The good book says in Galatians 6:7 that “…God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.”
How true!!! Given the outcome of the December 7, 2024 elections- A super majority in Parliament for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) micro-mini minority and 56.55% for John Mahama, compared to Bawumia’s 41.61%: 6,328,397 – 4,657,304 = 1,671,093- The Gap.
When I wrote the article titled, “As the curtains are drawn on Akufo-Addo’s presidency …”, I knew from the numerous published polls that former president Mahama would be given a second chance. What I could not foretell is the level of humiliation that the electorate had planned for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in its entirety.
Indeed, the comment is rife that the outcome of the elections is a referendum on the reign of President Akufo-Addo. “If you are for Akufo-Addo vote Number 1, if no, thumbprint Number 8,” that’s how a vociferous businessman, Senyo Hosi, put it during a post-election discussion on TV3.
The purpose of this article is therefore to bring you what I saw in my mind’s eye as floating voters entered the booth to thumbprint their ballots. Yes! Floating voters – Those who do not consistently vote for the same political party.
They made the difference. That’s because over the years, the statistics show that the NPP and NDC have 40% of the votes secured through their core base. The deciders have always been floating voters. Yet ruling governments fail to address the concerns of these kingmakers.
Well, here are some the factors that account for the mammoth rejection of the NPP by floating voters:
The Akufo-Addo factor
When as President, you win an election on a slogan that says “the battle is the Lord’s” yet you subject His children to pain and anguish through bad governance, floating voters will thank the Lord for December 7.
When as President, you promise to build a cathedral in honour of God without using state funds, yet you clandestinely use the people’s money, He exposes you for floating voters to mock you on December 7.
When as President, you decide to be unresponsive to the concerns of the governed, floating voters have no choice but to show you where power lies on December 7.
When as President, over 90 of your party’s MPs call for the removal of your cousin as Finance Minister, yet you call their bluff until the worse happened, floating voters see the kind of leader you are and take a decision on December 7.
When as President, the governed complain that your ministers are not delivering, yet you retort that they are performing excellently, the floating voters look on with discontent and act on December 7.
When as President of a highly religious country, you dilly-dally with your assent to an antigay bill, the floating voters take note of the sin and spell out the consequence on December 7.
When as President, you decide to honour yourself with a statue when the governed are unable to afford the basic necessities of life, floating voters harbour their grievances and vent on December 7.
When as President, you become so pompous as to command every chief, except Asantehene and Ga Mantse, to stand up when you show up, floating voters make a mental note and act on December 7.
When as President, a Volta Region chief complains about stalled projects in his chiefdom and you are told about it, you tell him to go continue the project if he wills, your party’s only seat in the region will be taken away on December 7.
When as President, you put your presidency on the line to fight galamsey, yet you make faces at the GJA President when he urges you to tell the people something, journalists will write it down for reference on December 7.
When as President, you tell displaced residents of Volta Region that you could have avoided visiting them because they don’t vote for you, floating voters add their votes to that of voltarians (the NDC’s World Bank) on December 7.
When as President, you tell chiefs from Ekumfi that you intentionally deprived them of development because they did not vote for your preferred candidate, floating voters note your pettiness and punish you on December 7.
When as President, 8 of your “Fellow Ghanaians,” are killed after an election that retained you in office, you fail to console the families of the deceased, floating voters note your insensitivity and ignore your party on December 7.
When as President, your actions compel priests in white gown, for the first time in history, to hit the streets on the scorching sun to urge you to stop galamsey yet you did not say ‘fi’ to them, floating voters observe and act on December 7.
When as President, you start commissioning uncompleted projects two months to elections, floating voters see through your vote-winning gimmick and respond on December 7.
The Bawumia factor
When as Vice President, you tell the governed that you are not responsible for their hardship, although you chair the Economic Management Team (EMT), floating voters bypass number 1 and go all the way to number 8 on the ballot on December 7.
When as chairman of the EMT, you tell the business community that the cedi depreciated less under your government than the NDC, when it is GHC17 to $1, they see through the unjustifiable justification and speak on December 7.
When as Vice President, you tell the governed that taxes that have increased their cost of living cannot be removed because if you do everything now, what will you do tomorrow? Floating voters see you as someone looking to be president for the sake of it and wait for December 7.
When as Vice President, your innovative solution to challenges facing ‘Kayayei’ (Head porters), is to host them in a hostel for two weeks, train them and throw them back onto the streets, they bottle their sentiments and pour it out on December 7.
When as Vice President, you tell the governed that the national budget is not your budget, yet you claim to have implemented 33 public policies, floating voters see someone who does not know what he is about, hence will ignore your slot on the ballot on December 7.
When as Vice President you, claim to be the brain behind the nations digitalization strides yet cannot open an E-gate, floating voters recognize your incompetence and reject you on December 7.
When as Vice President, you bear a Moslem name yet visit the Pope and other Christian leaders for divine intervention, floating voters see a desperate quest to be president so they decide on December 7.
When as presidential candidate, your main campaign message is to mockingly describe poultry farming as rearing of ‘Nkukor nkitinkti’ (Chickens), poultry farmers who are floating voters will mark you down on December 7.
The Matthew Opoku Prempeh factor
When as a long-standing bachelor you suddenly take a wife in anticipation of being selected as your party’s vice presidential candidate, floating voters see through your plans and respond appropriately on December 7.
When as running mate to a highly unfavoured presidential candidate, you tell your supporters that God sleeps, the Almighty will, for your sake, take a brief nap on December 7.
When as running mate to a highly unfavoured presidential candidate, you urge your supporters to vote for your opponent (Mahama nie!!!), they do exactly that on December 7.
When as running mate to a highly unfavoured presidential candidate, you denigrate the founder of your country, his family, friends and floating voters will register their disdain on December 7.
When as Energy Minister, you tell the governed that the erratic power supply (Dumsor) they are experiencing is a figment of their imagination, and that the evil people who see the need for a timetable should prepare one for themselves, they accept it in silence and react on December 7.
When as Minister of Education, you tell sun-burnt students who faint at the Independence Square in their quest to be placed on the Computerized Schools Placement System that some evil people paid them GHC50 to feign fainting, they eagerly await December 7.
The Afenyo- Markin Factor
When as Majority Leader of Parliament you sacrifice the supremacy of Parliament by getting the Judiciary to overturn the Speaker’s decision, you incur the wrath of floating voters and they speak on December 7.
When as Majority Leader you become so petty as to say that it is spiritually unwise to sit at the Minority side of the House, floating voters will conspire with the gods to send you into a micro-mini-Minority on December 7.
When as Majority Leader, you castigate journalists for referring to you as Minority Leader, floating voters question your leadership capabilities and pray for a change in your status on December 7.
When as Majority Leader, your public posturing and outbursts leave people questioning how you got that position, floating voters will decide on your party’s fate on December 7.
The Chairman Wontumi factor
When as Chairman of the Ashanti Regional branch of the governing party (Your World Bank), you flaunt your wealth on TV, while the majority of the residents wallow in poverty, they watch you with scorn and speak on December 7.
When as Chairman of the Ashanti Regional branch of the governing party (Your World Bank), you are not seen championing the interest of the masses, rather you assure them that there are million ways of winning elections, they show you the power of the thumb on December 7.
The arrogance of power factor
From Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey through Kwasi Amoako-Atta to Annor Dompreh, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and Bryan Acheampong, the spirit of arrogance inhabited many of President Akufo-Addo’s appointees.
They spoke to Ghanaians anyhow anytime we raised issues with government policies. In Ghanaian parlance, they spoke to us “by heart”:
“…please if you do not have need for a passport and because you cannot afford, please, humbly, I am asking you not to go for a passport,” – Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey on high cost of passports.
“Last year, I stood here in Mpraeso and said that whether NDC likes it or not they will never win the 2024 polls. If you don’t win an election, will power be handed over to you? We will not hand it over to them today or tomorrow,” – Bryan Acheampong on handing over power after election 2024.
“Sometimes you get people who are supposed to know better, well-educated people who should advice their colleagues joining demonstrations. Demonstrations don’t build roads,” – Kwasi Amoako-Atta on demonstrations over poor state of roads.
“If we are to look and investigate both sides of the House (NPP and NDC), I can tell you that the NDC polluted the water more than us,” – Frank Annor-Dompreh on effects of galamsey on river bodies.
“Until a week ago, there were no queues at any registration center. People started rushing to register when they realized the deadline was imminent after going to sleep when it was extended…the full scope of sanctions will be revealed. If you suffer that fate as a result of your own inaction, kindly do not blame your service provider. To be forewarned is to be forearmed,” – Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on calls for extension of deadline for SIM re-registration.
It’s time to go
It is easy to discern from the biblical edict aforementioned, that God felt mocked by President Akufo-Addo’s failure to deliver his promise of the National Cathedral and the pain unleashed on His children.
Therefore, one can say without equivocation that the NPP has reaped what they sowed. And the fruit is none other than the “Incompetent Mahama,” the “Government Official 1.” The man they succeeded in getting the floating voter to reject in 2016. Hold on! Why am I getting the conviction that the 2020 presidential election was rigged?
Well, the floating voters were resolute on December 7 2024 and John Mahama is President-elect. He has the arduous task of resetting the economy though.
“My brothers and sisters, there is much to do to salvage our country and reset it. We have to start with the resetting of the relationship between citizens and elected officials. We must never forget that the people of Ghana have chosen us to represent their wishes and best interest,” Mahama said in his victory speech on December 10, 2024.
Two themes stick out from this quote for me. One – We have to start with the resetting of the relationship between citizens and elected officials. It is time for politicians to realise that they are because we are. Without our votes, they are nobodies. Without our taxes, they are nobodies.
Two- We must never forget that the people of Ghana have chosen us to represent their wishes and best interest. That is why some of us will queue as early as 2:00am to vote for them. Not for them to enrich themselves, but to seek our interest- facilitate our access to food, clothing and shelter by implementing appropriate policies and programmes.
Currently, there is joy in the air even as NPP faithful gnash their teeth. Some have even described the feeling as Ghana’s second Independence. As for me, because I heard this same statement in the year 2000 when President Kufuor took over from the late President Rawlings, I am cautiously optimistic.
My hope may be rekindled if President-elect Mahama is able to convince President Akufo-Addo for exgratia to be scrapped immediately. How do we dole out huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to people who have received significant amounts as salaries and allowances for four years, in the name of exgratia?
Plus, I strongly believe that working with 20 cabinet ministers and 16 regional ministers will assure the floating voters, who actually made the second coming of JM possible, that he really meant it when he said “…the people of Ghana have chosen us to represent their wishes and best interest.”
It is possible. If this does not happen, all I can say is that December 7 2028 is only a ticking clock away.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Advance.
Au Revoir – That’s goodbye in French
Let God Lead!!! Follow Him directly, not through any human.
The writer is the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Columnist of the Year- 2022. He is the author of two books whose contents share knowledge on how anyone desirous of writing like him can do so. Eric can be reached via email [email protected]
Source:
3news.com
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