Bring Back JM

It appears the popularity of former President John Mahama is rising almost at the same pace President Nana Addo’s is dwindling.

Evidence of two contrasting events which occurred last week indicates the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) may have to intensify their plots to prevent the ex-president from leading his party to give the Presidential contest another shot.

First, was a Thursday 5th April speech by President Nana Akufo Addo aimed at defusing souring dissent to the controversial US-Ghana Military base deal which has backfired. The present ended up courting him new critics for raining insults on his political opponents in a harsh un-presidential tone.

Then over the weekend, the former President and leader of the opposition NDC was received by a Monmouth crowd in Wa, Upper West regional capital in a fashion that political book runners predict would put undue pressure on the government which barely a year and a half in office.

Thousands of Ghanaians who had joined the ex President in a Unity walk organized by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) carried lanterns in broad day light to symbolize their yearn for the return of John Mahama as a President of Ghana

As all the major streets in the Upper West regional capital, Wa, glutted with admirers of the former President, those who carried lanterns chanted that they were looking for the former President in spite of the current leadership of Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Akufo-Addo, has since coming into power almost one and a half years ago, superintended over a government that has brought hardships to Ghanaians with the salaries of even some of his own regime actors not being paid.

The man who had boasted a lot and called then President Mahama incompetent while in opposition has also been unable to redeem major campaign promises including the establishment of 216 factories across the country.

The promised establishment of dams in all villages across the country and the yearly allocation of 1million dollars to all constituencies have also remained unfulfilled as the administration enters the second quarter of its second year.

While disappointing, President Akufo-Addo’s populist implementation of flagship education program, Free SHS, has badly flopped with students in secondary schools constrained to secretly pay fees even though the government claims education is free.

The NPP government of Akufo-Addo has also been seriously scandal-prone, with corruption making headlines on monthly basis.

Amidst the disappointing performance, unemployment has doubled along with ballooning public debt stock due to over borrowing by the government which had promised not to borrow while in opposition.

A regime clampdown on small scale mining has also rendered many of the rural folks who were employed in the sector jobless with consequence that crime, especially armed robbery, has increased across the country.

On Saturday, the disenchanted Ghanaians who carried lanterns in broad day light to look for President Mahama symbolically indicated that they could not wait to see the back of the incompetent and clueless Akufo-Addo who is clearly overwhelmed by the Presidency.

Former President Mahama himself, who had been the center of attraction, later gave an address that carried the sentiments of the people. He advised the super incompetent Akufo-Addo to go for a miracle from a self-acclaimed miracle worker, Bishop Daniel Obinim.

Obinim, a hilarious figure who claims to be an angel and the first born of Jesus Christ is currently trending on social media because of stickers carrying his image that his followers claim works miracles for them.

“I have been monitoring social media and a new thing that has come that cures everything, they call it Obinim’s sticker or something, Obinim’s sticker. The President and his government need an Obinim’s sticker,“ Preident Mahama mocked Akufo-Addo.

The thousands who had gone on the walk with the former President laughed their hearts out in response.

Inherent in the advise to Akufo-Addo to go for an Obinim banner was the suggestion that the President ignore Obinim’s arch rival, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, whom Akufo-Addo has strong ties with, since Owusu Bempah’s numerous prophesies that Akufo-Addo would turn Ghana into paradise seems to be failing.

Former President Mahama also dismissed suggestions by President Akufo-Addo that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seeks to destabilize the country with coups.

“We are more committed to the Fourth Republic than any other political party in this country. We do not support any truncation of our current democracy in any way. If somebody said something, he might have said it in some context not that he had any intention or we had any intention to truncate the mandate of the NPP” he said.

“Indeed we must not help the NPP out by truncating their mandate, let them go through the full embarrassment of their four years. If we push them out, they will say “we were just at the verge of delivering our promises and we were taking out”, he added.

President Maham further advised them to work hard towards wresting power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 general elections.

He noted that though the NPP had so far proven to be “super incompetent”, the NDC’s victory in the 2020 elections will mostly be dependent on hard work and commitment by party members.

“I must say that we must do hard work. You do not win an election on the weakness of your opponent. You win an election because the electorate has confidence in you to give power to you and so although the NPP has proven to be super incompetent, we cannot sit down and relax and say because of their super incompetence we are going to win the election.”

“We must work hard to convince the electorates that we deserve to be voted into power. We won’t depend on their super incompetence.”

He further advised his party members to be decorous in whatever they do or say, “Let us be decorous in our political discourse even if with our political opponents, and I am not talking within our party, even outside our party let us talk about the ideas and not personal insults”.

He also urged the party member to respect the founder of the party, former President Jerry John Rawlings. ”You might not like something he sees, or you might not like some action he might have taking; you can disagree with his view but don’t insult him. Don’t insult his person”