents is mudslinging, when political opponents realise that they cannot match their target in terms of issues and facts they resort to a negative campaigning process that deliberately spread malicious and fabricated information about their target in order to tarnish the public image of the described.

The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) stratagem of spreading dishonest information about former President Mahama is motivated by their inability to square up with him when it comes to policies and development that impact and transform this country.

In the face of numerous malicious, fabricated and unfounded allegations, former President Mahama still remains the most honest, accommodating and tolerant political leader among his contemporaries. His honesty has been his bane, yet the former President has stuck with clean and honest politics, he has been too honest and truthful with Ghanaians and has never tempted to indulge in political mudslinging. After all, his integrity is important to him.

John Mahama has shown a great deal of honesty, the only president to have held on to the wheel of honesty and decency whiles his desperate opponents engage in dirty politics of character assassination and mudslinging.

Yes, honesty is a great virtue, his decision to be honest about every struggle the country faced during his first tenure was exemplary yet one of the major challenges of his government.

"I was brought up to tell the truth at all times so when I was President, if things were not going well, I told the people of Ghana and what we were trying to do about it. I think my honesty was one of the major problems I had because I didn't think that I should fool my people", he said.

Despite his desire to win back power to salvage this country from the current crop of dishonest, bunch of political miscreants, Former President Mahama has not allowed his ambition to affect his moral campus and transmogrified him into a liar or a deceptive politician, he still upholds the importance of elected officials being forthright with the electorate to build trust and credibility.

Despite the progress, his tenure was marred by accusations of corruption, leading to widespread criticism and personal attacks from segments of the populace.

Years after leaving office, Mahama continues to play a pivotal role in Ghanaian politics, contributing to national discourse and shaping the country's political narrative. His enduring influence underscores his significant place in the political sphere.

Recently, there have been waves of public apologies to Mahama from his former accusers. Many who had previously condemned and insulted him are now recognising the broader context of his presidency, acknowledging that, he is one of the honest and upright politicians Ghana has ever had.

Some of his previous accusers who have apologised are, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, Hopeson Adorye, Godsbrain Captain Smart, Pastor Nicholas Osei, widely known as Kumchacha, the Founder of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Akwasi Odike Addai, and Barima Sidney the controversial musician.

There have been all sorts of planned and sustained political mudslinging on his person by the above mentioned personalities and other members and associates of the NPP.

Some of the orchestrated lies about former President Mahama were that, he owned hotels in Dubai, he was running a family and friends’ government, Mahama and his wife owns DKM, Jasper Motors and God is Love microfinance, and that he had inflated Contracts during his first tenure. This is how low his desperate opponents stooped, just for power.

The most appalling, childish, unintelligent and nauseating among the malicious and fabricated lies against the former President was that, Former late President John Evans Atta Mills constituted a committee to investigate the then Vice President. This allegation is absurd, ridiculous, incongruous and disingenuous. It is sad how the NPP fail to credit Ghanaians with some level of intelligence. I ask the NPP the following questions:

Who were the members of the committee?
Who was the chairman of the committee?
What was the name of the committee?
When was the committee inaugurated?
What were the terms of reference of the committee?

Every committee has the above key components, but because this was a fabricated and wicked lies, they are unable to provide the above.

Due to the former President’s unblemished character, and the fact that, none of these obnoxious machinations has a scintilla of evidence, time have proven that, they were all baseless, insignificant and hate rhetoric from evil and heartless political opponents who have no regards to how posterity will judge them. Therefore, the apologies are unsurprising.

Unlike the deceptive Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, there is every indication that former President John Dramani Mahama will continue being honest and truthful to the good people of Ghana after winning the 7th December 2024 general elections