No, it’s never right for Mahama to call aggrieved Ghanaians whiners.
In fact, insolence is the only appropriate and euphemistic language that I can use to describe an elected president who inexorably castigates the same people who voted him to power for airing their views over the harsh socio-economic standards of living he has willfully imposed on them.
Election is a social contract. It exists between a candidate and an electorate. The contestant solicits for the voter’s mandate, and, in return, the contestant promises to deliver a set of needs.
In 2012, for instance, President Mahama and his NDC Party entered into a mutual agreement with Ghanaians. They besought Ghanaians to give them the mandate to lead the nation. The good people of Ghana agreed to their supplications and voted President Mahama and his NDC Party into power.
Let me be clear: the voters gracefully honoured their part of the social contract by giving President Mahama and his NDC Party the needed mandate. It was then left with President Mahama and his government to honour their part of the social contract by implementing their Manifesto promises.
President Mahama and his NDC government promised they were going to get rid of the filthy conditions in the streets of Accra within 100 days. They failed to do so. Ghanaians complained and they lividly retorted: stop being a nation of whiners. Filth has been in existence since Adam’s era. It cannot be wiped out in just 100 days.
Moreover, President Mahama and his NDC Party pledged to end ‘dumsor’ when voted into power. The ‘dumsor’ actually got worse, in comparison with former President Kufuor’s era.
Ghanaians rightly moaned over the abhorrent situation. President Mahama then censured: you whiners again, cease your useless complaints; I am not managing the dumsor as done by my short-sighted predecessors, am actually going to fix it.
Meanwhile, President Mahama is yet to fix the dumsor. The dumsor has crippled hundreds of businesses. The dumsor has indeed contributed to Ghana’s economic downslide.
President Mahama and his NDC government woefully failed to implement their much touted one-time NHIS premium. The good people of Ghana then rightly sought explanations. President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks retorted impertinently: one-time NHIS premium is not done anywhere under this planet of ours. How bizarre?
President Mahama and his NDC government once again failed to fully implement their hastily thought-through free SHS policy. Ghanaians wondered why. President Mahama and his clamorous communicators then replied Ghanaians sarcastically: ‘Is half a loaf not better than none?
Besides, the NDC Party gave assurances to the good people of Asante Akyem Agogo District that if voted into power in the 2012 general election; they were going to do everything in their power to circumscribe the menace of the Fulani herdsmen.
President Mahama and his government reneged on their promise. The good people of Agogo demanded answers. President Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks however cheekily responded: we are all the same in the eyes of God, so let’s tolerate each other.
Furthermore, the NDC Party told Ghanaians back in 2008 that the NPP government under President Kufuor had sunk the economy into the mire, so Ghanaians should give the NDC Party the opportunity to put the economy back on track.
Meanwhile, the available evidence shows that the NDC government under President Mahama has actually managed to worsen the socio-economic standards of living.
Indeed, there is an admissible evidence of irreversible incompetence on the part of President Mahama and his NDC government. For example, according to Dr Bawumiah, in the last seven and half years alone under this NDC government, Ghana’s total debt has ballooned from GH¢9.5 billion to a projected GH¢110 billion by the end of September 2016.
This means that 90% (i.e. GHC99.5 billion) of Ghana’s total debt since independence has been accumulated under this NDC government from 2009-2015 i.e. the last seven and half years.
Disappointingly, however, when the good people of Ghana put forward their grievances over the never ending harsh economic conditions, President Mahama and his vociferous communicators would go berserk: aren’t we transforming lives by building roads, hospitals, schools, toilets, water facilities and many other social infrastructural projects?
Meanwhile, some of the projects aren’t up to the required standards, albeit they are often overpriced. The Minister for Local Governments, Collins Dauda would attest to such assertion. He has previously complained over the NDC’s poorly constructed projects.
But when some ordinary people complained about some of the poorly constructed roads in Kumasi, President Mahama angrily responded: ‘You ungrateful lots, you would never even be appreciative if I constructed your roads with gold’.
Unfortunately, President Mahama and his laid-back apparatchiks are refusing to appreciate that exemplary governance is not all about putting up numerous infrastructural projects. Actually, superlative governance goes beyond the provision of social infrastructural and amenities. Praiseworthy governance also involves continuous improvement of socio-economic standards of living.
Nevertheless, the good people of Ghana are enduring economic hardships. For President Mahama has failed abysmally to improve upon Ghana’s economic fortunes.
As a matter of fact, President Mahama and his NDC government have willfully collapsed the hitherto booming economy.
In fact, we expect our elected government to work hard to advance our fortunes, but not just propagating propaganda, it should seek to look after our national coffers, not squandering our scarce resources, it should take our criticism in good faith, but not victimising us needlessly, it should be able to focus on social infrastructural projects as well as the socio-economic standards of living, for we could advance meaningfully only if we work honestly and tirelessly.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.