...Ghanaians lament to John Mahama

By Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford

After the funeral rite of the late Prez J.E.A Mills, Prez John Mahama has been going up and down the country campaigning under the auspices of thanksgiving. Even though he carries no message of hope or any policy, he is going on asking Ghanaians to retain the NDC because he feels NDC must be given two terms to conform to natural justice, also because they should vote for the late President Mills’ memory. What John Mahama is in fact telling us is that five (5) months is too short for him as a care-taker, so we should give him a chance to continue to live so that we all will continue to die under this untold hardship.

This “live and let’s all others die” attitude has been a continuation from him (John Mahama) as the vice president of Ghana (the luckiest vice president, as he himself admits to have been given the carte blanche to do as he wished), and he has aggressively continued this attitude in his short spell as president of Ghana. As a vice president, John Mahama pursued a number of shady and corruptive business deals and foisted them on Ghana with the sole aim of enriching his pocket and that of his family members to the detriment of Ghanaians.
In fact, this started with the AMAJARO Cocoa Deal, where a UK company that had lost its licence to operate in Ghana due to its cocoa smuggling scandal in Western region (uncovered by Anas) was miraculously given back their licence by John Mahama and this would have been covered up but for a mention of the reinstatement of the licence in the UK House of Common. How much did the then Vice President paid for such an U-turn against the interest of Ghana
The next was the stinky STX Housing Deal that he (Mr Mahama) masterminded and which turned out to be a scam on the nation. This deal which could not even build a nest thoughtless of a house has cost the nation over $17million just on the T&T, consultants’ fees for contract preparation, not even talk about the $250million insurance paid. Our sovereign guarantee which is an open cheque to sell Ghana to some bogus businessmen parading as Housing Contractors is still floating around the world. The cost we now know about the STX housing scandal is only a tip of the iceberg. Ghanaians will never know the details of the losses incurred and how much of it has been paid as bribery to John Mahama until they’re out of power. (I will come back to this housing scandal again as the story continues with him even as President of Ghana)
Mr John Mahama pulled wool over our eyes when he was sent to Cuba to negotiate for Ghanaian students to go and train free of charge as medical students. Per the agreement we have had with Cuba since, all Cuban trainees (including Hon Hannah Bissiw) have been trained free of charge. But not when the chief negotiator was called John Mahama. Mr Mahama came back with a hefty $50,000 per head for the 250 students, 90 of which were his own personal selection according to the report. How much of this money did the then Vice President benefit from?
Mr. Mahama, acting on his carte blanche, again was sent to Brazil to negotiate for purchase of aircrafts for our armed forces. The story of corruption continues.... For just a hanger, we die and he lives on $17.5million, a step ladder to enter the plane cost’s us nearly $1million and also an upgrade from commercial to military aircraft saw Ghana paying in excess of $55million per plane. These are official figures. Aabah!!!
Vice President John Mahama, as head of Economic Management Team supervised the state institutionalisation of corruption through the illicit payment of monies to persons and companies under the guise of judgement debts. How much of it went to “pay for our sweat?” and “how much went to his pocket?” Only God knows!!
Now, President Mahama who has “lived” as a beneficiary of free education to become a president tell us to “die” for another 20years before we can enjoy what he benefited from some 30 years ago.
Today as the President of Ghana, John Mahama has supervised the collapse of Merchant Bank and the loss of our blood and toil SSNIT contributions and out of that he walks away with a family fortune of $46million, a private jet, family business and a presidency as an icing on the cake. What a life of live and let’s die attitude.
Finally, to fulfil his ambition of living as a true king while we perish in servitude, Ghanaians watch helplessly as john Mahama forces down in our throat another housing scam of $200million loan facility by him for the supposed construction of 4,120 ‘affordable houses with a 419 Nigerian construction company.’ Already serious issues are being raised about the genuineness of the deal and the purported company. President John Dramani Mahama has contracted the loan to enable Italconstruct, a Nigeria-based company, to build houses for Ghanaians at an average cost of GH¢97,089 ($48,543.69 at the current rate of almost GH¢2 to the dollar) per house, whilst the same company build’s and sell similar houses at $29,000 in Nigeria. How much of this dubious deal is being siphoned into the Mahama grave train?
In an injury time scam, Prez Mahama and his campaign team are planning to pull a rabbit out of the bag with promises of development projects in the country next year after wasting our precious four years fussing over nothing but just enriching themselves. The aim is kind of “Last Supper” money chopping spree. From a $200million sanitation programme proposed to the $200million housing deals, all between October and December this year? What a scam!! Just today he has promised teachers’ bungalow per every teacher when over four years teachers have been left to sink or swim. What happened for the past four years?
This is the life history of a journey man who came to enrich himself through corrupt and shady deals; live and let’s die attitude; a man who climbed a ladder of opportunity through free education and kicked the ladder away from our children till after 20 years: So John-THIS IS YOUR LIFE!!
But Ghanaians know better. The writing is on the wall. As the saying goes, “you can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford