As the date of the 2024 general elections draws near, one cannot ignore the obvious signals of desperation creeping into the campaign of ex-President John Dramani Mahama.

The key campaign message, ‘the 24-hour economy’, has lost its meaning, and the campaign has shifted to promises upon promises.

The promises are just being made to fill the vacuum created by the 24-hour economy and the NDC’s vision for Ghanaians. Some promises cover minor and major issues, but from all indications, most promises cannot be fulfilled within the time frame of four years if the ex-president is elected.

One of such campaign promises was made during his recent visit to Gambaga. The ex-president promised to build six military barracks in all six newly created regions to fight the crime rate in the country.

The ex-president stated, “We want you to have peace and security to be able to go about your duties, and we know that our 24-hour policy cannot work unless there is security and safety for everybody.”

My beef with this promise is not his desire to build military barracks but his attempt to push security matters, especially those of the Armed Forces, into the political campaign.

As a former head of state, he should be aware that the building of barracks per se will not necessarily bring peace to the six regions.

It is sad and embarrassing when leaders expose their ignorance of security matters to this level just to win a few political points. Fighting crime is the first responsibility of the police, not the Ghana Armed Forces.

As a retired military officer, the building of barracks should cheer my spirits, but I am not the least amused because I know this cannot be done and it is careless and cheap propaganda to cash in on some votes of the military.

Since independence, Ghana has gradually expanded its Armed Forces considering threat perceptions and the financial constraints on the economy. Never in the history of our political campaign has the issue of the Ghana Armed Forces been raised, and every effort must be made by all political parties to steer clear of the Armed Forces in their political diatribe.

If the ex-President wins the elections and wants to build military barracks, he can sit down with the military top brass and Commander-in-Chief and deliberate on the issue of building the barracks.

I believe that at such a meeting, the military hierarchy will update the President as regards their priorities, and together a decision could be taken. Making it a campaign message is not appropriate and undermines the command responsibility of the generals in charge of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Building a military barracks is not an easy issue because of the high cost and other factors involved, and for the ex-president to promise to build six within a period of four years, I can say it is not possible and cannot be done. I strongly recommend he drops it from his campaign messages.

With the history of military coups and the fact that our present military is polarised between the two major political parties, namely, the NPP and the NDC, any future coup could turn into a civil war, and therefore military issues must be handled with the utmost care. All political parties must be conscious of the nation’s security and avoid discussions of military matters on political platforms. No political party should try to win the favour of the military and allow the military to remain the stabilising factor in our country.

We have been surrounded by military regimes, but we have been saved from this coup situation by the courtesy, maturity, and professionalism of the current military leadership, and no political party should be allowed to disturb the peace they are defending.

For the first time during this campaign, the ex-president admits that without security, the 24-hour economy will not work. It must, however, be emphasised that security cannot be provided by merely building six new barracks unless the necessary personnel, logistics, equipment, training, and other resources are added.

How long would the congenial security environment be created before the 24-hour economy takes off? Can this be done within the four years that ex-President Mahama has, if elected as president? It is obvious that if he is serious about security, by the time he creates this peaceful environment, his four-year term will be over. There will not be any opportunity to introduce his 24-hour economy. I have repeatedly stated in many of my write-ups that this 24-hour economy is a farce, and Ghanaians must completely ignore it.

While glancing through my old newspapers, I came across the front page edition of the Daily Guide of April 5, 2024, which read, “Mahama Hails Free SHS.”. I was very surprised because the former president has not spared any opportunity to bastardise the programme.

I laughed and read the article in the paper, and lo and behold, the whole deception became very clear. The fact is that JM hates the programme to the core, and no matter how he pretends to love it, the signals he drops along the line confirm his hatred.

The Free SHS program has been run for the past seven years, and he claims he would take 100 days of his assumption of office to solve all the challenges of the policy. He promised to abolish the double-track system by constructing more E-blocks to accommodate the growing student population. He will also provide dormitories so that children from outside the community will have a place to stay while they learn.

He will also provide furniture for 2.3 million students who do not have access to desks for learning. He promised to abolish the stand-alone STEM schools and establish six new universities in all the newly created regions. How can all these promises be fulfilled within the first 100 days of assuming office? Is he a magician? Ghanaians must wake up and tell JM and his NDC that enough is enough for the NDC’s mendacity and vote massively against them in the coming elections. I cannot believe that JM will do anything better than destroy the Free SHS, and his latest turnaround is just to win some political votes because of the popularity of the programme.

A Ghanaian musician, Nicholas Omane Acheampong, says, “Let's vote for someone who will come and beg for our votes so that he will be accountable, not someone who does not have any election ahead of him.” In Acheampong’s view, if Mahama wins, because of the constitutional provisions, he cannot contest any election again, and therefore he will not be accountable to Ghanaians but himself and his followers.

He is of the view that his second coming will be vengeful and disastrous. I do agree with him, and his current haphazard campaign messages confirm the shape of things to come and if by mistake he is elected, disaster will be the result. As for the electorate, ‘To be forewarned is to be forearmed.’

In respect of the 2024 elections, many Ghanaians perceive the economy as the major issue at stake but for the NPP, this perception is wrong because the main issues are the economy and misinformation. I travel a lot, and from my own observation, this government has done very well in many sectors of the economy, taking into consideration the prevalence of the current world economic order. We have cocooned ourselves and allowed the NDC propagandists to have a field day, distorting everything on the ground.

Who is to sell the good work? Rightly accused are the party communicators, but I disagree partly because they have the primary responsibility, but the rest of us who support the NPP also have a responsibility to tell the story from the different parts of the country where we come from. We should not sit down for the NDC to come again and mess things up for us because they have nothing to offer.

Many economies in other countries are going through a lot of challenges, and our situation is better and could have been worse. Even our populous and richer neighbour, Nigeria, is passing through serious challenges. I think we must count our blessings as a country and avoid “throwing the baby out with the bath water.”

The 2024 election and the numerous promises of the NDC suggest that desperation has set in in their campaign. The NPP must remain focused and make it their priority to diffuse the misinformation that the NDC is spreading. The party has a duty to convince Ghanaians to vote for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as president and prevent the desperadoes whose ambition is simply to occupy the high office without any vision for the country.

Yes, it is possible, but it will not come on a silver platter.