President Mahama's Digital Address; An Attempt To Remain Politically Relevant In Times Of Crisis
Last night the former President Mahama Stages a political campaign disguised as a digital address to the nation on COVID-19 in what was essentially a regurgitation of what President Nana Addo is doing and wanting to claim them as suggestions on how to fight the COVID-19, the typical "copy copy" he is. Efforts and measures Nana Addo has been praised and recognized for the world over.
I sympathize with President Mahama as he tries to remain politically relevant and enter the political space and have a voice within this tragic and urgent time when there is no room for politics and parochial interest. He feels crowded out and must create that space to be seen and heard to be doing something even if it is irrelevant.
I confess though that he looked a bit more Ghanaian wearing his made in Ghana shirt, after ditching his usual kaftan. The Nana Addo effect on John Mahama was on display as he tried looking and sounding more Presidential including wearing reading glasses. At least he was promoting made in Ghana goods, a good lesson he has learned from Nana.
On a serious note, however, the whole address was a repeat of what President Nana Addo is doing, except the former President presents them as his own ideas he is suggesting to fight COVID-19. There was no single original idea in the whole address, typical of him, he lacks conviction and originality and I won't fault him for that which he himself has acknowledged in his book. However, his address reinforced my trust in Nana Addo as doing the right things to curb this pandemic. The John Mahama digital address was a stamp of approval of President Nana Addo's work so far.
For instance, President Mahama reiterated several times the need for testing, contact tracing, and treatment as the way to go. Fortunately for us, Ghana under Nana Addo Is leading the whole of Sub-saharan Africa in testing, tracing and treatment.
Furthermore, President Mahama asked for Ghana to locally manufacture face masks and other PPE's. Ghanaian companies which collapsed under his government today thanks to Nana Addo's policy to take advantage of the COVID-19 and become self-sufficient, same companies are producing face mask and hand sanitizers among others and even exporting same to neighboring countries.
He also asked for Ghana to make efforts at producing vaccines to reduce the cost. I am not sure if President Nana Addo's addresses are lost on him but this is something already in the pipeline.
Unfortunately, typical of the Ex-President, whilst he was busy touting what Nana Addo Is doing as his own, he went a bit too far insulting ECOWAS Presidents and world leaders.
The former President belittles current Presidents of ECOWAS When he says he suggested a virtual meeting among them a few weeks ago based on his experience during the Ebola outbreak.
It was even more nauseating when he suggested that he advised world leaders at the UN general assembly during the Ebola outbreak, but which advise wasn't taken leading to the current spread.
His lack of appreciation of the enormity of the COVID-19pandemic and on the lives and economies of the world leads him to make comparisons between the two. For education purposes, less than 20 countries were affected by Ebola and none of them was shut or lockdown as a result. COVID-19 has affected over 180 countries and the world is on lockdown with tens of trillions of dollars required to restart the world economy with hundreds of thousands dead. His attempt to make himself relevant in these difficult times for political purposes only tells how parochial and self-centered he is.
However, I have a few questions for the former President. 1. The Gen Secretary of the NDC stated when the President announced a lockdown that it was meant to rig elections. Since the lift, President Mahama says it's for political reasons. What is his and his party's position on the lockdown and the lifting of the partial ban?
2. If he was President and based on the data and science available to him which is not available to the current President, would he have kept the country locked down and for how long?
3. If he was President, would he have given every Ghanaian free electricity, free food, free data as he and his party seem to be espousing?
The former President is a good talker, a nice gentleman but who unfortunately lacks conviction, flip flops on everything, and lacks originality with no proven record of starting and completing anything but good at borrowing and making people's ideas as his own.
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