Republic Newspaper endorses President Mahama

The Republic newspaper has been prompted to take an unconventional step by endorsing the candidature of President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the December 2016 Presidential elections.

It is our opinion based on a careful evidence based analysis that this country will be better off retaining the incumbent President for his second term in office as has been traditionally done since the beginning of the Fourth Republic. Beyond this convention, the benefit abounds in retaining the current President to serve his second term.

To begin with, President Mahama’s administration is one that has put in its focus a massive social infrastructural drive that are at their various completion stages. This administration believes that unlike the chicken and egg conundrum, infrastructure comes first before real development can be felt, hence the administration’s feverish investment in this area. Why will we not want to see the spin-off impact of these investments and change the administration just reaches the stage of delivering its infrastructural based socio-economic development hinged on job creation and industrial renaissance?

The stage has been set for the perennial joblessness, economic lag, infrastructural challenges and macro-economic development to take off. Therefore, our endorsement of this administration led by John Dramani Mahama is purely based on these expectations that he has promised and of which we have seen his relentless commitment at achieving.

Also, it must suffice to say that Ghana has reached a critical point in its democratic growth where it needs a coalescing force that will sustain the stability that this country has enjoyed for more than a decade of democratic transitions.

A careful evaluation of the two front-runners in the upcoming elections shows that the incumbent President John Dramani Mahama has fully demonstrated commitment as a unifying force compared to Nana Akufo Addo, his closest rival from the biggest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

We have no personal aversion to the NPP candidate nor do we particularly detest his candidature, we are simply drawing from the fact that his temperament and track-record has forced us and other political observers to regard him as a high risk candidate who may scuttle the painstaking gains this country has made economically and democratically. It is based on this fact that our choice was cut out for us.

Ghana nears a critical democratic cusp in its political annals after successfully conducted six groundbreaking democratic elections and transitions which have significantly increased the nascent democratic credentials of this country.

This year’s election is seen as an extremely critical one, particularly coming on the back of the 2012 election which was fraught with controversies, and for an unprecedented turn of event, took the tactful intervention of the country’s highest court-the Supreme Court, with a verdict that all contending parties were satisfied with.

It is in this spirit of contentment that we head for the next elections, we are mindful of the potential outbursts post the elections and after the elections, but the actions of the incumbent President has so far shown how deeply he has a grip on issues that could potentially derail the gains this emerging economy has made. As the Commander-In Chief of the Armed forces, President Mahama has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the stability and security of this country is something that he has a firm grip on.

Thus, such sense of security is what has endeared us to the candidate whom we are bold to announce our endorsement of.

Our endorsement may not be a feature that is common in Ghana’s politics, but it is not an unknown phenomenon in politics in the Western world: Every Election cycle for example, the United States of America, typically witnesses major high circulating media publications endorsing presidential candidates of their choosing bases on a set of criteria they might feel the candidates have satisfied.

Having critically followed the electioneering campaign in Ghana from for several years now, and particularly since 2015 for this year’s elections, and having also assessed the points articulated by the presidential candidates of all the political parties, The Republic Newspaper is honoured to be endorsing the candidature of His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama for the 2016 Presidential election. It is our sincerely considered opinion, that given the unprecedented achievements of President Mahama, in his first term in office, as President of the Republic of Ghana, and his demonstrated intent and desire to continue tackling the major challenges facing the nation, President Mahama is best suited to lead Ghana, as President, over the next four years.

Ghanapoliticsonline.com/Africa