NANA SNUBS MAHAMA OVER DEBATE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, October 24, 2016

Opinions continue to be divided over President John Mahama’s challenge thrown at his opponent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for a debate before the crucial December 7 general election.

President Mahama, whose National Democratic Congress (NDC) party has always resisted any attempt to get him into a presidential debate, is suddenly claiming he is ever ready to go into a one-on-one debate specifically against Nana Akufo-Addo, standard bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Strangely, the NDC had rejected one-on-one debate proposed by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) - the think-tank with track record for organizing presidential debates.

However, the NPP, without mincing words, has said it would not let Nana Akufo-Addo debate a ‘flip-flop’ president who has exhibited inconsistencies in policy direction, including debates.

According to Mustapha Hamid, spokesperson for the NPP flag bearer, President Mahama’s sudden u-turn for a debate exposes the ‘insincerity’ of the NDC government as well as the president’s own ‘indecisive’ nature.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the NDC has suddenly woken up to the reality that it is losing the December elections and therefore, need the debate to bolster its image.

South Africa Connection

The NDC is said to have recently contracted some experts from South Africa to conduct surveys after its internal as well as Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) polls had predicted massive defeat for the ruling party.

The South African report was reportedly not palatable and concluded that the president needed image-boosting programmes like debates to shore up the NDC’s dwindling support and that appeared to be the main reason why President Mahama has developed a sudden appetite for debates.

A senior lecturer at the Political Science Department, University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darko, said last week on radio that although debates shape Ghana’s democracy better, it was too late for one before the general election.

IEA Platform

For a couple of years, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has been the reputable organization that is in the business of organising presidential debates; but the NDC, having participated in previous editions, inexplicably said it was no longer going to be part of this year’s contest which should have taken place by now.

On June 21, 2016, the NDC served notice that none of its candidates would participate in any debate organised by the IEA ahead of the general election, citing biases.

NDC Boycott

A statement by the party stated that the “NDC has, at its Functional Executive Committee (FEC) meeting on Tuesday, June 21, 2016, decided not to participate in any debate to be organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) as far as it is related to the 2016 General Election. All Party Structures (especially the Youth and Women's wings), are to take note and comply accordingly.”

The NDC had earlier raised red flags over the IEA’s decision to hold a separate debate for flag bearers of the two leading political parties - NPP and NDC.

With the IEA not likely to organize any presidential debate before December 7, there has been speculations over who or which institution is capable of staging a similar one for the candidates as being demanded by President Mahama.

Sources say if the NPP accepts the bait, NDC will then push for the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to organize it, claiming that it is a national body, even though the NCCE is currently cash-strapped with the landlord allegedly threatening to eject it from its (NCCE’s) rented offices.

Joy FM’s Proposal

DAILY GUIDE learnt that after the NDC had rejected the IEA platform, Joy FM was said to have suggested that it was ready to partner GTV to stage one, which the NDC rubbished, describing the popular private radio station as ‘regime changers.’

Unfortunately for the NDC, the Joy FM idea came at a time President Mahama’s Ford gift issue was raging and the ruling party quickly shot the proposal down.

Sources said that Joy FM is trying to revive the debate following the desire by President Mahama that he wants to debate Nana Akufo-Addo and his (Akufo-Addo’s) running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on key issues of the economy.

NDC & NCCE Alliance

A DAILY GUIDE source says the NDC wants the NCCE to organize the debate where it (NDC) would have the chance to pull strings behind the scenes, but the NPP says it is even too late for such an exercise.

Bawumia’s Counter-Attack

Nana Akufo-Addo is yet to comment personally on the President’s request but Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has already fired a riposte asking President Mahama to take his debate to the ordinary Ghanaian whose life his government continues to render hopeless.

At Sangban in the Tatale-Sanguli Constituency of the Northern Region, Dr. Bawumia said, “Today John Mahama says he wants a debate on the economy. Now I want to challenge him to come to Sangban and debate with the people of Sangban on the economy; he should tell the people of Sangban what he has done for them in the last eight years – four years as vice president and four years as president.

"He should tell the people of Northern Ghana what he did with the SADA money; he should go and debate with businesses that have collapsed because of dumsor; he should debate with farmers who cannot buy fertilizers because of his policies. He should go and debate with businessmen who cannot access loans because of high interest rates.”

170 Questions

Dr Bawumia underscored, “The president should go and debate with the people of Ghana who are suffering. That is where the real debate is. When I presented my last lecture on the economy, I presented facts and figures. I made 170 statements at least in that lecture. Now instead of responding to that lecture, he and his vice president are running away from those facts.”

"If they want a debate on the economy, they should start with responding to those 170 facts in my lecture. They don’t want to because they cannot. They cannot stand the truth, they cannot stand the facts,” he noted.

 “The president says he likes evidence, which shows that since 2000 his tenure as president from 2012 to 2016, he has been the worst performing president in terms of Ghana’s economy; that is the evidence, as I showed in my recent lecture,” Dr Bawumia posited.