HANDLING THE PRESIDENT’S PHONE 33 -ASK

Not too long ago, it was the NDC that stole their manifesto, today, it is the APC that has stolen their manifesto. Is this what politics has been reduced to? The bar lifted so high has been reduced to the bearest minimum just so they can still remain relevant in the political world.

Then I critically assessed their position. Between the NDC manifesto and the APC manifesto, the contents are not the same. Could it be that the NDC copied half and then APC the other half?

This is because, if two people copied your work or stole same wholly, their contents would not differ from one another. They should read the same. I think this Ayariga’s party had rushed to adopt the name APC which naturally should be standing for Association of Political Comedians (APC) an appropriate description of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of today.

But since Ayariga had decided to pick APC and to make it sound All People’s Congress, I am in a fix to get an appropriate description for the latter day political comedy being exhibited by these ‘elites’ of yesterday.

Well, back to some very relevant political activities of my party and my president. The president, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama had taken his campaign tour to the Brong Ahafo Region over the past week.

Images of him addressing chiefs, and rallies were making the rounds. Audios were equally released of Chiefs recounting the numerous achievements witnessed under this administration in their respective traditional areas.

Yes, Chiefs, by the virtue of the position they occupy, are enjoined to be neutral in the political dispensation we find ourselves. Because they are expected to grant courtesies to all political leaders who visit their traditional areas, they are expected to, as much as possible, remain neutral.

However, neutrality here does not include refusing to see and tell the truth when you come across them. It does not include keeping quiet on injustice either.

Can anyone tell me how a mouse would appreciate the neutrality of a man who decides to keep quiet while watching the heavy foot of an elephant on its tail? Meanwhile, neutrality at that material moment would be to keep quiet. However, justice would require that the weaker vessel, the mouse, would have your voice on its side so it can survive.

You see, the issue is that the Chiefs have become politically conscious even if not politically active. They require development and they are seeing it. They know it is better to hold onto a link that is giving them the development than giving in to another who is only promising to create same.

In the specific case of the Brong Ahafo Region, the region had received its fair share of the national cake. The distribution of the Community Day Senior High Schools had seen the region benefiting from 15 of the 123 currently under construction. I wouldn’t bore you with the locations of these schools, but would not hesitate to make the list available upon request.

In the area of specialised education after secondary school, the NDC under President John Dramani Mahama had constructed 11 Nursing Training Institutions at areas including Sampa, Yamfo, Goaso, Dadieso, Sepa and Dua Yaw Nkwanta. This had boosted the intake of students into nursing schools.

Coupled with the attempts to replace the trainee allowances with students loans, the intakes had gone up beyond their original artificial limits imposed by the existence of the allowances.

For the first time in the history of the region, the region had received not one, but five solid polyclinics built from scratch under this Mahama administration. These five polyclinics are located at Nkrankwanta, Wamfie, Kwatire, Techimantia and Bomaa.

The Brong Ahafo Region had seen tremendous expansion of access to electricity. Reports I have ascertained projected the region to have attained over 90% electricity coverage. This has given people some appreciable levels of economic activities in and around the region.

Road networks are being improved, community and small water projects are being realised over the years, school blocks at Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High levels are being constructed, the region’s Polytechnic would soon see a conversion into a technical university among others.

It is easy for anyone sitting in Accra to assume nothing is happening across the country. Today, if the president, in the company of his wife Mrs. Lordina Mahama, are receiving unprecedented levels of acceptability in the Brong Ahafo Region, it is because the past four years was not a disappointment to the people.

If today, Chiefs have assumed positions of recounting achievements in their regions while asking for more, it is because they have a better view of what governance is about. They are the mouthpieces of the people and can only appreciate what would benefit their collective subjects.

As the president closed his tour of the region, significant strides and gains were manifested on the various campaign platforms he mounted. The crowds were emphatic. I have always held the position that I do not see what would move me to count my presence in a political rally of an opponent. On this background, I am with the strongest of conviction, that if the presence of the crowds is anything to go by, Brong Ahafo would be emphatic in their endorsement of a second term for John Dramani Mahama.

#JMToaso

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