Former President John Dramani Mahama
Ex-President Mahama, in a desperate attempt to motivate his dispirited followers on his routine travels across the length and breadth of the country, has been asserting somewhat spuriously: “The NDC is a party that does not tell lies. What we cannot do, we do not say we will do it and whatever we promise to do, truly, we deliver”
With all due respect, former President Mahama’s claim is destitute of honesty and integrity.
Well, I am pretty sure that not all Ghanaians suffer from chronic memory loss and therefore some of us can vividly recollect the NDC government’s previous unfulfilled Manifesto promises.
It is, indeed, quite irritating that an experienced politician, who is also a well-versed historian, would blatantly fail to recollect past events.
Perhaps, former President Mahama is only trying his level best to hoodwink the unsuspecting voters.
Of course, political parties can't honor all their Manifesto promises while in government.
However, it is extremely nauseating to keep hearing unrealistic promises from the same people every four years with the view to hoodwinking the voting public.
If you may recall, before the 2008 and 2012 general elections, Ex-President Mahama and the NDC gave a slew of Manifesto promises to the good people of Ghana.
But as to whether they managed to honor those promises, is a million-dollar question.
The NDC apparatchiks, who bizarrely take pride in the social democratic ideology, are not in the business of promoting the welfare of the masses, but they are rather on a mission to advance their parochial interests by persistently proselytizing and hoodwinking the unsuspecting voters to gain electoral advantage.
I have always insisted that it would only take a doubting Thomas to challenge the fact that the NDC loyalists, who take pride in the social democratic ideology, are not in the business of promoting the welfare of the masses.
One would have thought that individuals who pride themselves as social democrats would be extremely empathetic to the needs of the masses, but this is not the case with the NDC as a party.
There have been numerous NDC’s broken Manifesto promises in the past, but the one that will long be stenciled on discerning Ghanaian's mental sheets is the one-time NHIS premium.
The NDC’s ‘sugar puffed’ Manifesto promise of a one-time NHIS premium, so to speak, was destitute of honesty and integrity.
It was an electoral stratagem coated with sweeteners to feed the good people of Ghana.
Having stenciled such an appalling record on my mental sheet, I took the NDC’s 2020 flagbearer, former President Mahama’s promise of free primary health care if voted into power in 2020 with a pinch of salt.
Ironically, the NDC loyalists have been accusing the New Patriotic Party operatives of lying their way to power by giving unrealistic Manifesto promises during the 2016 and 2020 electioneering campaigns.
It would, therefore, appear that the 2016 and 2020 humiliating general election defeats have unsettled the nerves of the NDC loyalists, judging from their weird posturing.
If you would remember, during the 2008 and 2012 electioneering campaigns, Mahama and NDC gave a myriad of Manifesto promises, among other things, one-time NHIS premium, free SHS, ‘making dumsor a thing of the past, putting money in Ghanaian's pockets, creating more jobs for the jobless, stabilizing the economy, protecting Ghanaians from the menaces of galamsey and Fulani herdsmen, bringing an end to dubious judgment debt payments, fighting the rampant bribery and corruption, amongst others.
Nevertheless, after giving all those richly interesting, albeit unrealistic promises to deceive the voting public for their mandate, the NDC government, led by former President Mahama, as expected, wilfully failed to honor the promises, and, consequently, a total of 55.6% (44.4% for Mahama) of the electorates rightly voted them out of power in 2016 and 51.2% retired Mahama in 2020.
Indeed, in the past, Ghanaians witnessed the NDC government’s numerous broken Manifesto promises, but the one that will indelibly stencil on the mental sheets of succeeding generations is the one-time NHIS premium.
So, who says that the NDC is an honest party that keeps its Manifesto promises at all times?
The NDC solicited votes from Ghanaians, and, in exchange, they guaranteed everyone protection of life, property, provision of social amenities, better socio-economic standards of living, and to a certain extent liberty.
Nevertheless, the NDC government failed terribly to initiate expedient policies to overturn the failed policies of agriculture, poverty reduction, and resource allocation in the areas of healthcare, education, finance, supply chain management, and security sector planning, amongst others.