The year 1983 is believed by many as the harshest year in Ghana’s modern history. I was old enough at the time to vividly remember what took place, and have the opportunity to compare the situation then and now.

The complaints that Ghanaians are going through severe hardship at the moment could scarcely be wrong. Wherever you look, you will see appalling poverty scattered like a grain of sand across the country — many people are scrimping to pay their bills or eke out a living.

The current privation is depressingly quotidian, and I have never witnessed any moment in the history of the country when so many people are selling their properties to survive. A great number of people are debt-ridden, and many more are dying from stress-related illnesses.

These are not all, much pain is littered everywhere: job losses and increasing unemployment among the youth have been unpleasant enough.

The narrative remains even gloomier, the risk of systemic violence, calculated terror and incredible political chicanery are no longer perceptions, but real. And the worries about Ghanaians going through more suffering and insecurity before 2024 are growing.

All these have become a badge of national pain, and there is enough pent-up demand for change.

The Nana Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is perceived to be doing some things outstandingly well. Corruption. Nepotism. Deception.

And until the present government is voted out of power, the joy of living in comfort will elude us.

If government could lie its way to power, why should the electorate trust them again? Kikikikiki, this reminds me of a statement from the ghost, that if you have been able to escape from him tonight, there are more other nights.

I want to be unstinting in my enthusiasm for having H.E. John Dramani Mahama back as President of Ghana. Let us consider a vote for him as a down payment for the future, given the speed at which the life of the ordinary Ghanaian is deteriorating.