Following the unfortunate incident which occurred during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on Thursday 31st January 2019, former President Mahama has consistently been releasing several weird and incoherent statements to the utter disgust of the well-meaning Ghanaians.

Apparently, Ex-President Mahama, who is moving heaven and earth to reclaim the presidency, asserted somewhat carelessly: “We are not going to joke in 2020, and I’m sounding a warning to the NPP – we are going to match them boot for boot.

“I want to sound a caution that NDC has a revolutionary root and when it comes to unleashing violence, no one can beat us to that. It is just that we are mindful of this country’s democracy and that is why we must be the first to respect it.”

As if such unmeasured statements were not enough, former President Mahama bizarrely went ahead and pitched a presentation of the supposedly gloomy events to the international community including the representatives of the embassies and commissions in Ghana.

Frankly stating, in as much as the reflective critics may have a valid point about Mahama’s somewhat unpatriotic and idiosyncratic decision, he was exercising his democratic right.

But the overarching questions every discerning Ghanaian should be asking are: ‘is that how a supposedly statesman should behave?? Is the former president not trying to portray a gloomy picture about Ghana? ‘Is he not trying to dampen the confidence of the international community? ‘Why did he choose to focus only on the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and not the earlier violent by-elections in Talensi, Atiwa, Chereponi, amongst others? ‘Is he only propagating a sheer propaganda?

Take my word for it, dearest reader, your guess is as good as mine.

Well, given the revoltingly ugly events which occurred under his tenure in office, I could not agree more with those who are suggesting somewhat poignantly that former President Mahama’s ongoing campaign is a mere propaganda tool which is destitute of honesty and integrity.

Dearest reader, if you may recall, it was the same former President Mahama who strangely released the ‘Montie three’ who had earlier been sentenced to prison for disgustingly threatened to harm the prominent Supreme Court judges for carrying out their mandated duties.

Dearest reader, was it not during Ex-President Mahama’s administration where peaceful demonstrators eyeballs were cruelly removed from their sockets and their crania mangled beyond recognition?

Apparently, there is a universally recognised principle which goes: “he who comes with equity must come with clean hands”.

Understandably, the likes of Mahama and his minions would never agree with some of us for constantly choosing to analyse the current affairs through the lenses of the past. But I am afraid we cannot make sense of the present happenings if we refused to take stock of the past events.

“History is a lesson in the past but can also be the greatest regret of the future. Yet the reason why there is history is because of the events that were created by man (Hughes 2010).”

In any case, some of us will continue to squall, censure and highlight the risible tendencies of the so-called social democrats.

Believe it or not, it would appear that vile propaganda is an inherent characteristic of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The meaning of propaganda traces its roots to the “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”- a committee of Cardinals founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV to oversee the spread of Catholicism abroad, by any means necessary”.

Consequently, the word propaganda came to mean the concerted effort to spread any belief the communist Propagandists are associated with. Therefore propaganda is regarded as "a deliberate attempt to alter or maintain a balance of power that is advantageous to the communists”.

Propaganda may also be defined in its most neutral and simple sense as “the persuasive dissemination of particular ideas or material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause”.

In other words, “propagandism” is the systematic propagation of a doctrine or information reflecting the views and interests of those propagating such information or doctrine.

Moreover, the experts contend that a message can be classified as propaganda if it “suggests something negative and dishonest”.

Since his humiliating 2016 election defeat, former President Mahama has been harbouring a phantom hope that he is going to snatch the elusive power from the NPP government.

But the all-important question discerning Ghanaians should be asking is: does Mahama really have the wellbeing of Ghana at heart?

I bet, while the critical thinking diplomats were watching Mahama’s weird movie, they were wondering why the former president blatantly failed to give equal attention to the earlier violent incidents at Atiwa, Chereponi and Talensi.

In sum, who says that the thoughtful diplomats were not pondering and soliloquising somewhat solemnly: ‘Ghanaian politics is anything but honesty and integrity?’

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com