Kofi Bentil's escape plan for Bawumia and matters arising

Kofi Bentil, in a write-up this morning, attempts an elaborate but implausible extrication of his friend, Bawumia, from the catastrophic performance of the government of which he has been the poster boy in the last seven years.

Among other astonishing claims, Kofi says that Bawumia is a better alternative to Mahama in the 2024 elections given the opportunities both have had in government.

This is a gratuitous untruth and is not backed by one shred of No one can sustain such a claim.

There will be plenty of time to discuss this subject in the run-up to the 2024 electioneering campaign.

It bears saying in the interim however, that apart from being much, much, better than Bawumia on the basis of verifiable facts regarding performance, Mahama showed himself a superior leader when taking personal responsibility publicly for governmental shortfalls in his day and putting in the requisite shift to address them comprehensively.

He did not believe in blame-shifting and empty sloganeering. He put in the heavy lifting and shift as was required to deliver substantive offerings for the good people of Ghana.

When it came to policy, he craved visionary and long-term investment, not misguided, ad hoc, lavish and imprudent programs with a fleeting existence designed purely to harvest votes.

Bawumia on the other hand, has often cut a comical and hopeless figure in the midst of the governmental putrefaction, economic meltdown, brazen theft, shocking incompetence and the generally clumsy administration of the country.

He has particularly shown himself a complete coward bereft of key leadership qualities in the face of the cataclysmic collapse of the economy he has supervised and the horrendous and devastating implications it has had on the Ghanaian people.

Even as the economic artifice he erected on the back of shallow populism, nonsensical sloganeering, falsification of theories and precepts, poor policy formulation, reckless decision making and general ineptitude crumbled around him and plunged Ghanaians into horrible economic suffering, Bawumia reached for the nearest rat hole and shrank from responsibility.

He has been quieter on the economy-which every Ghanaian knows was his claim to fame and the one responsibility given him in government- than a church mouse, all in the desperate hope that he can distance himself from the political fallouts of the appalling mismanagement and the consequences thereof and evade scrutiny.

Kofi describes this flight from responsibility as a show of "loyalty to the team".In other words, Bawumia was nothing more than a spineless onlooker who stayed aloof as others destroyed the economy.

This, of course, is a cock and bull story fabricated to carve an escape route for Bawumia in the face of the intense criticism he will face in the electioneering period. But it also provides a yet more compelling reason for the electorate to throw him out.

Ghanaians are well aware of leaders in the past who spoke out when they were convinced that the governments they were part of were on the wrong path.

Kow Arkaah, went toe to toe with the imposing figure of Jerry Rawlings when he was his Vice President and publicly voiced his disagreement with government policy.

Martin Amidu, Boakye Agyarko, Otiko Gyaba and a host of others have not sacrificed their convictions for the perks of office. They spoke out and suffered the consequences. Today, they stand respected for staying true to their beliefs.

If, as Bentil will have us believe, Bawumia chose self-preservation and a Presidential ambition over principle and offered not a whimper as the economy was destroyed by others, then he is to be dismissed by the electorate for the coward he is.

What Ghana needs now is a responsible and bold leader willing and able to do what is right, not a wimp.

The idea that Bawumia can pull the wool over the eyes of Ghanaians and escape scrutiny for his contribution to the systematic demolition and destruction of our economy and the livelihoods of millions of Ghanaian households is both funny and tragic.

No sane person, making an informed decision in the impending elections will be fooled by Kofi Bentil's ill-fated rescue mission.

It is bad enough that Bawumia and his colleagues in government have brought such misery to Ghanaians and dished out a masterclass on how to destroy a country, it is totally unforgivable to heap praise on him when he has been front and centre of this effort and seek to make excuses for him.

There is simply no window of escape for Bawumia and no amount of whitewashing and buck-passing will achieve this.

The people of Ghana have practically doted on Bawumia and Akufo-Addo, showering them with far more resources and goodwill than all others before them put together.

They have however overstayed their welcome and the people of Ghana will once again show that they are not to be trifled with. They will exact their pound of flesh and deliver a crushing blow to Bawumia in 2024 so that it serves as a guide to all that their mandate and resources are not to be taken for granted.

They may yet have given the NPP a long rope and like the proverbial gods, their windmills grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine. Like still waters, they may look benign at the surface but they run really deep.