NPP JABS MAHAMA

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, 19 November 2015

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it does not intend to cease pointing out John Mahama’s incompetence in spite of the President’s objection to the tag.

The President went haywire on Monday when he was addressing members and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as part of his ‘Changing Lives’ campaign in Accra, virtually singling out the vice presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for bashing.

President Mahama did not understand why the top economist and banker, Dr Bawumia, could refer to him as incompetent and said the NPP vice presidential candidate did not have the qualification to criticise him.

“Did you hear Bawumia say incompetent Mahama? You’ve never held any responsibility anywhere near the presidency before; you don’t know what it is like to be president.

“I’ll take that word from Kufuor or from Rawlings because they’ve been there before. All of you guys [NPP critics] have never ever come near the presidency. Do you know what it takes to be a president? And you stand and say incompetent Mahama administration,” Mahama fumed.

Disastrous Performance

But the NPP, at a news conference in Accra yesterday addressed by its Acting National Chairman, Freddie W. Blay, insisted that the performance of the President had been a disaster, judging from the amount of resources at his disposal and therefore he should be made aware of his incompetence.

According to the NPP, the President in effect issued an Executive Order when he said only two people in Ghana (living former Presidents) had the right to question his performance, adding that per that statement, “the rest of us have no competence to question his competence or incompetence.”

Mr Blay took Mahama on, particularly on the energy crisis which has crippled industries and households for the past four years with the laying off of workers.

“If competence is defined by a President who promised to end dumsor in 2013 and has been competently shifting that expiry date since then, and with no end in sight, then we rest our case,” he said.

Bawumia Bashing

“We do not think it is fair on the President for us to compare Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to him. One, Dr Bawumia is not incompetent. Two, Dr Bawumia is not corrupt. Three, Dr Bawumia knows about economic management. Four, Dr Bawumia is competent,” and “as to the details of why this government under President Mahama has been most incompetent, we respectfully wish to leave that job to Dr Bawumia when he addresses the nation.”

Ethnocentric Posture

The NPP said the President’s penchant for making ethnocentric comments was dangerous for the country and that the party would follow the President along that path.

“In the North, the President decided to go back to playing divisive politics. It appears John Mahama knows no better. He is so desperate to hang on to power that he does not mind if he bangs the heads of Ghanaians together, tribe against tribe, and religion against religion. To him politics must be about ‘us against them’. The politics of division is what he chooses.

“Take just this weekend, for example. President John Mahama said during his campaign trip to the Northern Region, ‘I am President today because I am in NDC. This wouldn't have been possible in another party,” the NPP Chairman said, adding, “It is obvious that the understanding the President wanted his Tamale audience to get from his statement was tribal.

“Shameless tribal politics, for him, is acceptable. He believes in crude, crass and cheap tribal politics even at the cost of threatening the unity and stability of our nation.”

NDC’s Pretence

 “We want to assure President Mahama and his NDC that Ghanaians have seen through their tricks. The NDC pretends to be with the poor but ends up making the poor poorer.

“The NDC say they are with the masses but end up introducing policies that hurt the masses massively. We in the NPP want to give notice to President Mahama that he should bring it on! The NPP is ready! We are ready to meet every lie he wants to tell the people of Ghana with the truth about his abysmal performance,” he added.

 Empty Promise

The Acting NPP Chairman further said that President Mahama’s statements gave an indication that the people should not expect anything new from the President, saying, “the same campaign he conducted in 2008 and 2012 is what he is using for 2016.”

He said “two days after declaring himself the one-touch victor in 2016 at another NDC rally here in Accra at the Trade Fair Centre, the President decided to trade in cheap, street propaganda. He decided to go into the gutter to throw mud.

“After seven years of a Better Ghana, the President is now telling us that we should not worry if we cannot see the work the NDC claims to have done. That all the promises that he has failed to fulfil will suddenly be fulfilled in the last year and under an IMF austerity programme.”

SADA Saga

The NPP said the President’s continuous inaction on those who misappropriated the SADA funds meant to bring accelerated development to the north should not be accepted.

“It is so unfair to exploit the poverty of the people of the North to take government money and use it on yourself, your cronies and your campaign,” the Acting NPP Chairman said.

“The people of the North should not be taken for granted. They deserve respect. They deserve prosperity and not empty promises. They deserve their fair share of the national cake. Don’t take in their name and eat it on their behalf. It is wicked, it is selfish and it is evil,” he added.

Interesting Statistics

Mr Blay said the NPP government, under President John Kufuor, spent a total of GH¢20 billion to achieve all the good things that “Ghanaians remember so well and miss so dearly” and that “in less than seven years, this NDC government has spent GH¢200 billion and Ghanaians are still in hardship.

“Let this important point be made loud and clear: The NPP will not impoverish the people of this country by choosing and imposing on Ghana, through deceit, a leader whose political philosophy can be defined as an incompetent government by corrupt people, with corrupt people, and for corrupt people.”

Change Is Coming

Mr Blay said “from all indications from the vast majority of the people on the ground, 2016 is really about a change from the NDC to the NPP,” adding, “A change from a party that in eight years make the people poorer and the nation bankrupt to the party that can rescue the economy and put Ghana back to work.”

He said it was about a change from the needless and avoidable hardships that Ghanaians had been forced to face in these eight years of NDC.  

“The year 2016 is about a change from the incompetence the people see, the incompetence we feel and the incompetence we know.

“It is about a change from corruption. It is about a change from the return of Cash & Carry. It is about a change from the hopelessness of the youth. It is about a change from dumsor. It is about a change from broken promises.”