One of my greatest regrets as a Ghanaian is that Mr. John Dramani Mahama has had the courage, after the disaster of an administration he unleashed on Ghanaians, to not only talk on national issues, but to gather the courage to contest the election for a return to Jubilee House and occupy the highest office of the land.
The scandal-soaked ex-Head of State’s desire to seek re-election, for me, tells the story of the monumental failure of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the leader of this nation.
When the son of the former Head of State won the 2016 presidential vote, he was so popular that he could walk on air. I still have images of President Akufo-Addo driving to the spare parts hub at Abossey Okai in Accra, and being received like a conquering hero of war.
Now, he sits at Jubilee House in Accra and behaving like the king without clothes. He wants to hear from only those who are helping him to ride on the elephant deeply into the forest.
When Nana Akufo-Addo took power on January 7, 2017, aided by those seeking the welfare of the state, including my humble self, the dollar was exchanging for four cedis to one. Even then, some of us lambasted the Mahama administration for the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) inability to manage the economy.
The NDC was handed the cedi at an exchange rate of one equals one, after the denominational exercise undertaken by the Kufuor regime. I led the way in attacking the Mahama regime as incompetent, corrupt, and greedy.
In the run-up to the 2016 Presidential and Legislative Elections, I created a column in The Chronicle under the banner: Why Ebo Quansah Won’t Vote For Mahama. I still believe in every word I wrote.
A Head of State collecting a Mercedes Benz from a Burkinabe contractor and giving him a huge contract on the Eastern Corridor Road as a reward, is corrupt, SIMPLICITA. A Vice President who was allegedly being investigated by his boss for buying Embraer planes from Brazil at the wrong prices for this country, is not worth leading this country from the front, I wrote.
A Head of State advancing huge state resources totaling a staggering US$100 million to a friend’s company without ensuring that the money did not go down the drain, could not command my respect, to the extent of seeking re-election. He did not deserve my vote, and that of the good people of Ghana.
When a brother of the sitting President re-located from the United Kingdom to Ghana to become an intermediary between Airbus and Ghana in the process of the acquisition of aircraft for the Republic of Ghana, that is scandal on wheels.
To add to the scandal of Airbus on Ghana, news broke out in London that the sitting Head of State of this lovely country, had been cited in Southwark Crown Court in South London for aiding a biological brother and two of his friends to receive illegal payments in the acquisition of aircraft by Ghana, John Dramani Mahama lost every respect I had for him as the leader of this society.
Mr. Martin Amidu, as Special Prosecutor, named Mr. Mahama as the Government Official One named in documents in the Southward Crown Court. In a gargantuan fraud on the people of Ghana, Amidu chickened out of the assignment and rather courted praise from those who stood to gain from Mahama’s leadership of this country, and blamed the Presidency for running away from national duty.
For me, it is a big shame that this scandal-soaked ex-President is seeking to return to the very top of national affairs. I dare state that scandal-soaked John Dramani Mahama would not have dared to seek re-election had Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo been able to steer the affairs of this country successfully.
Many may not know, or are refusing to know, that Mr. John Dramani Mahama is cited as one of the richest Ghanaians that ever lived. Some say the Bole/Bamboi ex-Member of Parliament is worth a whopping US$900 million.
I am not in a position to confirm or deny that at the moment. Actions, they say, speak louder than words. His sole sponsorship of NDC activities and general demeanour seem to suggest that Mr. John Dramani Mahama is a very rich man. I cannot point to his businesses. All I know is that he worked for the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA) for a few years. The rest of his life has been spent in governance of this country.
Meanwhile, the cedi that was handed to the sitting President at four to one dollar has sunk as low as 12 to one, triggering an economic crisis that has defied logic and unresolved at the time of going to press last night.
Now, professionals are leaving this country in droves. When Kufuor hoisted the elephant at the Castle from 2001 to January 2009, many Ghanaian professionals returned home. Now under the same elephant, doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals are taking flight in their numbers. It is a worrying scenario to add to the crippling economic mess we are now in.
One needs not have gone to Harvard or the London School of Economics to appreciate the enormous economic stranglehold on Ghanaians unleashed by Ken Ofori Atta, the Finance Minister, who is refusing to go away. With the cedi depreciating form 4-1 to 12-1, the cost of living has risen from four in 2016 to 12 as you read this article.
To add to the woes of this country, the promise given by the Finance Minister in his budget presentation recently, that the economy was on course for recovery, has all been illusory. There is no hope in sight, as the average Ghanaian’s burden increases.
It is difficult to see where salvation is coming from, judging by the fact that even Kennedy Agyapong feels comfortable to offer himself for election to be President of this country.
I must be honest, I am baffled by the desire of Mr. Agyapong to seek for the highest office of the land, given the way he has carried himself so far. Mr. Agyapong is a Member of Parliament for Assin North. In some way, he is my parliamentarian. Part of me comes from Assin Akropong, where my father settled, and where I spent my holidays from the elementary school level to post-secondary.
My worry is how my MP talks on radio and television and behaves especially on social media. On countless occasions, the Honourable Member of Parliament has been involved in exchanging words, some unprintable, with little girls on issues bordering on morality.
My checks at Parliament House indicate that Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is one of the regular absentees. If Mr. Agyapong is unable to sit in Parliament and draft laws for this nation, who told him that he is presidential material. He is uncouth, untrained, and certainly not fit for the high office of the land.
The tragedy is that he has got a large following from the base of the party. The base of the party, I mean the Polling Booth Executives, appear to have found a hero in him.
Could anybody imagine the New Patriotic Party, the political edifice founded by the likes of Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia, Dr. J.B. Danquah, B.J. Da Rocha, Peter Ala Adjetey, and co. being led by foul-mouthed Kennedy Agyapong?
I do not know how rich he is, but he goes about bragging about riches. I learn he says he became filthy rich driving a taxi on the streets of New York. I do not buy into that idea. If there are other contributing factors to his so-call riches, he must come clean.
Not many who drive commercial cars on the streets of New York become that rich. Whatever resources he claims to be at his disposal, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is certainly not presidential material.
We must be serious in this society!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
