Politicians, like football enthusiasts, understand the game of teasing one another when the back of a side is literally against the wall.
Whether it is about policies advanced by one political party, or the bold statements made by another in the heat of a political atmosphere, these leaders just understand the game too well when they have to hit
In most cases, these mockeries have been described as a playout of Karma (an action, work or deed and its effect or consequences).
And while none of these may be related, two major political leaders in the ruling government (the New Patriotic Party): Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; and Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, have been on the receiving end of some of these political mockeries.
But what have been the reasons these two have been on the chopping board?
Before anything else, it is worth mentioning that the former president, John Dramani Mahama, and the sitting vice president have severally taken each other to the cleaners, or thrown political dirt at each other and so this is not too new.
In this recent instance, John Dramani has been taunting Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over his 2017 claim that he ordered the arrest of the United States dollar and gave the keys to the then Inspector-General of Police, David Asante Appeatu.
According to Mahama, there has never been a time in history that the dollar has ever been arrested.
Rather, he said, the prudent thing is that whichever government is in power helps the cedi keep pace with the dollar.
“Under all previous presidents, I never heard anyone claim to have arrested the dollar, jailed it and locked the doors. No one can arrest the dollar, it is the cedi that must be helped to keep pace with the dollar,” he said while addressing some party faithful in the Fante language.
Mockingly, he continued that, “Now, as we are all witnesses, the dollar has bolted, when asked where it is headed, it said it had been granted bail. When we investigated, it turned out that it was the cedi that had been jailed and the dollar had been bailed.”
In the case of the Minister of Finance, it was another person affiliated to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) taking a dig at him.
The Member of Parliament for Buem, in the Volta Region, Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah, expressed his disappointment with the government's Ghana Beyond Aid mantra.
According to the NDC MP, it is laughable today that the Minister of Finance, after committing so much money to printing ‘unnecessary’ caps that had the inscriptions of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ on them, has not been able to help this country out of its current economic mess.
“Ken Ofori-Atta shared these caps and asked us to walk around town with these inscriptions that Ghana is beyond aid, meanwhile, today, you are begging for aid. What a disgrace country we are in today, led by disgraced managers of the economy. That is our problem today and that is why when Ghanaians are embittered and they speak, don’t call them political names: the people are suffering,” he mocked while speaking on Peace FM.
Watch Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah explain his arguments further below:
Watch the latest episode of People and Places below:
An old photo of Dr. Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta
