“A poor workman always quarrels with his tools” is and old adage that has stood the test of time. The Ashantis also have an expression which goes like this: “se wo ntunmi wo neama a, wose wo kahyire nye”. The latter has a very close meaning to the preceding English expression. That the above quotes have been proven beyond doubt centuries over is not debatable. A student who failed an examination for not researching well enough is most likely to blame the tutor/lecturer for not covering the areas questions were sourced. In the field of agriculture, the farmer who doesn’t get a good yield due to the crude farming method he used is most likely to blame the infertile plot of land he had to farm on though the one next to his farm had yielded a thousand-fold. It is human nature, though cowardly; it is an exit route for the incompetent to cover their ineptitude with a litany of pathetic excuses. Call it the blame game if you would!

When the NDC was in opposition, they never offered any single policy to better the lot of the Ghanaian. All they did was to criticise without offering an alternative. It was a case of just blaming then NPP government for everything that happened in the country. One would have thought they would at least have the resilience to swallow the same pill they pushed down the throats of others but since they assumed the reigns of government, they have maintained that posture of blaming the NPP and other institutions for their lack of direction and know-how. Any time one questions their actions or lack of, you have ministers and half-baked know-it-alls like the Kwesi Pratts, Felix Kwakye Fosus and others prating about like spoilt-children in the proverbial candy shop. After venting their spleen on the NPP for everything that has gone wrong under their watch, they are now picking on individuals and institutions whenever they have been found wanting. When a civil servant exposed the Alhaji Muntaka, then Minister for Youth and Sports for mismanaging some funds, this poor man found himself sacked and for his troubles, he was labelled an “NPP mole”.

Also, not too long ago some media houses and practitioners became the target of the NDC. They hounded and blamed some media houses and personalities for “attacking” one personality in the NDC or the other. Nana Adarkwa (aka High Priest) comes to mind as one of those who suffered the NDC’s intolerance. When that incident died down, a poor lady called Amina was not spared the NPP tag when she dared to report the “rape and robbery” on a bus she happened to be travelling on. Rather than the case being dealt with on merit; Amina, a card bearing member of the NDC was arrested for “causing fear and panic” in “asomdweehene’s” asomdweekrom. Again the case took on a new dimension as soon as Prof Ken Attafuah appeared on scene as Amina’s solicitor with the NDC desperately trying to smear the likes of Ken Agyepong, Obetsebi Lamptey and the likes.

The NDC next shifted their blame-game on the Chief Justice and Judiciary when the former started losing cases at the courts. They argued that either the judges were sympathetic to the NPP or that they “… were corrupt”. At that same time, the NDC’s general secretary issued his “….many ways to kill the cat” fatwa. They pushed the Chief Justice to resign but the honourable CJ stuck to her job and refused to be cowed by the bullying antics of the powers that be. Our judiciary stood firm and like real “cats”, merely blinked at the NDC’s cowardly threats to cleanse them. That unfortunate comment brought back bitter memories with regards to the history between the NDC as a party on one side and the Judiciary on the other. After heaping such incessant blame on the Judiciary and realising that the latter were not malleable, the NDC shifted their attention elsewhere.

Pathetically, the NDC’s next victims of blame are taxi drivers! The shortage of gas and concomitant hardship has once again brought the NDC’s incompetence to the fore. Typically, the excuse they are selling Ghanaians is that, taxi drivers have converted their cars to gas use and that is what has caused the shortage. The question one would like to ask is whether taxi drivers only started converting their cabs to gas use only in the past 2 years. Excuses everywhere! Would the NDC get down to the real business of the solving problems that affect the ordinary Ghanaian and stop clowning about please!? These are desperate times and Ghanaians expect a performance not empty rhetoric and pathetic excuses! As if that was not enough, Koku Anyidoho has been in the news once again for all the wrong reasons. The Presidential spokesman threatened to “….take Peacefm.online” to court for his use of the word “token” to describe the alleged mansion “Regimanuel” Estate Developers have “gifted” the President with. Rather than accept his lack of communication skills, he is rather threatening another media house as always!

The above are some of the shameless excuses the NDC has consistently bandied about to wish away the legitimate concerns of the poor Ghanaian. The next victim (or it is victims?) to carry the NDC’s truck load of blame this week were the Policy Think Tanks: Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and IMANI. Fifi Kwetey, the Deputy Finance Minister and other apologists of the NDC have complained that “IMANI and other policy think tanks are deliberately chipping away at the achievements (are there any?) and credibility of the NDC as part of a grand agenda to boost the chances of the opposition NPP in the next general elections…..” These individuals have even urged their party to boycott any future debate organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Why the NDC expects every Ghanaian and every institution to toe their line of thinking is unimaginable in a democratic dispensation that has brought them back to power. If every individual and institution in the country had thought along the lines of then ruling NPP, the NDC would still be wallowing in opposition. What they have failed to understand is that, even in communist China and DPRK, there are dissenting voices though the authorities in both countries have sought to crush them. If the NDC cannot countenance dissenting views, they must as well relocate to where the sun does not shine.

The likes of Felix Kwakye Fosu and Fifi Kwetey should know that President Mills and the whole government machinery are the servants of Ghanaians. We voted them to make good their promises and not to be worshipped. We are providing them with all the goodies which go with their offices and must accept our criticisms be it from IAE, CDD, IMANI or an individual. The litany of excuses the NDC keep offering for their ineptitude is pathetic! We are sick and tired of their excuses and blame game. Ghana expects, and the earlier the NDC delivers a performance, the better!

Kofi Kyei-Mensah-Osei