Dramani Mahama under pressure
For some months now I have refrained from passing through a place in my locality in the Weija-Kasoa area that we generally refer to as The Base.
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Over that period I have received various phone calls and text messages to report at The Base. I have still not met the group who, I understand, are in proper Mahama-bashing mood over the current economic crisis (or is it challenges) facing the country.
It is an understatement to say that John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana, is under serious pressure due to the precarious economic situation of the country and the group wants to hammer it to advantage .
I used to be punctual to The Base, where we used to discuss and talk politics, economics, women, drinks and occasionally lotto.
Most of the people in this group come from the other side of my political persuasion. As a social democrat, I have been matching them boot for boot and occasionally I have used my wider knowledge of issues to inform, educate and sometimes browbeat them by defending some of the policies, actions, inaction and perceptions of my people and government.
I have been dodging because I can’t defend again the indefensible. It appears nothing is working in Kwame Nkrumah’s country under the leadership of the affable third John.
I know that times are very hard; these are dangerous times. So what is there to defend as the government continues to plod from one crisis to another.
There is crisis everywhere. News for some months have not been palatable . Prices of goods and services have gone up astronomically and life has become unbearable.
Cement prices have shot up. Water and electricity rates, transport charges have also gone up, as well as taxes. And there is a big despondency with Mahama being bashed all the way. The recent petrol price increase has doubled the agony.
With the national debt at 58 billion Ghana cedis, inflation at 15 per cent, the constant depreciation of the cedi, ,increase in utility tariffs and prices of foodstuffs, and the perception of corruption, things are not good and I will not go to the group for these vociferous guys to tear me up. Even on a normal day when things used to be okay, you could not match these guys and friends who had honed their ability to criticise to a higher pedestal.They did it to President Mills
The School Feeding Programme, National Health Insurance Scheme, MPs Common Fund and the District Assembly Common Fund are all in arrears as the statutory payments had not been forthcoming. Where has the money gone to?
Payment to contractors under the Road Fund has not been regular and the centre cannot hold. Tax increases and the overspending by the government had made the government unable to fulfil its functions to the statutory bodies.
Some weeks ago, there was this issue of non-payment of scholarship grants to Ghanaian medical students in Cuba.
There is constant labour agitation from teachers, nurses and doctors. Petroleum product distributors were up in arms recently and there is more disquiet to come. Last week , the Trades Union Congress organised one of the biggest demonstrations in Accra and the regional capitals over the bad economic situation in the country.
The big demo ended with a call on the Mahama-led adminstration to deliver Ghanaians from the current economic hardships, corruption, depreciation of the cedi and the high unemployment rate .
Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomeah, says the only way Ghanaians can end the ‘long suffering’ is to vote out the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2016 general elections.
Mahama’s situation is exemplified by the icon album by Ras Kimono, the great Nigerian roots reggae songster’s – Under Pressure, which made waves in the late 1980s. Some of the lyrics of the song go like this– “People wailing , people dying every day, under pressure...” We are under pressure and Mahama is under pressure.
Times are very hard, there is despondency, strikes everywhere.The depreciating cedi, the high cost of living, the constant bashing and the firefighting approach to national issues have brought everybody under pressure including me.
What is needed is a general consensus on the way forward. An export-led-development impetus, a reduction in the import of foreign goods, a strenuous effort to stop the depreciation of the cedi, creation of employment avenues and a lean government can help. A strengthened private sector and more patronage of made-in-Ghana goods can all help.
Hopefully, the third Euro bond, which is expected to raise 1.5 billion dollars and the cocoa syndication loan of two billion dollars for cocoa purchases, will also help to lessen the greying of Mahama. It is a fact that the office greys leaders but the constant pressure on Mahama has made him greyer.
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Thankfully Mahama has pledged to up his game and get to work to get things going so that some of us can show our head at The Base. We hope for a better Ghana and not a bitter Ghana . Until then, we have no ammunition to fire back at the Mahama bashers.
Writer’s email: fiifi.mensah@raphic.com.gh