Opinions of Saturday, 27 February 2016
Columnist: Alert Ghana
By Fadi Dabbbousi
In Part I of the series of articles under this topic, I made mention of four diabolical untruths that President John Mahama bewitched the nation with. In fact so distasteful were his references that they brought much ridicule to the current state of governance that has resulted in the boisterous bopping of events; much like a raging ocean that throws more filth on serene beaches to destroy what remained endearing to the appeals of innovative people. Thus, the raging waves of insecurity due to hallucinations and unachievable fantasies were put in mere rhetoric by a President who seems to be a good juggler of words and skilful soothsayer. This time around his luck has ran out. Maybe the charm that he might have gotten from India has lost its potency.
I put across four of the numerous lies that characterised his boring speech. I am not surprised that Sam George, Spio Gabrah, Amissah Arthur, and many others, slept while the members of Parliament of other opposition groups chanted sarcastically at the top of their voices in pidgin English, “so so thief thief Mahama dey do”, meaning that “Mahama is just just stealing”.
Lie No.5
The infrastructure that he talked about was so untruthfully told that I wonder whether he takes people for blind bats. I have personally blasted tyres and broken rims so many times that I have lost count along the dilapidated roads. The last time it happened, about 40 days ago, I almost lost control and run into an oncoming articulated truck. Sadly, that incident happened along the Western Corridor that President Mahama seems so proud about having completed. Lie! The road between Kintampo and Tamale is a treacherous death trap with potholes that can safely be described as craters. A salon car can practically sit in one such hole and disappear. That is how bad that stretch is.
Toll booths have sprung up everywhere. The Accra to Kumasi stretch has three toll booths, yet the road has become a nightmare, irrespective of the fact that it was newly constructed shortly before President Kufuor handed over to Atta Mills. Where is the money that is derived from the scores of toll booths littered all over the country, some along dirt roads that have the semblance of hell? John Mahama barely managed to tar one lane of the Nsawam to Apedwa portion after 7and half years at the helm of affairs. The other lane does not seem to be on the agenda. From Apedwa to Nsutah, the whole stretch cannot be described as a road but a jackpot for the vulcanisers who have monopolised the business, digging more potholes to add to the existing one way to hell.
The completed Swedru roads that he bloviated about are practically non-existent. “One man contractor” hustlers take advantage of the bad situation to make money. And you cannot really blame them. They are jobless. “Oh John Mahama, why lieth thou to the citizenry?”
Lie No.6
Just touching back on the situations of the hospitals, the Ridge hospital was given to a foreign contractor at a cost of approximately 250 million Dollars, making it the most expensive hospital in the world in its category. Thieves! I wonder if the reader is building the monstrous image of the devil in the words of Mr JDM’s boring narration yet! The Salaga hospital that he romped our butts with is deserted with a dozer machine under lock and key on site. What monstrous lies!
Darting back on course, he paraded a gallery of 10 or 15 beneficiaries of his benevolence. He must have done that at his own expense because it is mighty shameful for an incumbent President to discuss the handful of beneficiaries who seem to have had their lives transformed when the rest of the nation is reeking of abject poverty and stench due to lack of water and basic sanitary facilities. In some parts of the capital city, people today still do not have access to places of convenience. They are seen attending to nature’s call squatting on the sides of gutters with their bare bottoms sketching the picture of an ugly situation, most deplorable and shameful. In those areas, the many bare bottoms give the impression that there is a new sport created in Ghana for Ghanaians, ”A defecation competition” or in simplified street terminology, “shitting competition”.
Out of twenty five million people of whom a large section are unemployed youth with the barest minimum of education, how does assistance to a paltry few change the nation positively? I must say that I was disappointed with President John Dramani Mahama. Touting such disgraceful non-achievements with such delight, he did not parade the Guantanamo Bay ex-convicts whom he accepted to take from the Americans at a cost of over 230 million US Dollars, which he denied, and that Kwesi Bratt confirmed. More children have dropped out of schools due to malnutrition and disease. In fact the school feeding programme is practically non-existent. The horrible mass called “food” that is fed to children in the few public institutions that are still running the feeding programme has become a source of concern and pandemonium amongst parents. The children often fall sick. In fact the cases of kwashiorkor have increased many folds, thanks to the care and love that Mr Compassionate president John Mahama has shown to Ghanaians.
#GhanaiansMustChange #DropJohnMahama #DoNotVoteForLieLiePresident
Part III coming up