Opinions of Monday, 5 March 2018

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

It may well be disastrous for Mahama and Mahama to reclaim the presidency

Former President John Dramani Mahama Former President John Dramani Mahama

“You squalled, grumbled and labelled us corrupt and incompetent. “Corollary, the vast majority of Ghanaians bought into your isolated thinker’s assertion and voted us out of power, so stop your incessant grouching and fix the pieces together”.

“Indeed we woefully failed to resource the security forces adequately and as a result they could not confront the rampant crimes head-on, but you are now in charge so equip the security forces and see to it that the armed robbery menace is brought under control as soon as practicable”.

“We informed you that we have voraciously consumed all the meat on the bone, but you ignored us and told discerning Ghanaians that we were kidding”.

“Now that you are in power, display your magical powers and put more meat on the bone in order to feed the impoverished Ghanaians and erect more infrastructural projects”.

“We could not manage the economy and that was the reason why discerning Ghanaians voted you into power, so put a stop to your endless lamentations and breathe life into the asphyxiated economy”.

Unfortunately, the preceding lines have been the usual cacophonous renditions of the brassbound loyalists of National Democratic Congress, who are still nursing the wounds from their humiliating 2016 election defeat.

This weird attitude, so to speak, could be seen as a listless resignation on the part of a political party that wants to win power. With all due respect, why are they scrambling for power if they are indeed not prepared to govern??

It must however be noted that a political party is a coalescence of diverse group of people who share same ideology and have reached a consensus to work in valence towards winning elections with the view to forming a formidable government and implementing manifesto promises to impact the lives of the masses.

So based on the extant signification of a true political party, we can venture to stress that every recognised political party should have an explicit focus and direction. Suffice it to state that in the absence of a clearly defined direction and focus, such a political party cannot be taken seriously in any sense.

It is also manifestly true that individuals have different reasons for going into politics. It is, however, believed that some people enter into politics for their unflinching love for their nation. Others just see power as an opportunity to amass wealth and enjoy other trappings that come with the job.

Besides, some schools of thought have it that other people go into politics with a view to enjoying the power and satisfying their egos, while others are empowered by the convictions of political ideologies.

Whatever the case, it would appear that some politicians do not care about the plight of the masses; they only scramble for power in order to pursue their vested interests.

I have always maintained that governance is a serious business and as such it requires forward thinking, serious and committed group of people to bring about the needed advancement.

Nevertheless, it has not been always the case in Ghana’s democratic dispensation. The emergence of multi-party democracy has given birth to both purposeful and maladaptive political parties.

Consequently, we have over the years been electing terrible economic managers who cannot see their backsides from their elbows, and have only succeeded in sinking the economy deeper and deeper into the mire through corrupt practices.

Given that corruption is economic, social, political and moral hindrance on the advancement of most nations, especially the emerging countries like Ghana, the insensitive politicians, in particular, the NDC officials, have over the years been siphoning our scarce resources to the detriment of the penniless in society.

Let us face it, though, the economic effects of corruption are huge, and, often lead to inefficient use of resources, and it discourages productive investment, above all foreign investment.

Moreover, corruption impacts negatively on economic growth, and, diminishes the standard of living.

Besides, corruption unfairly channels wealth and resources to a few greedy individuals, and, more importantly, to the detriment of the poor.

Sadly, however, corruption often resorts in excessive public spending and makes the tax system less efficient and needlessly increases the public deficit and destabilizes national budgets, encourages capital flight and creates perverse incentives that stimulate income-seeking rather than productive activities in a negative sense.

In fact, the social and political effects of corruption are no less destructive: “corruption undermines the rule of law and democracy; it endangers good government, efficient public administration and sound governance; it distorts the economy ; it threatens fundamental human rights and subverts the institutions that guarantee stability, security and sustainable development” (Argandonya 2006).

Dearest reader, don’t you think the bribery and corruption cases involving SSNIT, SUBA, SADA, GYEEDA, Woyome, the Bus branding, the Brazil World Cup, NCA amongst others invariably distort the economy , threaten the fundamental human rights and subvert the institutions that guarantee stability?

Verily, the rampant corruption and the irrefutable incompetence under the erstwhile NDC administration will long be stencilled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations.

Well, the NDC faithful must take a deep introspection and accept the fact that discerning Ghanaians cannot so soon forget the dreadful errors in judgement which culminated in economic hardships amid the unbridled business crippling ‘dumsor’.

You may believe it or not, the vast majority of Ghanaians voted against Mahama and NDC in the 2016 election largely due to the unresolved dumsor and the unbridled corruption.

The good news, however, is that, the dumsor has since been contained by the NPP government under the able leadership of President Nana Akufo-Addo to the delight of discerning Ghanaians.

In fact, judging from the unbridled sleazes and corruption in the erstwhile NDC administration amid harsh economic conditions, it will take more than a miracle for discerning Ghanaians to vote NDC into power in 2020.