Phineas Taylor Barnum and Abraham Lincoln are both credited with having said some form of "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." To say that either is credited with saying it would be technically correct.

Before the 2016 general elections, through the vision and initiatives of H.E. John Dramani Mahama, Ghana was heading in the right direction amidst some expected and inevitable challenges usually associated with a country’s growth and development.

The growth rate was projected to rise in 2017 due to policies implemented by H.E. John Mahama, decades of energy problems were permanently solved, and the infrastructural gap was strategically narrowed.

As I said, these type of planned and sustained developmental journey usually comes with their unpleasant challenges that requires patience and resilience.

Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the time, selfishly and unpatriotically, took advantage of the challenges that came with national development journey and orchestrated the greatest deceptions of our generation. In doing so, they vilified, denigrated, humiliated, and eviscerated former president John Dramani Mahama just to achieve their political objectives.

They went a step further to make some of the most outrageous and unrealistic political promises ever experienced in this country, these include, moving from taxation to production, stopping borrowing, one district one factory, one village one dam, $1 million per constituency annually, making Accra the cleanest city in Africa, building 350 brand new secondary schools from the scratch, not running a family and friends’ government among others.

After winning the 2016 general elections on the altar of these fabricated lies without recourse to honesty and integrity, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government has woefully failed in every sector. They have borrowed more than any other government, GHC 600 billion with nothing significant to show for it, except the haphazardly implemented Free SHS which has cost less than GHC20 billion since 2017 to date. They have become “puff merchants” a complete liability.

When H.E. John Dramani Mahama labelled the current administration, led by President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as the “biggest political scam” in Ghana’s history he couldn’t have said it any better. Former president Mahama couldn’t have said it any better, indeed this government is the perfect description of a ‘political scam’.

The worst part of this government is their lack of humility to at least acknowledge the failures, they have consistently underrated the intelligence of Ghanaians with insubstantial excuses instead of admitting their shortfalls. The current economic meltdown in Ghana is to be blamed on everything and everybody but them. This is the zenith of irresponsibility and dishonesty.

It is therefore a right call when H.E. John Mahama urged Ghanaians to make informed decisions in the upcoming elections on December 7, 2024.

H.E. John Mahama questioned whether anyone would vote for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after enduring over seven years of severe hardship, adding that “Maybe those who have made money under this government, yes, they will go and vote again. But I know that the majority of Ghanaians have seen a reversal in the quality of their lives, in these seven and a half years.”

This is a legitimate and reasonable observation because assessing the current state of affairs, economically, legally, ethically, and socially it beggars belief that any patriotic son or daughter of Ghana will vote for the NPP in the 2024 general elections, except those enjoying the plunder.

The former president accurately emphasized that the “Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration is the biggest political scam in the history of the 4th republic. Ghanaians are called upon again on 7th December 2024 to exercise their mandate and make a choice. And after what we have gone through in 7 and a half years, it surprises me [that] anybody will still go to the ballot box and say he’s going to vote for NPP again,”.

As all of us were “fooled” in 2016 and 2020, it will be an indictment on our conscience if we allow the NPP to “fool” us again in the 2024 general elections. We must unequivocally reject the NPP and their candidate in the upcoming general elections. The disrespect must end in 2024, a vote for the NPP will be an endorsement of this political scam and perpetuation of deceit, nepotism, corruption, arrogance, and chicanery. Ghana deserves better.