'I swallowed Akufo-Addo's poisonous bait of incorruptibility; a well-packaged lie' – Manasseh

The Akufo-Addo alternative to Mr John Mahama’s government, after three years, has been disappointing, investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has said.

“Three years later, I am disappointed in the alternative”, he wrote on Facebook.

In his view, “The ‘incorruptible and no-nonsense’ personality of Akufo-Addo turned out to be a well-packaged lie”, adding: “That personality turned out to be a poisonous bait some of us swallowed hook, line, sinker and rod, without questioning because we were too hungry for change”.

Meanwhile Mr Awuni has also said he would have voted for a sheep than former President Mahama’s “tragic accident” government.

He said in his book: “The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection and Rebound”, that Mr Mahama’s administration was “an error of an era” and “cancerous tumour” that ought to have been removed.

According to him, the removal of that festering disease “called for an eternal thanksgiving service”, adding: “The John Mahama regime was a blot on the already-decaying conscience of the nation”, as well as “a tragic accident in the history of our country”.

Between Mr Mahama and a sheep, Manasseh Azure Awuni said, he would have voted for the latter in the 2016 general elections which got the now-flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) out of office.

Read Manasseh’s musing below:

“I told myself in 2016 that no matter how terrible Akufo-Addo governs, I would not regret voting against John Mahama. This is how I described the John Mahama presidency in my latest book, “The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection and Rebound”:

“The John Mahama presidency was a cancerous tumour whose removal called for an eternal thanksgiving service. The John Mahama regime was a blot on the already-decaying conscience of the nation, an error of an era, and a tragic accident in the history of our country.

The facts based on which I came to that conclusion are well-documented in that book. The obscenity and impunity of the Mahama government was getting out of hand and the nation was about to crash into an abyss. We needed a brake, a moment to pause and change course. For me, it was anything but John Mahama.

In fact, if the only alternative to John Mahama in the 2016 election was a sheep, I would have voted for that sheep.

Three years later, I am disappointed in the alternative. The “incorruptible and no-nonsense” personality of Akufo-Addo turned out to be a well-packaged lie. That personality turned out to be a poisonous bait some of us swallowed hook, line, sinker and rod, without questioning because we were too hungry for change.

But do not I regret voting out John Mahama. To help you reconcile these seemingly incoherent views, let me give you a scenario.

You marry a man who beats so badly and you divorce him because you fear for your life. Unfortunately, your next husband holds a PhD in advanced infidelity; he would sleep with any woman who gives him the least opportunity.

Both men are bad. You are considering a second divorce, and its not possible to live without a husband. But the two men are the only possible options you can choose from. Your former husband needs you back badly, but instead of being genuinely remorseful of his violence towards you, he comes telling you that you have regretted leaving him. The fact that your current husband is terrible does not offset the unacceptable behaviour of your former husband.”