Biblical Ananias is reputed to be the greatest liar on earth. He sold his plot of land and connived with Sapphira, his wife to send only part of the amount to the Apostles. The two pocketed the rest for their own use. But the deed was discovered by Spirit filled Peter who rebuked the husband. Immediately, Ananias dropped dead at the feet of the Apostles.
Over here in Ghana, our President, John Dramani Mahama is enacting a similar script. For one thing, he lied through his tenure as Vice President and with his elevation to the position of President he has became a liar on a gargantuan scale. In fact, lying is now his second nature. Not a day passes without Ghanaians hearing one false statement or utterances from either the President himself or his acolytes.
Turn to Page 3 of the Ghanaian Lens of Tuesday, 2nd September, 2008 with the heading “10% of Oil Revenue will Go to Western Region – John Mahama”.
“The Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Mahama has promised that his party would use 10% of the oil revenue to develop the Western Region. Mr Mahama who is touring the region said it is prudent for the people in the region to be compensated daily for the adverse effects of the emerging oil industry.
“Radio Max’s Kweku Owusu Peprah told Joy News that the running mate of Professor Mills promised to refurbish the railway system in the Western Region which he accused the Kufuor administration of neglecting”.
People of Ghana, hear me now. When the issue of giving 10% of the oil revenue to the Western Region resurfaced last year or so, what did the NDC say? The party said it made no such promise. Our President was not bold enough to own up to having made that declaration on behalf of the NDC.
To me, the mark of a true gentleman is the courage or ability to stand by his words/utterances even if it means being vilified, condemned or crucified. There is not an iota of virtue in our President.
The President has not been forthcoming with the truth as it concerns the death of his predecessor, John Evans Atta Mills. He said it openly that it was the death of his former boss which opened a door of opportunity for him to become President. Does that not make him culpable in the unsolved mystery surrounding the death of his former boss?
Again, there is every indication that the relationship that existed between the late President Atta Mills and the current one, John Mahama was anything but cordial. John Mahama finds out his former boss was not well but refuses to visit him at home. And it was not as if the late President was staying far away for they both had their offices right inside the Castle. The late President lived there. But John Mahama deliberately ignored his former boss and refused to go and see him even though he, (John Mahama) knew that the late President was not in sound health.
What do you make of that? Was it was mere hatred, envy or a subtle opportunity to ‘migrate’ from the Vice Presidential Seat to that of the President. Yes, appearance could sometimes be deceptive. President John Mahama, it appears had played the role of Macbeth. Indeed, King Duncan’s observation that “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction on the face” aptly fits John Dramani Mahama.
“Here in Ghana, in less than six weeks we will find ourselves lining up to elect a President. That is nothing strange. The strange thing raising eyebrows is the revelation that one of the presidential aspirants is allegedly involved in the mysterious death of his predecessor. President John Dramani Mahama, presidential candidate of the Nefarious Destructive Cancer is at the centre of this saga but has been as mute as an embalmed Egyptian Pharaoh neither admitting nor denying his involvement.
“The man has said nothing. His close friends have said nothing, hangers on and the party chiefs have been silent over the accusation. It is much unlike them. When Baba Jamal and Yaw Boateng Gyan were caught on tape, even with incontrovertible evidence against them the general verdict at the camp of the nefarious destructive cancer was that ‘They have done nothing wrong. It is NDC political enemies at work’.
“The charge against the President stands only as an allegation. But why has President Mahama been so silent over an allegation that potentially can wreck the NDC in the elections? Does he know something frightening about the death of his predecessor that we are yet to know? Does he think silence is the best option? Those defending John Mahama blindly should rather ask him to come clean if they truly love Ghana instead of being carried away by partisan stupidity”.
On one occasion John Mahama said he had met the former President in his office on the morning he died and had even seen him a few minutes before his death. On another occasion, he forgot what he had told Ghanaians earlier on. On that occasion he said that the late President had sent a memo to his office to asking him (John Mahama) to represent him (Mills) at a public function. In all this contradictory utterances, President Mahama had other high ranking government officials to back him up. Is the President telling the truth?
President John Dramani Mahama, speak out. Your silence is too deafening?
As Vice President, John Mahama brought a South Korea Company called STX to construct houses for the security services in the country. The New Patriotic Party advised the NDC administration to be cautious with the way it was going about the issue, but John Mahama would have none of that. Why? For one, he was probably thinking of the “great cut” he was going to make out of the deal for himself. Therefore whoever stood in his way had to be crushed. And that was the reason why he resorted to insults and name calling. He called members of the opposition parties who had advised cautious approach to the deal as “baloney”. Vice President John Mahama, then de-facto President brought Security Personnel to Parliament to intimidate opposition members during the passage of the bill which was done under a certificate of Urgency.
Every aspect of the STX loan agreement smacks of corruption, but Mahama would not allow the voice of reason to prevail. It was the cut he would make for himself which was the deciding factor. For all he cared, Ghana could burn so long as he got his “cut”. For example there was to be a political risk insurance of $265 million to be paid upfront. A cheaper one could have been arranged but no, John Mahama, would have none of that. This risk insurance money from all indications, have been paid to the dubious company, but John Mahama and his Nefarious Destructive Cancer say, it has not.
But listening to Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing on the floor of Parliament on July 6th, 2011 leaves no doubts in one’s mind that the money has indeed been paid.
“The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has issued the Sovereign Guarantees and made the necessary arrangements for the transfers of the money”.
Again, President Mahama, then Vice President was sent to Brazil by the late President Mills to go and arrange the purchase of 5 air crafts for the use of the Ghana Armed Forces. The contract figure he brought was “gargantually scandalous” so much so that the late President instituted a three member Committee to investigate the corrupt deal by his Vice. Could you envisage how one tyre of the plane could go for One Million Dollars? Why! You might exclaim. But that was the figure our current President John Mahama brought.
But why should the President inflate the figure of the five planes? It is because the Nefarious Destructive Cancer, as a party is rotten through and through and this has permeated all ramifications of the party. And the President is not an exception. He equally is infested with the bed-bugs that have burrowed deep into the skin of the party.
Again President Mahama has surreptitiously bought a private jet in the name of his junior brother. He has not been bold enough to tell Ghanaians the plane belongs to him. When questioned about this development he will tell you to read his lips. The brother had been in business for a long time but could not buy a private jet. But he could only afford one after his brother had become President? Co-incidence, one might say.
And that is not all. Members of the nefarious contraption have been making a lot of cacophonous noise about purchase of government bungalows by members of the New Patriotic Party. They tend to overlook the fact that one of them, infact the highest ranking member, President John Mahama has also bought a government bungalow by proxy through his brother. Ask John Mahama and he will point at his brother. But why should everything be traced to the President’s younger brother?
Indeed, it is true that the President has been lying throughout his life. But one thing I know is that liars cannot and will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.
This brings me to the question of Free and Qualitative Education at the Senior High School as promised by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. On this, President John Dramani Mahama has been consistently inconsistent with his criticism of the policy. He has continued to shift the goal-post every time he comments on the policy. But what is your alternate policy, Mr President? You appear not to be in your best element when the free SHS Education Policy is being discussed. The President and the Nefarious Destructive Cancer have always thumped their chest of opening two new Public Universities in both the Volta and the Western Regions. But the Universities are yet to take off. Isn’t that a deceit of the highest order? Yes, that’s what they have done to us.
President Mahama and his ignorant NDC apparatchiks are so mesmerized by Nana’s free SHS concept and his free and eloquent delivery anytime that the subject is broached that they must use any means to halt the progressive forward march process of the policy. His Education Minister, Lee Ocran, who like the doubting Thomas in the Holy Bible refused to accept the fact that Jesus Christ had resurrected, even with concrete evidence tells Ghanaians that it will take Twenty Years before the policy could be feasible. His boss President John Mahama disagrees and says it will be possible after Ten Years. The two have perhaps forgotten the saying “that if you stay too long at the river the current will sweep you away”.
President Mahama has again shifted the goal post. He no longer talks of Free SHS Education. He now talks about standardization of school fees in all SHS throughout the country. But that is a total lie. It is not possible to standardize school fees in Senior High Schools all over the country. No, it is not, lai, lai!
But doesn’t it intrigue you that despite John Mahama and the NDC’s ‘paa paa’ of putting up more structures in schools before embarking on Free Education at the SHS Level, the number of permanent classrooms available to the public sector for efficient delivery of education in the Greater Accra Region declined by 1,783 classrooms within the last two years:2010/2011 and 2011/2012?
Number of Permanent Classrooms in Public Schools
2009/2010 2010/11 2011/2012 Gap over 2010.2011
Kindergaten 1,939 1,207 993 -214
Primary 5,843 6,806 4,952 -1,854
Junior High Sch. 3,358 2,636 2,757 121
Senior High Sch. 987 1,012 1,176 164
Total 11,127 11661 9,878 -1,783
(source: EMIS, MOE,2012)
The Results of Annual District Operational Plan Implementation in 2011/2012 Academic Year
Construction of classrooms : Only one unit classroom built
Rehabilitation and maintenance of sch. Facilities: 3 classroom blocks renovated
Provision of incentive package for teaching staff in 25 teachers were supplied with gas cylinder
remote areas: and their accessories;
Implementation of STMIE clinic : 45 students participated in STMIE clinic;
Provision of school furniture : 128 KG round tables &70 dual desks and 63 mono desks;
Provision of teaching/learning materials: Assorted & already-made TLMs provided to 25 schools;
In-service Training for teaching Staff and 547 officers and teachers trained to improve their
Circuit supervisors : management skills & ensure effective teaching/learning;
Construction of Office accommodation: Two office rooms were constructed;
Science Fair : : 30 pupils from 15 basic schools participated;
Best Teachers Award: 63 staff were awarded at the Best Teacher Ceremony;
School uniforms to needy students: 30 needy pupils benefitted.
(Source: MMD ADEAP, 2011)
The above are some of the much touted achievements of John Dramani Mahama in the field of Education. Isn’t it a deceit and 419 of the highest order to supply free school uniforms to only 30 pupils in a region that boasts of 834,591 pupils at the Basic School Level and still thump your chest as if you had done something intelligent. It is criminal and the President and members of his Nefarious Contraption ought to be arrested and brought before the people’s court to show cause why they should not be “castrated”.
Did the Nefarious Destructive Cancer put up any infrastructure in place before embarking on the JSS and SSS concept? Did they make adequate consultations with stake-holders before dismantling the entire framework of the country’s educational system? No, they did not, but they now have the temerity to look Ghanaians in the face and tell us that free education is not possible.
Hypocrites of the highest order! That’s what they are. And the President is no different! A President who has given different accounts of the death of his predecessor and gained from it should be the last person to talk of morals to Ghanaians. If he has no hand in the strange circumstances leading to the death of his predecessor, he should tell Ghanaians which of the various accounts he has given is authentic.
Gosh, President John Mahama is not credible. Virtue, honesty, hardwork, Godliness are some of the qualities one should not expect to find in the vocabulary of the man who rejoiced at the demise of his predecessor because the seat he had been eying for a long time had finally come to him. Do we entrust our collective destiny to this vicious and visionless man without focus?
Why can’t President Mahama tell Ghanaians to the face that there is nothing wrong with the West African Pipeline supplying Gas to the country? Why can’t he tell Ghanaians the truth that Nigeria has cut of supply of Gas to Ghana because of non payment? The truth of the mater is that money meant to pay for the Gas was diverted into paying Woyome’s dubious judgement debt.
And this President, who doesn’t care how you and I survive, this man who together with his Greedy Bastards, Babies with sharp teeth and the Old Evil Dwarfs insult us to the face that any person who doesn’t see their “Bitter Ghana Agenda” is either blind or asleep wants Ghanaians to give him their votes so that he could cover his involvement in the death of his predecessor the same way that they ‘escorted’ one of the people implicated in the death of Issah Mobillah outside the country’s borders.
And I say ‘no’ to that. Ghanaians, stand up and fight for your rights. We cannot wash away the death of our former President just like that. The President must proffer answers to all the issues raised concerning the death. A vote for John Mahama will preclude Ghanaians from knowing the true cause of the former president’s death. A vote against John Mahama on the other hand will in the President’s own words “open a door of opportunity” for us, the “mmoborowas” to bring to justice all those whose hands are tainted with the blood of our late President.
It will also afford Ghanaians another opportunity to put a halt to our dwindling fortunes in all aspects of our national life and put the country back on track. But the greatest benefit of all is that it will reverse John Mahama’s phobia for Nana Akufo Addo’s Free Education at the Senior High School level. For John Mahama’s cardinal policy on education is simply that “Free Education is not possible, neither now or in the foreseeable future”.
But I, together with the visionary Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo say it is possible. And the time is now!!
Daniel Danquah Damptey (damptey_daniel@yahoo.com) 0243715297