“He may have done his part but his best was not enough”, Lawyer and presidential hopeful, Elikplim Abgemava’s assessment of former President John Dramani Mahama’s performance during his term in office.
Mr. Agbemava who is hoping to lead the National Democratic Congress to victory in the 2020 polls believes that the underperformance of John Mahama warranted his defeat in the last elections in December 2016.
He blamed the former statesman for encouraging vices and mediocrity in his administration, something he has had to pay for dearly.
“I do admit there was bad governance when we were in power and that is why we were voted out,” he said…”in the estimation of the people of Ghana, he (Mahama) did not meet their expectations” he continued.
He however maintained that Ghana’s economy and general outlook has consistently, over the years, dwindled because stringent effective measures are not put in place by leaders to tackle pertinent issues regarding development conclusively.
“I wouldn’t say that he run down the economy because the problems Mahama faced are still being faced. Last week he had to do a comparative analysis of the exchange rate depreciation, this is a problem every government has faced but now the question is how do we deal with it so we don’t come back to it every four years, that’s the main issue and for me if we are sincere about solving the issues then we must make sure that we grow our industrial base and increase trade among ourselves”, he noted.
He further maintained; “Fuel prices, electricity tariffs going down, those are social mitigating measures that are being implemented to cushion the Ghanaian but the essential basic problem is the need for more revenue to facilitate and implement the programs that we need because everything we do is funded by money and so if at the end of the day we implement the social mitigating measures and we still don’t grow in terms of trade and industrialization to gain enough revenue to sustain and pay the deficit that is going to occur as a result of these reductions then we are in a vicious cycle so for me you can reduce electricity tariffs but how do you answer the basic question of the need for more money to invest in the power sector?”.
The former President has widely been criticized for having supervised ‘bad governance’ under his administration. Prof. Alabi, a contestant for the flagbearership position however is of the firm belief that though Mr. Mahama ‘did his best’ as President, his message during the 2016 elections was weak and unconvincing hence, his defeat.
Meanwhile more names are emerging in the contest for flagbearership in the NDC. So far, names including those of
Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin; former Trade Minister, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah; former Vice Chancellor of UPSA, Prof. Joshua Alabi; and former NHIA boss, Sylvester Mensah have emerged.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has also already hinted leading the party to the polls in 2020. Compared to the other contesters, Mr. Elikplim Agbemava appears to be the most ‘unknown’.
