Whilst delivering a speech on the occasion of the 2014 Eid- ul- fitr at the Kumasi Central Mosque. President John Mahama blasphemed the Godly occasion with his usual false promises laced with empty rhetoric .T critique exposing the inherent inconsistencies, fabrications and half-truths embodying his speech. Relax and enjoy!

THE ‘’NOVELTY LIE’’ EXPOSED!

The President told a palpable lie to the audience at the Kumasi Central Mosque when he remarked in paragraph four of his rather long-winded speech, that he observing the Eid prayers at the Kumasi Central Mosque is a novelty and a feat with no prior matching in the history of our Presidency. In verbatim, this was what the President said; ‘’ Today is a novelty. I received an invitation from the Imams and Muslim Chiefs of Kumasi to celebrate the festival of Eid ul fitr here in Kumasi. Traditionally, the president would be at the Black Stars Square in Accra to join all Muslims across the country to celebrate the Eid.’’
However, this account can be nothing but an obvious fabrication cooked to deceive the Muslim community to make the President appear caring and responsive to them. On Monday, 23 of October , 2006, Former President Kuffuor worshiped with the Muslim Community in Kumasi at the Kumasi Central Mosque during the Eidul Fitr celebration. Follow the link below for confirmation:
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/economy/artikel.php?ID=112595
Indeed if there ever was a novelty in this respect it was President Kuffuor’s 2006 visit.

Thankfully, far from the President’s expectations, the Zongo community did not fall prey to his platitudes and intrigues like they did with the deceptive ‘’better Ghana’’ and ‘’edey bee keke’’ mantra.

ON THE 2014 HAJJ PILGRIMAGE

The dust of Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr having settled , the next pillar of faith for observance on the waiting list is Hajj. It was therefore a rare occasion for the president to have endeared himself to a political constituency chiefly sympathetic to his government when he had the opportunity to address the Muslim Community on the issue of the 2014 Hajj pilgrimage. However, true, to his trademark, President John Mahama ridiculed the plight of potential Hajj Pilgrims by declaring that the 2014 Hajj will be better organized than that of last year, when the facts on the ground contradict his claim.

Infact, this claim appears strange and unacademic because one major component of organizing a successful Hajj is about cost management. In 2013, the cost of Hajj was $3450 which by then was equivalent to approximately ?68million old cedis and according to the Head of the Ghana Hajj board ,Alhaji Abdul Rauf Tanko, the board decided to maintain the 2013 Hajj cost which was pegged at $3450, for the 2014 Hajj exercise because there hasn’t been major increments in the cost of pilgrim user facilities and processing cost at the just ended Hajj Conference in Saudi Arabia.
If the cost of the Hajj remains unchanged in ollar term , but Ghanaian pilgrims will have to pay close to ?60million more than they did last year simply because the president has been incompetent in stabilizing the value of the cedi against the dollar, does that constitute better organization ? Isnt that a reflection of his glaring incompetence in stabilizing the value of the cedi.?
What the president is actually doing is that he is denying thousands of potential pilgrims the wherewithal to honour a tenet central to the Islamic faith. Worst of all this exhorbitant increment is happening at a time when the income of the average Ghanaian has taken a nose-dive. Almost on daily basis, the Ghanaian is met with increases in utility tariffs, heavy tax impositions and an unreliable energy supply. In the midst of these economic quagmire, how will potential pilgrims raise this burgeoning Hajj cost .

Again, the government ought to come clean on the details and the nature of sponsorships it gives ,Muslim Pilgrims. What is known is that, but for the few hundreds of party ffootsoldires that receive sponsorships from the public purse, every other pilgrim bears the full cost which covers all their expenses including airfares,feeding , accommodation and administrative charges.
Additionally, the transparency and accountability is key in building pilgrim confidence , therefore, the board should go beyond mere announcement of Hajj fares via press statements, It should in its future engagements make public the detailed financial analysis on the factors that inspired the cost, together with services to be rendered to pilgrims vis-à-vis the cost implications for the benefit of the public.
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THE “CHALLENGED ECONOMY” RHETORIC

It is refreshing to note that the President , like all his appointees conceded in his speech that the Ghanaian economy is facing dire challenges, but fail to agree that it is in crisis.There seem to be a wide gap between the action of the President and his shrill rhetoric. But to fully appreciate this issue,we need to find out how we have gotten ourselves to this sorry pass .At the heart of our current economic crisis is the ? 8.7 bilion overspending done by this GOVERNMENT in the final half of 2012 just to win the 2012 elections. Now the manifests itself in the fact that the cedi is now the worst performing currency in the world. When the NPP left government the cedi was at an exchange rate of ?1.1 to $1, but now to obtain $1 , you need ?4. Interest rates and inflation are at an all time high and our gross international reserve has become the worst in the world , not covering better than two weeks of import.
What better pointer to a crisis can we possibly have, when the government cannot pay contractors, teachers and nurses allowances have not been paid, when some teachers have worked for over two years and government now says it can only pay for three months, when the government cannot honour its statutory financial obligations to statutory institutions like GETfund and NHIS, when District Assembly Common Fund are in arrears and when Polytechniics have closed down for months all because the government with his cronies have eaten the meat down to the bone. Yet, the government is seen disbursing funds with alacrity when it comes to conspiracies like GYEEDA,SADA,WATERVILLE,SUBA to mention but few.
Again, 2014 mid year review budget statement presented to Parliament reflects the poor work that went into the preparation of the 2014 budgt statement presented to parliament in 2013. It demonstrates the shortsightedness of the managers of the economy. By themselves, budgets statements do not deliver results , it is the creative decisions of the managers that ensures that set objectives are met. Forinstance, in the mid year budget review, the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper made it clear that the economic prospects look good because additional revenues from oil and gas were coming. From this we can clearly conclude that the government lacks the creative capacity to explore novel revenue sources to effect the development needs of the country, Sadly, the government seems to be basking its hope only on the traditional revenue sources. Therefore the government has no business complaining about the effect of the burgeoning public sector wage on the economy if it cannot discover new sources of revenue. Afterall , the executive alone , with its relative smallness accounts for close to thirty percent of the public sector wages and emoluments

Again, the President claims to be investing millions of cedis(though , silent on the specific amount) in the pharmaceutical industries to augment the prodiction of drugs in Ghana. Whiles it is commendable to stimulate the industry and private sector,the approach taken by the President is misplaced and represents just a surface scratiching of the problem. What the Local industries need at this point is an enabling environment , tax exemptions and reliable and econcomical source of energy to reduce their cost of production so as to be competitive in the Ghanaian market that is overwhelmed by the influx of cheaper foreign substitutes. Without these all the supposed investments will come to naught.
For a President who finds pleasure in resorting to scriptural verses to justify his ineffectiveness, I would have thought that President would have hinted the Muslim congregation of his decision to opt for an IMF bail out, but rather he disguised the bleak prospects of the economy with copious quotations of Quranic verses . Granted, the Holy Quran observes in 94:5 that, “with every difficulty , there is relief”. But the same scripture equally notes in 13:11 that, “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change their ways.” It is thus true that there is ease after every difficulty, but the ease will only be short-lived ,if the actions and inactions that prompted the difficulty is still pursued. Unfortunately, that is the situation the President and his economic managers find themselves in- they seem overwhelmed in an unwavering resolve to plunge the country into an abyss of economic ruin.

Samudeen Mustapha
Ashanti Regional Secretary, Nasara NPP.