Opinions of Monday, 13 June 2016

Columnist: Dabbousi, Fabi

Swimming to be made mandatory - NDC 2016 Manifesto

By Fadi Dabbousi

After the devastating floods that continue to claim lives year in year out under the incompetent governance of John Mahama and his NDC government, it has become clear that they have run out of plans to resolve this perennial problem.

In fact, there are more questions than answers can be provided for. For example, on the 10th of March, 2012, 795 million Dollars were procured to reconstruct the Accra drainage system. Well dodge! the money must have leaked into someone's pocket especially that Okoe Vanderpuye was lobbying to be proffered with the title of Best mayor in Africa; a farce by all means! Hundreds of millions of dollars were again released for the purpose of reconstructing the drains, severally, over the years, but there is nothing to show for the huge moneys. GOD help us. If the NDC government wants to steal they should be pragmatic about it. At least show some results! Show some work to justify the moneys! Show Ghanaians some respect!

Last year, nearly 200 people lost their lives, burned, electrocuted, and drowned. This year, I pray we do not lose precious Ghanaian lives. At the memorial service that took place at kwame Nkrumah Circle where last year's disaster occurred, the victims, their families and the nation were insulted once again by the disrespectful government of President John Mahama. NDC labeled T-shirts were shared amongst some people. Of course others refused this insult outright. John Mahama, as usual made promises; the kind that he never honours, one of which was that flooding was a thing of the past.

Then GOD manifested HIS anger. The deluge was worse than last year's except that HIS mercy accompanied HIS wrath, and thus far, no one is known to have lost their life. Barely a few days to the 2016 floods, Okoe vanderpuye, the most useless mayor in the history of Ghana, announced with much pride that there will be no floods again. Lo and behold, the city of Accra went down, under a sea of torrents, never seen before.

John Mahama's circle interchange that he claimed would be Ghana's most profound tourist attraction was overwhelmed. Utter chaos unfolded in a day that saw a couple of hours of rainfall. This project that was welcomed with a bit of hesitation seemed to be a release valve for vehicular and human traffic. Alas it turned out to be a death trap.

The odaw river, which, supposedly, was dredged for free by Ibrahim Mahama, the Presidentt's brother, using the nation's equipment, flooded. This clearly is a sign for the dumb to understand that he did nothing of the sort. And of course he was paid 200 million dollars "goro" money to thank him for his FREE work. I have often surmised that foolishness is when one sees the perpetration of wrong and hails it. That is what the NDC supporters are doing, so to describe them as "foolish" wouldn't be too farfetched.

A sneak preview of NDC's 2016 manifesto unveils the wish of the hierarchy to make swimming a compulsory sport to be taught all abled citizens of Ghana because John Mahama and his NDC government have failed in their attempts to curtail the disastrous annual floods. This comes as contained in the manifesto, in the run-up to the launching of this incredulous document. I am hoping that they do not change it because of this exposé.

I plead with the electorate of Ablekuma South Constituency never to entertain the idea of voting for Okoe Vanderpuye. He has lied to Ghanaians all the while that he has been in office as the Mayor of Accra. Here is an excerpt from page 83 of the book, "59 Years To Nowhere... and counting", that speaks to his issue:

So, what infrastructure can she boast of after decades of independence? Gutters that continue to claim the lives of children whenever the rains punish us remain uncovered. Bare electricity cables lay on the ground, shocking unwarned citizens to death. The unfriendly development of cities and towns leaves much to be desired. It is indicative of the inherent corruption of the system, which, ridiculously, is almost impossible to wash away; quite like wiping wet and smelly faeces with a soiled rag that just spreads and covers a wider space - a necessary chore in total futility. And a mayor is voted the best in Africa; is that not outrageous?

When there are better and well-managed cities, like Kigali in Rwanda, that are by a far stretch much cleaner and more hygienic than Accra, how can this scam be explained? When a common exercise such as naming of streets cannot be implemented to the end? Wouldn’t you wonder why projects for which funds are made available are abandoned and left in limbo, especially that budgets are made and disbursed for them? The general excuse is that there is no money; but where on earth do the moneys vanish to? Mighty men’s pockets?"

#MahamaWillNotBePresidentAgain #MahamaShallFallInshallah