As Bob Marley once said, “you can fool the people sometimes, but you can never fool all the people all the time”. This is a serious statement but most politician hardly pays attention to this good advice.
The NPP government lost in 2008 because of some things they did that Ghanaians didn’t like, only for the NDC government to step in and repeat the same things and then some. Whenever Ghanaians complained, they were good enough to refer us to what the NPP did.
Ghanaians are a peaceful loving country and really glorify disrespect, that’s why we embrace democracy and as a politician if you don’t take a cue from this and decide to disrespect the elderly, it can easily cause your downfall.
Here are 20 reasons why the sitting president lost woefully.
1. The green book
The NDC campaign team relied so much on the green book instead of telling us what they have actually done. They were quick to insult the flagbearer of the NPP but when asked to tell us their achievements, they tell us it’s in the book. Ironically, most of the things in the book were artist impressions.
2. Character assassination
Instead of promoting their candidate, the NDC campaign team were too concerned about destroying the image of the opposition candidate forgetting they were in power. This attracted sympathy towards the man, especially when he decided to ignore them.
3. Propaganda
The propaganda was too much and the team probably thought Ghanaians wouldn’t see through it, but we did. Especially when they claim they’ve built this school or that road only for it to turn up as a lie. This really angered the populace especially those close to the area who had first hand knowledge.
4. Opulence
The opulence was too much, most the MP’s and government appointees showed off their V8’s and luxurious living at the mercy of the people, something they couldn’t do in opposition.
5. Electricity bills
The government lost total control of utility bills in the country, making it worse for people to pay amidst it not being stable too.
6. Dumsor
Erratic power cuts collapsed many businesses, and made life a living hell for most of us.
7. Inexperienced appointees
The government appointed too many young men in big positions with absolutely no technical experience. They wake one day and decide we should do things this way or that way and most of this young men showed too much opulence too.
8. Woyome’s deal.
If the government had been able to retrieve Woyome’s debt, things would have been a bit better for him. Failure to recoup Woyome’s money further the impression of the create, loot and share mantra by the NPP. If there’s one person who really caused the downfall of the party, then it’s Woyome.
9. The Brazil saga
How Ghanaians behaved towards the Black Stars after the 2014 World Cup should have sent a clear message to the NDC government. Many Ghanaians felt embarrassed when the government had to fly money all the way to Brazil, a country claiming to be poor, yet you could fly money to Brazil. This act really brought a disaffection towards the NDC government and it spilled over to the national team. We never also saw the report of the investigations that was carried out and the misappropriation of funds.
10. Nurses Allowance
The government scrapping the nursing training allowance was a very big mistake.
11. Teacher’s allowance.
12. Unpleasant utterances
Most of the utterances from the NDC government and its party members were absolutely horrible;
i) the yentia obiaa statement ii) the dead goat statement iii) Ghanaians should board a trotro or buy a bicycle if they think fuel prices are high iv) Ghanaians have short memories v) Ghanaians should move out of the country if we think the nation is too hard to live in vi) Short men can’t be president in this country, forgetting most Ghanaians are of average height etc.
These and more portrayed the NDC government as disrespectful in the eyes of Ghanaians.
13. Outrageous taxes
Due to misappropriation of state funds, the government had to burden the people of Ghana with taxes, taxes they’ve never seen before. Many Ghanaians were very rightly angry with the government over this.
14. Misplaced priorities
How do you build an airport in Ho when the distance from Accra to Ho is just 192.4 km, a 2 hours drive when the people had more pressing issues that needed to be solved.
15. Nonpayment of salaries
Besides all the burden, the government refused to pay the meager salaries for teachers and nurses. Salaries could delay for 2 years only for the government to pay 3 months arrears and cancel the rest. This action really infuriated a lot of Ghanaians on governments’ payroll.
16. Montie 3
The government pardoning the trio even infuriated some NDC members because many saw it as an abuse of power and a disrespect to the judiciary.
17. Gitmo 2
Accepting known terrorist into the country really brought fear and panic among Ghanaians and many felt it was a threat to our national security. The worse case was when Ghanaians realised the government actually took money to bring them in. Many were those who felt the government could sell us for anything.
18. Bus branding
This was a heartbreaker, to think that the government could brand buses at that outrageous amount really broke the hearts of many Ghanaians, especially when most of us were hungry and couldn’t pay our bills.
19. GYEEDA and SADA
Money meant for a social intervention programme was abused and the responsible parties kept given cock and bull stories and the monies were never refunded.
20. Disrespect of clergymen
If there’s one powerful force in this country besides politics, then it is religion. Many Ghanaians simply listen more to their pastors and prophet, so for the members of the NDC to insult some of these clergymen really got to their members who decided to pay back in any way they can.
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