HANDLING THE PRESIDENT’S PHONE 37 -Ask

The past week had been an interesting week with fallouts from the elections of the United States of America. US had elected a president in Donald Trump. Quite coincidentally, I am just seated by the road I sat when I first read a story attributed to Mr. Donald Trump that Blacks are only interested in producing children.

I never bothered to read much about the man because at the time, I thought he couldn’t be serious about what he was stating. Later, I got to know he has five (5) children which is someway above the number of children a modern African would want to have. Indeed, I don’t know the number of Blacks in his land who can boast of 5 children oooo!

Erm, Mr. Trump had won amidst conscious media mafia against him. Following the elections, it appeared the man had never said anything that would result in propelling the American people for the better. I cannot assume all he said was negative as he was reported.

However, the media had always had the freedom to operate. As usual, America would rally behind their president because democracy had spoken. The few unfortunate comments about the president elect would soon die and Trump would lead the general interest of the American people.

It is in this spirit of the power of the people which was exercised in favour of Mr. Trump, that I would stand in the ‘legs’ of His Exellency President John Dramani Mahama to congratulate him on his election as President of the United States of America.

Then the political forecasters jumped into the fray predicting a win for the opposition in Ghana on the wings of the change the people of the United States of America have caused. Then I deeply reflected on the happenings in Ghana and juxtaposed it to what happened in the United States with regards to the media. The only difference is that Trump was a non-politician while Mahama is a president and a politician.

The media agenda against Trump is not different from the media agenda against Mahama. The last time, the President had cause to complain about how a click of the media is doing everything to block his messages to the people especially as he is on a campaign to secure a second term.

A careful review of the situation in USA would reveal that Mrs. Hilary Clinton was a candidate of the media of the USA. Trump was virtually worked out of the media space and only projected as the ‘devil’ in the race. Indeed, almost all opinion polls revealed that Mrs. Hilary Clinton was winning the elections without the slimmest chance for Trump to be considered to ever occupy the seat of President.

What difference are we seeing in this country? Even in the past, almost every poll favoured the NPP. Even in the year 2008 after the NPP was done with its second term with an abysmal record, majority of polls projected Akufo-Addo as a likely winner. So, in effect, the media can create a world of its own which is de-linked from the real world. This was evident in the just ended American elections.

So as I watch people draw hasty conclusions, reducing a 52 state elections to reflect on a single state election, I wondered. Indeed, my mind wandered in seeking answers. The permutations are simply unturnable. US has just shown it was not ready for a female president. Mahama is not a female.

None of the contestants in Ghana is seeking power to build walls nor bridges between Ghana, Cote d’Ivore, Burkina Faso and Togo. We are already enjoying good neighbourliness. Indeed, what one candidate is seeking is an opportunity to come and continue with the projects of the current president. The dynamics just do not gel. Why would Ghanaians vote out a president for someone to only come and continue his projects when they have an opportunity of retaining him to ‘toaso’?

In all of these, heheheheheee for those who are recounting a repeat of the USA elections outcome in Ghana, that is rather bad news. If Hilary had contested elections in Ghana, she would have been the president. In other words, if the electoral laws in Ghana were as in the United States, Hilary would have been the president of USA. You know why? Read from the subsequent paragraphs.

Hilary had secured more votes than Trump except that per the modalities of elections in the USA, a president is expected to win some specific number of votes to be able to be declared president. One can secure the highest number of votes from his or her strong holds and have more votes than the opponent, but, so long as the opponent has been able to win the number of vital votes required, he or she is president. Hahahahaha so you see, if you insist what happened to Hilary would happen to Mahama, you are basically saying Mahama would get more votes than Akufo-Addo and per our Constitution, Mahama would have won over Akufo-Addo with more votes. So in effect, what all those people are saying is, Mahama, Toaso!

Meanwhile, the lessons I would want the people of Ghana to take from the USA elections are that which the president elect has promised the state on the day of accepting the results. He forcefully stated that he would reconstruct US hospitals, schools, roads, tunnels, and significantly expand US infrastructure to create more jobs for its citizens.

Mr. Trump is telling you and I, that the building of roads, schools, hospitals, tunnels and infrastructure is paramount to the United States of America today and that in the process of building these infrastructure, citizens would be provided with jobs. In effect, Mr. Trump is saying, JM, TOASO!

Need us be surprised? Those who are chastising President Mahama on his massive infrastructure investments are aware of its impact. However, for the purposes of politics, “if you build all the hospitals, schools, roads, and the numerous infrastructure, and you employ most of our citizens, what would I campaign on”? That’s simply it. Ɛyɛ abrɔ.

Let us undertake a little exercise together. How do you employ teachers without educational infrastructure? Is it possible to employ teachers without classrooms, and without replacing schools under trees? Is it possible? Is it possible to employ nurses and doctors without building hospitals? Would you be able to retain skilled labour in the medical profession without providing them with equipment to work with? Is that possible? Is it also possible to provide jobs for the teeming young when you do not invest in infrastructure including factories and the likes of the Gold Refinery and the Data Processing Centre? Is it possible?

It is equally possible to employ engineers in the roads sector without government investing in the construction of roads? So what is Mahama doing wrong today please? Has he done wrong by investing in the many hospitals that even the opposition is attesting to? Did he do anything wrong with building 123 Community Day Senior High Schools some of which have already been completed which is evident? Has he done anything wrong by investing in huge road infrastructure including the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Interchange that is to be opened to traffic today? Or had he committed any crime by investing in the Kasoa Interchange whose first phase would be commissioned by close of the month of November? So why don’t we say JM TOASO?

Do not be deceived on this change mantra. If they come to you with a message of change and makes a mistake to add that USA has changed, ask them if in the history of the USA, no party had served 12 years before? Don’t hesitate to ask them. You change when you elect a government that would go after monkeys as its achievements and not a government that has cogent deliverables in the Green Book.

You change government to improve on your educational, health and social infrastructure. USA has voted for infrastructure. Why must Ghana vote against infrastructure?

They tell you, every government build schools. Tell them is a lie. Ask them, if every government build schools, how come in their entire life, when they had the chance to rule this country, they never build one secondary school let alone a single university? The NDC has shown that you can build a fully fledged university in less than 4 years. The NDC has shown that you can build a magnificent modern senior high school in 18 months – less than two years. Ask them to show you where they built theirs in 8 years.

If they tell you every government build roads, tell them, yes every government is expected to build roads. However, some governments have done better than others. The Kwame Nkrumah Circle was lying in its former state when the NPP was in power. In their entire 8 years, they constructed a footbridge towards the Vodafone headquarters. Why didn’t they build the Interchange Mahama is building there today? So you see, governments have all had responsibilities to the people. However, some governments are more committed to the development of the nation than others.

Let us all, in one accord, shout …… JM, TOASO! John Mahama deserves a second term. You and I can make it possible for him. Let us be concerned about the development of Ghana and not the development of the pockets of a few capitalists.

The party that cares about the overall interests of all Ghanaians is the NDC. The NDC had always focused on the number of people we bring out of poverty and not the few we continue to make richer in society. It is not surprising we have recently been adjudged the best country in poverty alleviation. It is our natural inclination. We always work for the masses and that is what His Excellency John Dramani Mahama continue to do.

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