Amissah-Arthur Was NDC’s Achilles Heel, Not Bawumia

Amissah-Arthur

Funny that political charlatans like Mr. Kofi Adams, the National Organizer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), should be accusing Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia of having lied to Ghanaians about the extremely poor management of the country’s economy by former President John Dramani Mahama and his Graduate Student Abongo Boys (See “Bawumia Was NPP’s ‘Bible’ in Election 2016 – Kofi Adams” 3News.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/20/17). The fact of the matter is that going into both Election 2012 and 2016, the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress had absolutely no match for then-Candidate Bawumia. To be certain, it was the formidability and intimidating stature of the former Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Ghana that forced the Mahama Posse to field Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, who was then Governor of our nation’s treasury.

The problem here, though, was that while he was much older than Dr. Bawumia, nevertheless, Mr. Amissah-Arthur did not have the knowledge and experience and global professional reach and savviness of his more brilliant opponent. Dr. Bawumia, having worked under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Acquah, had positively influenced the Ghanaian economy in ways that could not be said of Mr. Amissah-Arthur. And here, I am not just talking about the all-too-rational and responsible redenomination of the Cedi, our national currency, which had decidedly become a shinplaster or practically valueless. The fact of the matter is that the general shape of the country’s economy under the tenure of President John Agyekum-Kufuor had been without compare since the days of the so-called Rawlings’ Revolution. And so it was just a matter of course that the overwhelming majority of the Ghanaian electorate would be apt to choosing Nana Akufo-Addo’s right-hand man over Mr. Mahama’s hopelessly bumbling presidential second-bananas.

You see, once the NDC decided to let then-Candidate Akufo-Addo dictate the terms and caliber of who became the ideal choice of a running-mate, the game was literally up. It was only a matter of time before the increasingly discerning Ghanaian electorate gave the Mahama Posse the heave-ho. This is the angle from which inebriate political scam-artists like Mr. Adams ought to be looking at the issue. But, of course, it is more than quite clear that Mr. Adams and his ilk are darn too stolid to recognize this simple and glaring fact. Indeed, had anti-Asante tribalism not prevented the NDC’s movers-and-shakers from recognizing the need to re-fielding Dr. Kwabena Dufuor, the Rawlings’ political juggernaut would have had a fighting chance at the polls.

Now, I don’t know – not that I really care – which NDC strategist Mr. Adams faults for having led his party to its crushing defeat in the 2016 general election. But the fact of the matter is that so criminally and scandalously inept had the Mahama Posse demonstrated its gross managerial incompetence that Ghanaians did not really need any sophistic spiel from Dr. Bawumia to change horses, as it were. The evidence was too glaring not to be even recognized by a high school student major in business or economics. But that the economy continues to ail, has more to do with the lingering after-effects of the gross incompetence of the erstwhile Mahama regime than any purported managerial infelicity of the Akufo-Addo Administration.

It is also rather risible for Mr. Adams to presume to cede credit to his party for an IMF assistance program that the NDC actually inherited from the Kufuor government. This is where the lies need to be exposed.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
October 2, 2017
E-mail: [email protected]