Bawumia Miserably Failed to Police the Ballot in the 2024 Presidential Election, He Is Likely to Fail Again

It is quite refreshing, albeit damn belated, that a shameless political propagandist - After all, was the man not partly trained in Moscow? - Mr. John “I Have No Classmates in Ghana” Dramani Mahama would now be admitting to the Global Community, right here at the New York City Headquarters of the United Nations Organization (UN), that his immediate successor as well as predecessor, to wit, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is easily far and away Ghana’s most dynamic and unrivaled Fourth-Republican Leader, when it comes to the real “Resetting” of our National Development Agenda (See “Ghana's economic recovery cannot be told without Bawumia's interventions — Dr. Ekua Amoakoh” Modernghana.com 9/24/25).

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Ghanaian citizens have always been in the know about this incontrovertible fact. You see, Yours Truly remarked on this very page long before the Akufo-Addo-piloted Sovereign Democratic Republic of Ghana’s Ship-of-State began to take on water and started listing virulently and seismically, that any morally and politically dispiriting sense of failure that ironically gripped the minds of the Ghanaian citizenry, would almost undoubtedly come from the wantonly kleptocratic shenanigans of the intimate blood relatives of the Archbishop of Akyem-Abomosu and Kyebi himself, namely but not necessarily restricted to, Messrs. Kenneth (Nana Yaw) Kuntunkununku Ofori-Atta and Gabriel “Gabby” Asare Otchere-Darko, and not the hopelessly mendacious political propaganda filth of Yagbonwura Tumtumba Kwame Gonja, the Bole-Bamboi native from the Akufo-Addo-created Savannah Region.

And as surefire as hell, it is Yours Truly who has been royally vindicated and not either Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo or the grim reality on the ground, as it were. But, of course, that is not the main subject and theme of our present discourse. Rather, it has to do with the fact of whether or not former President Mahamudu Bawumia has made any major and/or critical contributions to the economic stability of Ghana. And on the latter count, it is decidedly unarguable that absolutely no aspect of Ghana’s economy, from the landmark redenomination of the veritable shinplaster that was the Cedi, Ghana’s legal tender, under the 8-year, scalp-scorching previous two-term tenure of the late former President Jeremiah “Jerry” John Rawlings, by the New Patriotic Party-sponsored two-term “Golden Years” tenure of former President John “The Gentle Giant” Agyekum-Kufuor, that is, from 2001 to 2009.

You see, Dear Reader, the tenure of the late President John Evans “Atta-Woyome” Mills, the immediate successor of Mr. Agyekum-Kufuor, was essentially a prime beneficiary of the visionary and the progressive economic policies inherited from the immediate predecessor of the former University of Ghana’s Tax-Law Professor. Under the 8-year, two-term tenure of the late former Chairman Rawlings, the extortionate junta leader of the erstwhile Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) and, subsequently, the first democratically elected leader of Fourth-Republican Ghana, as we all vividly recall - at least for those among us who are old enough to remember - the Cedi equivalent to the US Dollar was GH¢200 to $1.

Now, what the preceding means is that in order to withdraw the Cedi equivalent of $200 (USD), one needed to drive a minivan or a pickup truck to the bank. That was simply how despicably and criminally decadent the so-called Rawlings Revolution became, with what one opposition political party critic described at the time as the “Donkomization” of state properties and valuable assets by the vanguard leadership of the Rawlings-chaperoned government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The morbid side-effect of the psychologically stultifying impact of the NDC-ravaged economy is that today, even with the Cedi performing healthily among the topmost four or five currencies on the African Continent, effectively mentally lobotomized Ghanaian citizens, which means virtually any adult who is upwards of 40 years old, is still practically unable to count the present market value of the Cedi without converting the same back into the old exponentially NDC-devalued shinplaster when a mere $10 (USD) was worth and reckoned in Millions of Cedis.

Now, if this is not symptomatic of a “Post-Traumatic Economic-Stress Syndrome” (PTESS), then one really does not know what else it is. But this is absolutely nothing new or anything strange to be surprised at or about, as there are readily available these days, on social media, countless clips on which a morally rudderless or exhausted and hopelessly self-beffuddled Candidate Mahama is seen jejunely bragging about the fact that his unspeakably primitive brand of electioneering-campaign politicking makes absolutely no distinction, whatsoever, between truth and falsehood. Which is also why it is perfectly in keeping with the fact that a ballot-snatching and hopelessly out-of-depth President Mahama would now be admitting that in spite of the epic and the historically unprecedented destruction of Ghana’s macro-economy by the China-originated COVID-Pandemic, the Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party had unarguably performed well above sea level.

Now, in spite of the glaring and the massive logical contradictions here, Dr. Ekua Amoakoh, the Mahamudu Bawumia aide and member of the nondescript so-called New Patriotic Party Communications Team, would have an extremely difficult time convincing any studious observer of Nana Akufo-Addo’s tenure that with especial regard to the management of Ghana’s economy throughout the COVID-Pandemic, it is Dr. Bawumia, and not Mr. Ofori-Atta, who deserves most of the credit for the managerial competence of the previous regime vis-a-vis the very impressive handling of Ghana’s economy. I am not a professionally trained economist, but I do not for even a nanosecond envisage the widely alleged Bawumia-authored “Oil-for-Gold” neo-primitive barter system to have been both a morally enlightened and an economically sound or progressive national development agenda.

Now, couple the preceding with the then-Vice-President and Candidate Bawumia’s very public and bitter complaint that he had been prevented from fully exercising his expertise and discretion as the Official Head of the Government’s Economic Management Team (EMT), and it becomes rather odd and strange to hear anybody stake a major claim for the role of the former Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Ghana in the unarguable economic success story of the twice, consecutively elected Akufo-Addo government. The former Vice-President’s problem heading into the 2028 Presidential Election, has inescapably to do with his gapingly scandalous inability to police the votes or the ballot boxes, the very first qualifier for Presidential Viability. I have already extensively discussed this most indispensable issue with you, My Dear Reader, so I will not bother to, once again, rehash the same here.

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of English
SUNY-Nassau Community College
Garden City, New York
E-mail: okoampaahoofekwame@gmail.com

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