Former Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and Former President Mahama [L-R]
By: Badu, K
Believe it or not, politics has sadly ceased being the noble profession it used to be. It is absolutely true that politics has been infiltrated by the dishonourable lots disguised in the clothing of the perfect Jesus Christ.
In any case, I am of the firm conviction that the vast majority of the modern day politicians’ ostensive preoccupation is to manipulate their way to power and pursue their vested interests.
If you, dear reader, will kindly take time off and peruse through the archives of the 2016 electioneering campaign files at your own convenience, you will definitely understand exactly what I’m trying to drive at.
Apparently, the NDC Party leadership, led by former President Mahama, made it known to the good people of Ghana that the NPP Party has an unparalleled record of dumping its vice presidents without providing them the opportunity to lead the party.
“President Mahama while campaigning at Lawra in the Upper West Region, said the NPP will not allow Dr. Bawumia to be their flagbearer because the party is largely not in support of northerners taking up such positions” (cityfmonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 21/11/2016).
President Mahama pontificates: “Sometimes I feel sad when I see some of our northern brothers running and also doing this. They will use you and dump you. Let anything happen today and let our brother Bawumia say he is standing for president in NPP. They will never give it to him I can assure you”.
All the same, a number of prominent Ghanaians and civil society groups, including the then Chairman of the Peace Council, Professor Emmanuel Asante and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), scolded and besought former President John Dramani Mahama to refrain from making comments which were deemed ethnocentric.
It would seem that former President Mahama made such incoherent statement based on the undemocratic happenings in the NDC Party.
Indeed, there is unobjectionable evidence which suggests that the NDC Party does not often select the flagbearers by majority decision.
If we take a stroll down memory lane, the party’s founder and first president of the NDC, J. J. Rawlings, defied all the stiff opposition and hand-picked his then Vice President, the late Mills as the flagbearer in the 2000 general election.
It would be recalled that the late Mills unsuccessfully contested two previous elections in 2000 and 2004. He then chose John Dramani Mahama as his running mate in the 2008 general election despite the fierce resistance. The late Mills came victorious after the second round election in December 2008.
Strangely, however, the Vice President Mahama woke up one morning in July 2012 and became the president of Ghana in the afternoon of the same day following the sudden death of President Mills.
Former President Mahama completed the remaining months of Mills/Mahama administration. He subsequently received party acclamation to lead the party in the December 2012 general election.
In the 2012 general election, President Mahama selected Amissah-Arthur from the Central Region of Ghana as his running mate.
However controversial the December 2012 general election turned out, President Mahama was pronounced the winner by the Supreme Court of Ghana.
On 7th December 2016, Ghanaians remembered NDC apparatchiks irreversible arrogance, incompetence and the gargantuan sleaze and corruptions and rightly voted them out.
Ghanaians indeed ineffaceably stencilled on their mental sheets: • The dubious Embraer 190 aircrafts deal which prompted former President Mills to set up a Committee to investigate the then Vice President Mahama.
• The purported $250 million bill we incurred on the unsuccessful STS housing deal which was spearheaded by the then Vice President John Dramani Mahama.
• The bizarre GH800 million judgement debt payments over the last seven and half years.
• The undeserving GH51.2 million judgement debt payment (create, loot and share) to Woyome.
• The weird $30 million judgement debt payment to Waterville, which the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled as unconstitutional and ordered the NDC government to retrieve, but to no avail.
• The wrongful $25 million judgement debt payment to ISOFOTON, which the NDC government failed to retrieve despite the Supreme Court’s order.
• The scandal (create, loot and share) at the National Service Secretariat which cost Ghana millions of Ghana Cedis.
• The SADA scandal which deprived the people of the Northern Region millions of Cedis meant for development.
• The SUBA scandal which cost Ghana millions of Cedis meant for the improvement of the economy.
• The GYEEDA corruption scandal which deprived the youth of Ghana millions of Cedis meant for the creation of jobs.
• The amount of $250 million from the Euro bond which was meant for infrastructural development and lodged surreptitiously in an unauthorised bank account.
• Inflated costs of infrastructural projects (the former Minister for Local Government, Collins Dauda even raised concerns).
Based on the NDC Party’s logic on the selection of a flagbearer, the next person in line should be the erstwhile Vice President, Amissah-Arthur.
It is, however, ironic that there is an ongoing tug of war over the choice of their next flagbearer. They are blatantly refusing to acknowledge the capability of former Vice President Amissah-Arthur.
Bizarrely, whilst the Mahama loyalists are fighting tooth and nail to have him return as the party’s next presidential candidate, the Mahama sceptics are insisting that he was incompetent during his tenure in office and must thus be replaced with a more competent flagbearer.
In sum, I would like to stress that it would appear unconscionable, capricious, incommodious and unfair, if the former Vice President Amissah-Arthur were to be side-lined in the search for the next flagbearer of the NDC Party.