Opinions of Sunday, 13 November 2016

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

Only a 'visionless' NDC gov't hides behind infrastructural projects

NDC logo.    File photo. NDC logo. File photo.

Truly, President Mahama’s government has failed terribly to initiate expedient policies to overturn the failed policies of agriculture, poverty reduction and resource allocation in the areas of healthcare, education, finance, supply chain management and security sector planning, amongst others.

So, we must not and cannot stand accused of harbouring risible and inborn bias for persistently upbraiding President Mahama and his NDC government for wilfully crashing down Ghana’s economy during the last seven and half years.

In any case, it is important to note that every smart and forward thinking government’s principal objective is to put advantageous policies in place in order to impact on the socio-economic standards of living of its citizens.

Nonetheless, President Mahama and his lousy appointees are somehow oblivious to such fact and cunningly taking refuge in their controversial infrastructural projects after failing to improve upon the hitherto thriving socio-economic standards of living.

Meanwhile, it was the same President Mahama who gleefully asserted somewhere in 2008 that every government undertakes infrastructural projects and therefore it would be exercise in mediocrity for any government to hide behind such projects in the face of economic collapse.

The fact of the matter is that after failing abysmally to improve upon the fairly stable economy left by former President Kufuor and his NPP government, President Mahama has no option but to take refuge in his often non-existent infrastructural projects.

Take, for instance, Ghana’s economic growth stood at a little over 14 per cent when President Mahama took over the presidency, but has incredibly managed to grow the economy backwards to a squeamish 4 per cent.

Moreover, President Kufuor left a total debt of around 9.5 billion Ghana Cedis in 2009. However, our total debt has ballooned to around 110 billion Ghana Cedis as of September 2016.

This means that President Mahama and his NDC government have added more than 100 billion Cedis within a short space of seven and a half years.

What’s more, the ever soaring inflation, the currency depreciation and above all the high costs of living are too much of a bother to discerning Ghanaians.

Meanwhile, President Mahama is failing to address the ever so worrying ‘dumsor’ which is crippling businesses.

By and large, President Mahama and his appointees unpardonable lousiness has contributed largely to the collapse of the economy, so why must they think that they deserve another term in office?

Apparently, many observers believe that governance is not all about putting up infrastructural projects. Among such observers is the founder of the NDC Party and former president of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings.

Yes, J. J. Rawlings does not believe in the idea of focusing primarily on infrastructural projects while the overall economy suffers.

For example, history will remind us that the military ruler, General Kutu Acheampong, did a yeoman’s job in terms of infrastructural projects, yet he managed to sink the economy into the mire (as President Mahama has done) to the disgust of people like his party founder Jerry John Rawlings.

Regrettably, however, J. J. Rawlings went into conniption-fit and annihilated General Kutu Acheampong in 1979 through the barbaric firing squad for focusing mainly on numerous infrastructural projects and allegedly collapsing the economy.

Let me however state categorically that President Mahama’s punishment won’t come in the form of a neanderthaloid firing squad used effervescently by his NDC Party founder J. J. Rawlings to settle a score with his opponents, but rather, he will be punished severely through the forthcoming universal adult suffrage.

Actually, no Ghanaian owns President Mahama and his government any appreciation, for after all, the so-called infrastructural projects that have been erected by Mahama and his NDC government were made possible through the electorates taxes and the gargantuan loans they will have to pay at a later date.

I beg your pardon, President Mahama, I do not intend to be patronising, far from it. But if your mandate was all about putting up infrastructural projects, then I will dare state that even my unlettered and untrained mother would be able to perform exceedingly better than what you’ve achieved with all the copious resources at your disposal.