Had It Been The NDC…

So i have been doing a lot of reflections lately on the current political atmosphere in Ghana and cannot help but wonder, how many of the incidents that occurred during the erstwhile NDC governments amounted to gross persecution and vilification, particularly the way ex-President Mahama was victimized, abused and reduced to nothing by the media and his political cohorts across all opposition political parties at the time.

Taking a very close look at the Nana Akufo Addo-led administration, reveals a lot of blunders and deliberate malfeasances that are being perpetrated everyday at all levels of government, from the Presidency to government agencies, enterprises and authorities and all these come at a huge cost to the taxpayer, prompting one to expect that, the same activists that spoke up against the NDC government making it unpopular in the eyes of the people, would rise up once more, since the criticisms against the past NDC government were all claimed to be in the interest of the nation.

The people’s decision to vote out the NDC in 2016 was born out of a hope for better and more efficient governance, but 17 months into the NPP administration, it looks like the country is still very far away from realizing that dream and the disappointment among the populace is so astounding, even though the guilt of voting out the NDC which was doing a better job to have the NPP in power, prevents a lot of people from venting out their utmost displeasure. Take a look at the National Lottery Authority and you would realize that was it going on there traverses the word corruption itself.

The Director-General of the Authority, Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw is alleged to have handed out 11 contracts to his sister-in-law in one single day without following due procurement procedure. It was further revealed that the contract sum was inflated by more than 17,000 Ghana Cedis as compared to other bids submitted by other companies for the same contract. Are we safe? So why is the entire country suddenly quiet on the perpetration of such high profile corruption? Or perhaps the Ghanaian media are reluctant to criticize their darling government? There are certainly more questions than there are answers on these mind boggling developments.

We are only in the 5^th month of the year 2018 and the President has already travelled almost 20 times, bringing the total cost of his travels since ascending the Presidency to about 41 million cedis. Just a day or two ago, the President jetted off to the United Kingdom with his entire family including his children and grandchildren for a one-week vacation at a time when Ghanaians are struggling to afford tomato which is selling at ‘one for one cedi’. I have seen a lot of people make arguments to the effect that the president works so hard and periodically, he needs time to cool off and ease up some stress. Assuming this assertion is even viable, what about his family members? In what capacity do his grandchildren serve the country, for which the state has to foot bills for their luxurious travels around the globe? Wait! Do we even want to talk about the thousands of cedis spent on the needless change of name for the Presidency from Flagstaff House to Jubilee House? How about the amount of about 9.5 million Ghana Cedis that was spent on renovating the private residence of the President? Or perhaps we should talk about the eight hundred thousand Ghana Cedis spent on building a single website by the Special Initiatives Ministry. My Goodness! The hypocrisy and deceit of the NPP is shocking, considering that it is a government that claims to be protecting the public purse when in deed, all their actions have not in a single way led to cutting down on government expenditure.

The NDC government entered into an agreement with the IMF at a time when the country’s economy needed a major financial boost to stabilize it. The NPP then in opposition led a massive criticism against the deal. But 17 months into their government, they have extended the same agreement they bastardized and are about to receive 400 million dollars which would be spent in boosting the 1D1F project. From January 2017 till March 2018, the government has borrowed over 35 billion Ghana Cedis, thereby increasing the public debt to about 157 billion dollars. Just in April 2018, the newly elected Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP mentioned on live radio, that his campaign was funded by the Presidency, thereby pointing to the fact that indeed the government was spending money from the national coffers on internal party politics. We could go on and on about the numerous instances of corruption under the current government.

Now putting all these together, one would expect that the self-proclaimed ‘citizen vigilantes’, Christian council, NGOs and opinion leaders who were constantly on the neck of the NDC while in government would rise up to the occasion once more, to criticise the government constructively and keep it on its toes. But they would not. Instead, we are all sitting aloof while this nation is being misgoverned by the NPP mafias. We expect to see all the religious leaders make sermons about governance as was the practice in the build up to the 2016 elections. Those who have a voice must speak up for the voiceless. Nurses are crying. Graduates are crying for the jobs they were promised. The 275 constituencies are waiting for their 1 million dollars each. Poultry farmers are crying over scarcity of maize. Let us stop the petty and cheap politics and begin to do the right things in the interest of the country. The youth of this nation are watching and we would speak up, before those who are older and perhaps do not have much stake in the future of this country wreck it for us in absolution. Let us be fair in critiquing wrongdoing. The current biased inclination towards the ruling government is not in any way, healthy for building a strong democracy. Another day, we would come back to discuss these issues in details. Until then, God bless our homeland Ghana. Eye Zu!

Tetteh Nathaniel Guamah
(NDC Activist)
[email protected]
0508240870