JOHN MAHAMA SUFFERED INCUMBENCY DISADVANTAGE

Political pundits, supporters and sympathizers of the NDC and leadership of the party have blamed the NDC’s recent ( 2016) election defeat on a number of reasons. The former President John Mahama has described the reasons as multifaceted and mentioned incumbency disadvantage as one of the reasons.

What happened to other incumbent administrations in on the continent and other places outside the continent support his assertion. When you are responsible for making decisions, you make suffer mild and serious challenges from the outcome of such decisions.

The outcome may be not be palatable to some of the stakeholders or citizens, may be misinterpreted by an obstructive opposition or may not offer the immediate respite that the masses may be expecting. Mr Asiedu Nketia in his interview with joy, mentioned the issue of the middle class. It is one issue the party going forward must strategically work on. Wealthy business magnates, and some powerful individuals actively worked against the administration which made it harder for the administration to hold onto power. The tickle- down campaign was waged against the incumbent. Most of these wealthy persons have huge influence on hundreds of people in their communities, families etc who depend on them financially. They took advantage of their dependants vulnerability to incite them against the administration and it worked perfectly. Voter fatigue also worked against the electoral fortunes of the party. The administration was gradually winning the economic war after adopting the IMF programme, the positive signs began to show but was still encountered few challenges. When things aren’t moving at the pace expected ,there is a natural inclination to blame those at the top, whether they deserve it or not. The administration was gradually solving problems which have bedeviled the country for decades part which were caused by the first Npp administration but opponents of the administration, successfully incited Ghanaians against the administration and got them angry against the Government. They carried their anger to their polling stations and the effect is what we saw.

When incumbents fall into the den of such political jackals, the executives, and the rank and file must quickly protect it against the array of hostile forces. The npp and their financiers some who are merely the front line troops for the captains of industry and press barons, applied all the diabolic tactics to frustrate the incumbent.

The party ( NDC) had its internal issues which I think the Botchway committee will handle that comprehensively but the Mahama administration will forever be remembered for the significant achievements it achieved in terms of infrastructure and implementation of certain prudent measures it took. It attempted to end that vague capitalist system where production and other activities were based on selfishness since only some in our communities could prosper at the expense of others. These magnates who fought against the administration, lived in part or in whole out of the profit which should have been shared with all those who had helped in the process.To end this trend, the Mahama administration continued what Mills began by turning to public ownership ,where community interest could be considered first and technically introduced wealth redistribution policies through renationalisation of certain industries, built the Komenda sugar factory, schools etc. This attempt to reduce class barriers for maintenance of a genuine welfare system was what angered those who purely inclined to the right. Corruption tag has become the most weapon lazy political opponents use against the incumbent and it was what the Npp effectively used to incite the masses against the Mahama administration. The former President is right when he says, he was the president so was restricted on the kind of promises he could make because he knew the strength of the economy. This is the kind of leadership Africans must crave for. He did not selfishly rely on the institutional support available to him, did not use many of the advantages that come with the office, he did not use state agencies to influence decisions to his advantage rather, he allowed the processes to go on smoothly without unnecessary interruptions.

The Npp under Nana Akufo-Addo has started disappointing Ghanaians who voted for them bases on their promises. The new administration is either continuing with the policies they vehemently opposed, or, reversing promises they made the latest being Nana’s assertion that graduate unemployment is as result of the kind of curriculum being used in our schools something Mahama said when he was in office which received serious condemnation from the opposition stables, the galamsey menace which the former President said must be cured through the introduction of small scale mining policy.The scrapping of taxes promised by the Npp vis-à-vis the administration’s policy of new taxes introduction and maintaining of taxes they promised to scrap when they were campaigning, the huge loans they’ve contracted in the name of “Family Bond” when they promised Ghanaians that the era of loans acquisition would be over when they take charge of the economy. I think the time for the NDC to do serious assessment of its tremendous performance vis-à-vis perpetuation of lies by its opponents and the effect these lies have on the electorates is now. The Npps in contrast, have always been a party more accustomed to selfish – governance and making of profits in government and less interested in theories and class identified with their inherent aristocratic tendencies.