The National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Salam Mustapha, has urged Ghanaian youth not to vote for the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, stating that his tenure as President was characterized by a shambolic performance.

“We witnessed his shambolic performance as president, which saw your parents losing their jobs or customers because of ‘dumsor’. Yes, four years of President John Mahama was four years of dumsor. And when his government realized that they could become rich merchants of dumsor, they went ahead recklessly to sign excess take-or-pay power purchasing agreements (PPAs) that, by the time the NPP took over, the Ghanaian government was forced to pay up to $1 billion a year mainly for power we did not need and did not use,” he recalled while addressing the media in Bolgatanga on Friday.

He said it was only recently that the Akufo-Addo government managed to convince some companies to accept renegotiated packages.

“Imagine the billions of dollars wasted on excess power that Mahama contracted and what it could have been used for. Is this the president we should bring back for another four years, after which he would not be accountable to you? It is shocking that John Mahama still harbors this silly dream of becoming president again. For what exactly, we all don’t know. We want to ask John Mahama if he has left something at the Jubilee House that we are unaware of. He should tell the good people of Ghana so we can retrieve it for him to go home and rest in peace,” he demanded.

According to him, John Mahama inherited an oil-rich economy and, without any global crisis to deal with, created his own crisis. By 2014, the cedi was the worst-performing currency, and by 2015, Ghana had applied for an IMF bailout. By 2016, Ghana had seen the birth of the Unemployed Young Graduates Association.

“At some point, he gave up and said he wasn’t a magician to provide jobs. He told us that he had run down the economy and that the flesh was all gone and left with bones. Schools did not even have common chalk! The situation was hopeless. The leader himself was rudderless and inept.”

He described John Mahama as a lazy president, adding that Mahama personally mentioned in an interview that he usually got to the office at 10 a.m. and left by 4 p.m.

“In his entire stay in office as president, his cabinet met just about 40 times. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s less than once a month! The civil servants at the presidency during Mahama’s time in office told us stories of loitering around with nothing to do. In fact, Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur clocked in more working hours than his boss. He reported to his office daily at 8 a.m. sharp and often worked through to 7 p.m. No wonder by 2018, Mr. Amissah-Arthur had set up a campaign office in East Legon, Accra, preparing to contest John Mahama for the leadership of the NDC. But, we all know what happened to him. He too died suddenly and mysteriously.”

The NPP National Youth Organizer disclosed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stays in the office working after midnight and does not drink alcohol.

“Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia also does not drink alcohol. He is not lazy. He comes up with solutions like DRIP to provide construction equipment to fix our roads in our districts, not to buy private cars for pretty women for all manner of benefits. This is the stark difference between a serious person and a person who leads for the perks. John Mahama just did not take his job seriously then, and he would not take it seriously if you made the mistake of bringing him back. Now that he doesn’t have to account for his leadership or seek another term, he would be worse.”

Mr. Mustapha stated that the governing NPP is represented by the ever-brilliant and dynamic Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, while the largest opposition party is represented by the perennial failed former president John Mahama.

“These two candidates are in full gear of their campaigns and have put forward their manifestos, which contain the policies that they intend to implement once they get the mandate of the Ghanaian people. It is obvious that the track record and character of these two men will be put under strict scrutiny and should help form the basis of our decision. Fortunately for us, these two are well-known within our body politic.”