Having gotten my international driver’s license from Europe more than half a decade ago, discipline on public roads is non-negotiable. This is to ensure safety and respect for other road users by making sure that road traffic regulations, including speed limits, as well as considering pedestrians’ right of way and defensive driving are strictly observed.

Failure to do so, leading to avoidable accidents, will cost a driver a lot of money and result in the possible confiscation of the driver’s license temporarily. Unlike Europe, we have a lot of indisciplined drivers who drive recklessly and dangerously on our major roads in Ghana, leading to avoidable carnage on our roads.

To have a reckless driver’s mate who wants to take over the steering wheel from an indisciplined main driver is highly deadly. This deadly scenario of a reckless driver's mate and an indisciplined driver’s relationship is key as we look at Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s wish to graduate from a driver’s mate to assuming the main driver’s seat occupied by his boss, President Akufo-Addo.

Looking at the wrong direction that Ghana is going now under the governance style of Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia, be it social, economic, or environmental, is terribly concerning. This situation is akin to a reckless driver’s mate and an indiscipline driver who is driving dangerously and is bound to crash on the way if Ghanaians make another misjudgment to consider the same reckless driver’s mate for partnering with the inconsiderate main driver for almost eight years now.

The driver’s mate, Dr. Bawumia, should not be given the steering wheel to ‘drive’ Ghana after the appalling show by his main driver, Nana Akufo-Addo, in the upcoming general elections. Here is why!

On the social front, the upcoming 2024 general elections cannot be fought without talking about the growth of corruption in the country under Dr. Bawumia and Nana Akufo-Addo.

For instance, the worst performance in terms of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2016 was 43% under former President Mahama, which is the best for Dr. Bawumia and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2023. This low CPI performance under this current government is attributable to the pervasive corruption scandals without any attempt by this driver and his mate to fight them head-on. You and I were there when Mr. Adu Boahen claimed that he needed an ‘appearance fee’ of about $200,000 for the Vice President’s mate, Dr. Bawumia.

The moral fibre of our society has been seriously challenged under this regime, as reflected in brazen corruption and general insecurity in the country. This is a result of dangerous driving by Dr. Bawumia and Nana Akufo-Addo of the vehicle called Ghana.

On the economic front, Dr. Bawumia, who claimed to be the driver’s mate and doubled as the Chair of the Economic Management Team (EMT), has performed abysmally. This is because the ‘escaped’ exchange rate has exposed the weak economic fundamentals that Dr. Bawumia talked about in opposition. For instance, all current macroeconomic indicators, such as inflation rate, exchange rate, policy rate, debt to GDP, etc., as well as the crippling deficit, are worse than what this Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government came to meet on January 7, 2017.

The attention of the driver’s mate has rather been shifted to IT/digitalization, which shows recklessness and super-incompetence on the part of the main
and the driver’s mate. On the environmental front, the main driver and his mate, Dr. Bawumia, have driven Ghana into ‘bush’ through the activities of ‘Presidential Galamseyers’ who have obliterated our forest reserves, water bodies, and rich biodiversity, which will take years to recover and pose health dangers to people living in such affected mining communities.

According to the Global Info Analytics survey conducted in October 2022, an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians (77%) strongly believe Ghana is moving in the wrong direction, championed by a reckless driver’s mate and an indisciplined main driver now. It would thus be highly suicidal and deadly if Ghanaians handed over the steering wheel to a highly reckless driver’s mate who drove Ghana with his main driver, who himself was apparently indisciplined and insensitive to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.

Ghana, therefore, needs an experienced and trusted main driver and his co-driver of the NDC (John & Jane partnership) after the 2024 journey until 2028 to redirect and rebuild the country we all want together.