That’s not President John Mahama!

Enimil Ashon Opinion May - 20 - 2014 , 08:39

I know His Excellency John Dramani Mahama- not close though. I have admired him from afar. In that sense alone, I have known him for years.

In 2000, when John Agyekum Kufuor took over the reins of government, I wrote a welcome address in the Ghanaian Times, in which in pleading with the President to give inclusiveness a chance, I singled out Messrs John Dramani Mahama and Kwesi Ahwoi for consideration as ministers of state in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

As a Minister of Information, Mahama had impressed me, advertising himself as an apolitical politician and also a wordsmith who, aware of the power of words, was careful how to use them, knowing their potential for good (unite) or for ill (tear apart).

In 2009, I led the Ghanaian Times team as editor of the paper to do an editorial piece in which we commended the sobriety of the then Vice-President and pleaded with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to give pragmatists such as him a chance in cutting the party’s path, if the party was to be accepted by the critically influential floating voters of Ghana.

The editorial was occasioned by what the paper saw as the wisdom in his speech as Guest of Honour at that year’s GJA Awards Night. In that speech, he did what many Napoleons had been unable to do up until then: courageously taking on rampaging foot soldiers of his party and condemning them for running riot on the political scene, seizing toilets and locking out District Chief Executives (DCEs), etc.

Fear of foot soldiers

In a country where party officials (all parties) live in dread of their foot soldiers, afraid to call them to order lest they lose crucial votes, it was the first time an NDC member of Mahama’s stature was taking the bull by that horn.

Who in this country has not, at one time or the other, called President Mahama a true gentleman or admired his unifier-posture or language? My thinking may be simplistic, but I am one of those who give the President credit for the actions against Nunoo-Mensah and Gbevlo-Lartey. The significance of these two presidential actions cannot be lost on the people: by them, he has assured Ghana that his administration abhors speeches that do not edify; language that leaves the youth wondering where wisdom has fled to, and/or acts that take us back to the yoo-yoo cowboy/Rambo days of June 4/December 31.

Again, my political savviness may be called into question, but I give the President credit for ordering the withdrawal of the GYEEDA advertisement when civil society so demanded it.

Then things started turning, and the only reason I am writing this piece is a wish, that the President will not allow this other-side of him to fester; that the Mahama I have known is the Mahama who, as President, will be Head of State and not (necessarily) Head of party. As President, he will be criticised; he will even be derided, insulted and unappreciated by some, but it is the mark of a father to act (as the Akans say) as if “I did not hear/see”.

Apparently, the turn-around has been long in coming, descending on an imperceptible slope. When Mahama, as Vice-President, used the words, “foolish and baloney” to express his disgust with moves in Parliament to prevent the amendment of the Petroleum Revenue Management bill (allowing the state to use the expected oil revenue as collateral for securing loans for the country), I frowned. But I let it pass because he was doing it in his own “House” among his own brethren.

World Economic Forum, Davos

I said “ouch” and raised an eyebrow when President Mahama told the World Economic Forum in Davos last January that " the mining firms won't allow us to implement the windfall tax in our country," that “they threatened to lay off workers if we implement the windfall tax, and because you need jobs and you don't want workers laid off, then you are coerced to go along”.

There is wisdom in Mario Puzo (author of ‘The Godfather’), quoting the advice of the American mafia that in any fight, you should “rather over-estimate the strength of your enemy”. Nonetheless, if your name is Achilles, you don’t expose your heel to the arrows of Paris, the unknown enemy. I was not impressed by the President’s confession because it meant that from that day forth, the “enemy” knows where it hurts: next time around, he knows which part of the body to pinch to get his way.

When Mahama, as President, told the people of Akyem that their capital had become the headquarters of galamsey, I gasped. Ei! That was not John Mahama! That was not Ghanaian. Certain words are ‘musu’ (apologies to Dance Professor Nii Yartey); they are unuttered, unspoken, allowing your “kose-kose” (unuttered decision) to remain in your head. Ghanaians have a way of talking.

That is why the Okyenhene himself moved swiftly to bring the authority and might of his throne upon that Akyem man who was ‘running his mouth’ on Kwame Sefa Kayi’s Kokrokoo programme, daring the police or any power in the Atta Mills government to touch him. Many perceive the Okyenhene to be NPP. I don’t know how he votes, but by that singular act, he was not necessarily showing love for NDC: he was stressing a fundamental trait of the Ghanaian character that as a people, we weigh our words.

Akoko and Akroma

I listened to a playback of what the President said in Kumasi about “akoko” showing off its dancing prowess to “akroma”. That was not John Mahama! I listened to the version produced by the Deputy Minister of Information.

There was fundamentally no difference. Whether the President said “Mo dee” or “ebinom dee”; whether he mentioned Ashantis by name or not is neither here nor there. All the projects he cited as examples of his government’s good works were in Ashanti.

So if he proceeded from that premise to lament the failure of “Mo” or “Kumasifo” to appreciate the beauty of “akoko’s” dance, then, as a child who appreciates proverbs and nuances of meaning in language, I don’t need the interpretation of linguists. The danger in such statements is that it sets ethnic groups against others, depending on where and how they sit in the President’s heart.

As I write, I am tempted to use a certain language in addressing His Excellency, but I cannot because I should not, even if I hate him, forget that he is the President, and, therefore, deserving of softer, more decorous language – however justifiably angry I may be.

Besides, it is not the people of Kumasi alone, nor is it the first time that any group of people in a given geographical area have, either in words or by deeds, shown that they are unimpressed by President Mahama or any other President’s record of achievements.

Such is the nature of rulership; such is the insatiable nature of the human spirit that people everywhere will always, at all times, want more or better. From Kwame Nkrumah through Busia, Limann, Rawlings (the civilian), Kufuor and Atta Mills, no President of Ghana has received 100 per cent approval rating from any ethnic or geographical grouping. That is life!

That brings me to the second reason for this article. It is a prayer - that this nation does not return to the era when every time J.J. Rawlings spoke, his spokespersons had to rush to the airwaves offering Ghanaians the “real” meaning of what he “actually” said or meant to say.

There is a third reason for this article. It is a wish: that the God who the President worships will grant him a thicker skin, a skin so thick that pettiness will have no way of hurting him; so thick that the taunts of political opponents will not rattle him. Atta Mills had a way of going about it, especially in Parliament.

Spokespersons

My final appeal to the President has to do with spokespersons. Perhaps, one should understand them: that’s what they are paid to do, to convince the people that a goat is a cow or that the blue they are looking at is actually black.

There is another group that is plain sycophantic. It is not for nothing that they are qualified by the word, “obsequious”. Elsewhere, they are known as “apple polishers”, “ass-kissers” and “boot-lickers”. They are more dangerous around a President. We saw them around Acheampong at the height of the UNIGOV campaign.

They may be supremely intelligent, good strategists or great talkers. But I wish to remind President Mahama that this world has seen their kind: Goebels was highly intelligent and master manipulator. But it was on the advice of people such as him that Hitler unleashed the Holocaust and led the world into the 1939-45 war.

The world will always be filled with cynics. There will always be opponents who will boycott Economic Forums. It is tempting to want to take a dig at them. What for? To earn applause? To get even? To show your contempt for them? Can a President afford to hit back all the time? What time would be left to plan for the millions of Ghanaians who, in this era, are still competing with cattle for drinking water in streams?

The world is full of unsatisfied and unsatifiable cynics who utter words such as the following.

•A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country (Texas Guinan)

•Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. (Nikita Khrushchev)

•If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these (presidential) acceptance speeches there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven. ~Will Rogers (parenthesis mine)

What can a President say or do if these statements are made about him or his regime? Reply?