Trump arguably deserves another term: He didn’t keep Americans in dumsor for well over four years!

Take my word for it, my dear reader, this article does not seek to malign or impugn irresponsibility on the part of any individuals linking the U.S elections to that of Ghana, far from it.

That being said, for the sake of balanced political annotation and to set the records straight, it is important to grub into the ongoing political insobrieties and state categorically that Trump performed exceedingly better during his term in office than Mahama and probably deserves another term in office.

It is therefore fallacious for anybody to assume that since Americans have elected Trump, Ghanaians will most likely give Mahama another chance.

It is true that Donald Trump did not carelessly put Americans in total darkness for years, unlike Mahama who kept Ghanaians in dumsor for well over four years as a result of the mismanagement of the economy and regrettably crippled businesses.

Based on the simplest definition of a failed state, I would like to submit that Ghana nearly found itself in the doldrums of a failed state between 2012 and 2016 largely due to the unspeakable dumsor which threatened the security of the country and the livelihoods of most Ghanaians.

The simplest definition of a failed state is one that cannot provide its basic responsibility such as electricity which is a security threat to a nation.

In fact, it would only take a disputatious character to contend that the good people of Ghana have soon forgotten and forgiven the Mahama and NDC administration for negligently keeping Ghanaians in darkness and collapsing businesses through dumsor for well over four years.

In the days of the unspeakable dumsor under the Mahama administration, we witnessed the endless buzzing of generators all over the country. Most businesses folded up amid massive unemployment.

In those days, self-employers, Hairdressers, Ice Kenkey Sellers, Butchers, among others, were the worst affected.

The annoying and costly buzzing of generators across the length and breadth of the country, unfortunately, went on for well over four years to the utter disgust of the good people of Ghana.

When President Mills mysteriously departed from life in July 2012, and per Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, Vice President Mahama was the next in line to take over the presidency.

Things regrettably started to fall apart. It went from bad to worse following President Mills sudden and mysterious death.

Ghana’s total debt rocketed astronomically (GH9.5 billion in 2009 to GH122.4 billion as of December 2016). This was as a result of the unbridled spending in the 2012 election and the numerous corruption scandals involving GYEEDA, SADA, SUBA, Bus Branding, dubious judgement debt payments amongst others.

Ghana’s economic growth rate was woefully reversed from 14% in 2011 to an incredible 3.6% by 2016. The GDP was shockingly reduced by GH10 billion (from GH47 billion in 2011 to GH37 billion in 2016).

The erstwhile Mahama administration incredibly reversed the agricultural growth from 7.4% in 2012 to a disappointing 3.0% by December 2016.

Despite the absence of pernicious corona virus or Ukraine/Russia impasse during the Mahama administration, Ghanaians became fed-up with the extreme harsh conditions amid corruption allegations (Bus branding, Brazil World Cup, SADA, SUBA, GYEEDA, SSNIT, MASLOC, NCA, Ford Expedition Vehicle, amongst others).

Notwithstanding the incontrovertible evidence of wilful mismanagement, the NDC loyalists would want discerning Ghanaians to believe that the erstwhile NDC government provided exceptional governance.

Ghana’s economic growth regrettably slowed for the fourth consecutive year to an estimated 3.4% in 2015 from 4% in 2014 as energy rationing, high inflation, and ongoing fiscal consolidation weighed on economic activity (World Bank, 2016).

In addition, the high inflation rate remain elevated at 18.5% in February 2016 compared to 17.7% in February 2015, even after the Central Bank’s 500 bps policy rate hikes (the inflation stood at 15.8 per cent as of October 2016).

Ex-President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks slyly took refuge in their much touted infrastructural projects after failing 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.

As a matter of principle, some of us will keep questioning the judgement of those who have been proclaiming somewhat brashly that Ghana’s economy under former President Mahama (3.4% growth and 15.4% inflation) was better than Akufo-Addo/Bawumia record before the insidious coronavirus (8.6% growth and 7.5% inflation).

Needless to say, before the deadly coronavirus, Bawumia dutifully assisted Akufo-Addo and raised Ghana’s economic growth from 3.4% to 8.6%.

Bawumia efficiently assisted Akufo-Addo and within a short space of time reversed the inflation from 15.4% to 7.5%.

Interestingly, in the first two years of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration, the Agriculture sector recorded the highest growth rate of 8.4%.

Indeed, the Agriculture sector expanded from a growth rate of 3.0 percent in 2016 to 8.4 percent (GSS, 2018).

The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration, before the unspeakable coronavirus, recorded the highest growth rate of 16.7 % in the Industry sector.

The Industry sector, the highest growing sector with a GDP share of 25.5 percent, had its growth rate increasing from -0.5 percent in 2016 to 16.7 percent in 2017 (GSS, 2018).

My dear reader, as I stated elsewhere, Trump probably deserves another term in office, but I’m not sure about Mahama who mismanaged the economy in the absence of the insidious coronavirus and Ukraine/Russia war and kept the good people of Ghana in dumsor for well over four years.