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Currently occupying the national space in political discussions is the challenge launched by the NDC standard-bearer, former President John Mahama (JM), to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for a debate on infrastructure and its records.
Some sectors of Ghanaian society support it, while others do not. But let me tell you that this challenge thrown at Nana Addo by JM raises more questions than answers, just like Johnny Nash. I need to call the former president by the name JM ‘Gnash’ because he has been ‘crying and gnashing his teeth’ all over the place like the ‘babies with sharp teeth’ that the NDC raised and unleashed on the national political scene; gnash your teeth and insult everyone in sight.
On March 20, 2018 (source: Ultimate FM) JM called clergy, journalists and bosses hypocrites while addressing an NDC meeting in the UK. Mahama repeated this insult on September 28, 2020 when addressing the chiefs and people of Jinijini in the Berekum West constituency of the Bono region. And if calling such groups of people hypocrites is not an insult, then I don’t know what an insult is. Armed with an acidic tongue and sharp teeth, JM has been fighting from pillar to pillar in his campaign, spewing invective and making one controversial statement after another in a way that speaks of a confused man. And it is in this state of confusion that Mahama asked for a debate with Nana Addo.
Question number 1. Where did Mahama get the moral courage to call this debate?
Here is a man whom the vigilante citizen and special prosecutor, Mr. Martin Amidu, has said that the late President Atta-Mills formed a committee to investigate his involvement in the purchase of aircraft from Brazil. That it was certain ‘apparatchiks’ from the NDC who insisted on the late president to stop investigating his own vice president.
2. People have raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the death of President Mills.
3. Another question about Mahama’s integrity arises from the Ford Expedition bribery scandal involving the Burkinabe businessman who won a highway contract and did shoddy work.
4. Everything points to JM as the ‘highly elected government official’ in the Airbus bribery saga.
5. Not to mention the ‘killer queens’ fighting for Mahama on social media. And don’t let anyone fool Ghanaians about this; It was Gloria Kani herself who ruined Mahama’s YouTube cover.
6. His insult to the Asantes as ungrateful people who will not appreciate him even if their streets are paved with gold.
7. Mismanaging Ghana’s economy and putting it in the hands of the IMF in exchange for a bailout.
8. Mahama’s ‘dumsor’ record.
9. Delivery of a huge national asset like the Nyinahin bauxite deposits, worth billions of dollars, into the hands of his brother Ibrahim.
And with so many other scandals that plagued his presidency, what dignity or honor does Mahama have left as a leader that gives him the moral courage to call for a debate with President Nana Addo, who has distinguished herself as a leader not only admired in Ghana? but beyond our borders.
Mahama describes himself in his own book “My First Coup” as indecisive. An indecisive person is not strong in his decisions, changes his mind a lot and is described as “fickle.” It’s no wonder that JM can ban Okada as president and then, in another breath, raise a national debate promising to legalize it if he wins power. Mahama, as president, can devote time and millions of CDs to advertisements to denigrate a policy like Free SHS, and yet promise to continue with it if he gains power. Here’s a man who doesn’t seem to defend anything.
So why do you want to be a leader when leadership is about making decisions? That Mahama became president of Ghana will forever remain an aberration in the history of this nation.
Deprived of any honor as a leader, JM calls for a debate with an honorable and distinguished president like Nana Addo. With this, Mahama seeks to sit on the same platform with Nana Addo so that Mahama has a chance to begin to regain his lost honor and dignity as a leader. That’s what this whole call for debate is about. Because really, what good record does Mahama have as a leader? In any case, this call for debate stands in stark contrast to what Mahama said during the 2008 election campaign. At the time, Mahama made two important statements that, based on what he is saying now, attest to his fickle nature.
1. That it is an exercise in mediocrity if a government calls its citizens to vote for it due to the infrastructure projects it has carried out.
2. Anyone who votes for a government because of infrastructure projects is weak-minded.
Matthew 12:37 says, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Here Mahama’s own words condemn him. It means:
1. Mahama’s call for this debate on infrastructure is an exercise in mediocrity.
2. Mahama is weak-minded, period.
Beyond these, the dynamics in this year’s elections have been clarified by Nana Addo. That this is the first time in Ghana that the two main contenders, Nana Addo and Mahama, have ruled this nation before. Anyone who overlooks this will never have a full understanding of the determinants that define this choice. THIS CHOICE IS ABOUT YOUR JOBS AND NOTHING ELSE.
The two people have had occasion in the past to tell Ghanaians what they would do if they were elected to power. The question is what each of them did with the power that was entrusted to them in the past. NOTHING PROVES CHARACTER LIES THE POSSESSION OF POWER! What a person says and what he does reveals his character and his motives.
The way Mahama handled his presidency revealed a leader without compassion, selfish, immoral, deceitful and incompetent. When Ghanaians suffered and asked for help, Mahama was so callous that he described himself as “a dead goat” who does not listen to anyone. On another occasion he said that he was not a magician to give people work. Have you suddenly ‘transfigured’ yourself into a wizard to provide a million jobs? But that is Mahama for you. It has become a walking talking machine that promises heaven, but only prepares to hand over hell. If he had the means to do this, why couldn’t he show us even a glimmer of this in his first term? Nana Addo, on the other hand, has kept most of her promises, revealing a compassionate and competent leader who cares about the well-being of the people she leads.
Should the path to Ghana’s foremost office be reduced to the talk of mere debate when the papers of the top two contenders present a better form of evaluation?
Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Nana Addo and Mr. Mahama, let your light shine before men so that they can see your good works and vote for you. BECAUSE TALKING IS CHEAP!
Revelation 20:12 says that we will be judged according to our works.
In these 2020 elections that Nana Addo and Mahama are judged according to their work. Divine Providence has given us a better way to judge them than a mere discussion talk. Once again I say ‘talk is cheap’.
From the above, Mahama’s call to this debate can rightly be described as an unworthy and unnecessary call. If you accept it, Nana Addo has dignified an unworthy call. My advice is that Nana Addo treat this challenge with the contempt it deserves.
By Akwasi Adusei, Kumasi
