GHANA UNDER NANA AKUFO ADDO; WEAK LEADERSHIP, LIES, NEPOTISM AND TERROR AND WHY FOREIGN INVESTORS SHOULD BE WORRIED

Before saying anything that I have in mind, I want to render an unqualified apology to my friends, family and followers who might have made their choices during the 2016 general elections based on my recommendations. Out of frustration due to the perceived mass arrogance and corruption from the leadership of NDC, I thought handing Ghana to the NPP was the best choice.

Unfortunately I was wrong. I was wrong in my claims of how peaceful NPP will handle Ghana; I was wrong in my conclusions on how caring the party would be to the average Ghanaian; and I was wrong in thinking that Dr. Bawumia will stop campaigning and use what he learned to run the country. I was wrong in everything. I cannot tell whether my pronouncements influenced anybody’s choice; but if they did, I am sorry!

To tell you why I arrived at this conclusion, I want to break my article into various headings so I can make my points clear;

Weak leadership and terror;

More than 20 acts of vigilantism have been recorded in Ghana since NPP came to power. It all started when the party was declared winner of the 2016 elections. Some rebel groups took to the streets to seize public facilities including toilets, toll booths, car parks and you name them. Some of these “mad people” burned down the very facilities that they were seeking control of; who in his right senses does this? Burning the property you are seizing! Right at the seat of government, law enforcement officers were beaten for nothing more than the fact that they were doing their job as specified by the constitution and their portfolios.

Then the president was sworn in to handle the affairs of the country. Almost every other appointment of the president is challenged by this “terror groups.” They have the power to walk into public offices and send out any occupant that they don’t support. As I write this article, they still have the keys to some government offices. Unbelievable!!

They cause all kinds of havoc and are defended by politicians in the country. The disturbing story about these groups is that, they do not hide to carry out the terror. Unlike Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-Qaida who hit and run, these guys hit and move straight to the media houses to announce their activities. When they are picked up by the police, the politicians will walk in and bail them. And if that delays, you guess what happens next…..

Attacks on public institutions are so common that I wonder if I will advise anybody to establish a company in Ghana as things stand now. For if government institutions are being attacked, who the hell is a private investor? The rebels have the power to invade court rooms, harass judges, and even invade police stations to release their leaders in custody. Where will the average Ghanaian seek cover and or hide when under attack? I want every Ghanaian to know that Ghana is peaceful by the mercy of luck; and we must pray for this luck to exist through the period of NPP’s leadership.

In all these happenings, the question becomes “where is the president?” Indeed a member of parliament on the ticket of the ruling party once stated that the president is commander in chief of armed forces and not the police; as such nobody should expect him to bring these hooligans to order. One will wonder the message this guy preached to win his seat.

If the president of the republic cannot guarantee the citizens that they are safe; if the citizens cannot call on the president to demand their safety from the hands of some jobless hooligans, what then is the use of that president? Just for functions and plagiarizing speeches?

People are not seeing the dangers related to the activities of these groups, but I am afraid Ghana might gradually be producing its own Boko Haram – thanks to the government of NPP. Given the power these groups possess with just NPP’s 9 months in power, what can’t they do in 4 years’ time? If the party is stabilized, they would be funded by the very politicians who support them to acquire sophisticated weapons, and kpujaaa, we are all dead! After NPP’s regime, they will then run into the Ghanaian mountains and terrorize Ghanaians for life. NPP is breeding terror, danger, death, and distraction for the country – yet the president is doing nothing beyond speeches.

Who will save my people? The police said they cannot do much because political interference does not allow them to do their work. According to the Director General of Public Affairs of the Ghana police service, ACP David Oklu, their work is being done by the politicians – confirming the endorsement given these terrorists by the NPP government. Who will save my people?

Lies and Nepotism

It is mind boggling that Dr. Bawumia fabricated economics to win power, and still believes he can fabricate same to manage the country. All forms of lies were told about debt, exchange rate and the rest. However, nothing significant has changed in any of these areas. Rather, NPP under Bawumia is trying all it can to borrow under some aliases. I am not someone against debt – I don’t think debt is evil unless it is secured to pay operational expenses. Why then would the managers of the economy not accept that they lied and go straight into borrowing.

NDC was called evil for borrowing at higher rates – with Dr. Bawumia telling his story to anything that has ears. Most bonds issued by the NDC got more subscribers than planned. What happened to the energy sector bond under the genius economic managers? They are so quiet about it so Ghanaians will not know that they are failing. The bond was hugely undersubscribed because the name they gave it does not make sense to investors. You can only lie to the Ghanaian voter; to the informed investor, Tweaaa Kai!

Before issuing this same bond, the economic team came out defending the rate and why it will be higher or around 19%. They used the inflation rate in the country to justify why the rate should be certain percentage and not below that. My question is, when NPP was making noise about cost of borrowing under NDC, the crusade that Dr. Bawumia led, were they not aware that inflation rate plays a role in the rate determination? Did inflation rate “germinate” under NPP? The fact is that economics does not lend itself to propaganda and lies; you can lie to power, but fact will expose you if try to lie to manage.

Can Dr. Bawumia make another presentation after 9 months to tell us how much NPP has borrowed so far and the fair value of such debts using the very exchange rate conversions he used for the NDC loans? Now after that can he also point to us, a single capital project that has been completed by NPP to merit such debt?

Sometimes I ask myself whether NPP thinks it can solve the problems of Ghana by lying on the former president and his ministers. From the noise around the SSNIT software to the shameless claims that John Dramani Mahama constructed a guesthouse at Bole for his comfort; one tries to understand what the party is trying to tell Ghanaians.

Is it because the guesthouse is at Mahama’s hometown or any other guesthouse constructed under NDC/Mahama would be labeled such? Is Bole not Ghana? Would it be wrong for Ghana to build accommodation in any part of the country to take care of the president? I am asking these questions, assuming stupidly that the former president really did that. I think NPP’s hatred for any development that goes to the north is now visible to me after I denied such claims for some time. Sadly enough, our northern brothers are those who share these nonsense than anybody else.

On the story of Nepotism – we have seen and heard public pronouncements by NPP leadership, who are supported by some visionless youth who think their party would be in power till eternity, projecting supporters of NPP above any other person in Ghana. Nana Addo’s family and clan is also higher up than any other NPP member. So the hierarchy is Nana and family – original citizens and most qualified people; NPP members – second most important citizens; the rest of us – Ogbanjes and fake Ghanaians!

Indeed, a whole ambassador, representing the president in another country pronounced that everything should be NPP members before any other Ghanaian. I do not mention names of people like him, because it would be some form of glorification. But I believe he is Ghana’s “Low Commissioner” to South Africa.

If you are reading this, note that if NPP has that power, an NPP supporter with mere headache should get the doctor’s attention before your dying father, mother, son, daughter…. who might need immediate attention to survive. This is true no matter your political affiliation – just note that you are inferior compared to any other NPP supporter.

You can be an independent who was tired of NDC and decided to vote for NPP; you can be neutral; you can be a foreigner whose business is currently employing some NPP supporters – just know that you are second to NPP supporters, fake and ogbanje. Indirectly, the party is telling Ghanaians that by voting and elevating them to power, we indirectly demoted our statuses as Ghanaians to lesser Ghanaians and or second citizens. We only matter when NPP is satisfied. Anybody who needs help before them can go to hell! That is the change Ghana got.

I read an article where “Chairman” Wontumi declared that he supports such pronouncement because NPP members suffered to bring the party to power. What an ignorant chairman! He thinks only NPP members voted for the party to win. Hopefully Ghanaians are listening. When other countries are calling its citizens abroad to come home and help develop the country; NPP leadership is calling on non – NPP members to stay clear until NPP members are satisfied. What a logic.

Why foreign investors should be worried.

If I am a consultant who is advising foreign investors with the ambition of entering the Ghanaian economy – my advice would be for them to wait. With how things are going, their safety and security cannot be guaranteed. There are government empowered vigilante groups terrorizing citizens; nobody can guarantee that foreign investors will be spared. The government and its justice department cannot be trusted to fight for citizens talk less of foreigners. We just cannot trust the president to keep Ghanaians safe at this time. He has not demonstrated such commitment and there is no indication he is willing to do that.

To conclude, I am scared, I am sad, I am disappointed and got it all wrong when I believed that NPP was a good choice for Ghanaians. I thought I was selecting the best of the worse. Unfortunately, my choice was wrong. For I will rather choose a peaceful economy with thieves and arrogant leaders as long as they don’t threaten my survival; to a corruption free leadership with terror every other minute
to maturity.

God save Ghana

Abubakari Sadiq Iddrisu [Writer]