“That these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Lincoln, 1863). This quotation from the Gettysburg Address by former US President Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s has been classified as one of the world’s most influential statements for any form of democracy. These are not ordinary words from the prodigy; they are words with huge implications for both established and emerging democracies across the world including Ghana. 

Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides that “Every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda”. 

Article 1 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana says, “The Sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution”. 

One of the greatest gifts of God to humanity is the gift of the power of choice. At every moment we have tens and hundreds of decision-making alternatives, some significant, others seemingly insignificant and God respects the choices we make at every point of our lives. But once we make the choice, it has power over us. Genesis 2;16; And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 

In democratic governance and politics such as ours, there are always choices to be made during elections. These choices will always lead to one thing, change. It may be a change of government with same political party or a change of government with a different political party. Change is good. Change of government is good. It allows for comparison of the performance of one government and another. 

In the 2016 elections, Ghanaians chose the NPP over the NDC. Some said they just needed a change of government. Others alleged the NDC delivered poor governance at the time. Others became excited by the enticing promises of the opposition NPP at the time and called for change with same repeated in 2020 under disputed electoral outcome. 

Eight years down the line from the 2016 general elections, every sector of the Ghanaian economy has suffered deterioration under the Akufo–Addo–Bawumia regime than it was under former President John Mahama when he was voted out, the question, therefore, is, what will be the basis for NPP and Bawumiah to be retained in government in this December 7 elections? This is a government that preached competence, prudence and humility in opposition and practised gross incompetence, opulence, corruption, cronyism, nepotism and arrogance in government. 

Ghana’s inflation in December 2016 under John Mahama was 15.4%. This was the time Baumiah organised lecturers at Central University College describing John Mahama as incompetent. As we speak, the inflation rate under him is 19.53% after the abysmal record high of 54% in the last two years. If JM’s scorecard on inflation was 15% and he was voted out, on which basis should Bawumiah be retained in power with a score of 54% and 19.53%? That will be an endorsement of mediocrity. 

If JM was sacked for supervising an exchange rate of $1 to Ghc4, what should Ghanaians do to the man who presides over an exchange rate of $1 to a whooping Ghc17? And this is the man who wrote 170 questions to Amisah Arthur, the vice president at the time for answers on why his management of the cedi was so poor. Where really is the comparison between JM and Bawumiah in these simple scenarios?? 

Ghanaian workers have suffered poverty and a higher cost of living under this government than any other government under the Fourth Republic. There have been more collapses of businesses under this government than any government in the last 30 years of our fourth republican democracy. 

Within the last two years, Ghana has experienced a wave of closures and re-location of eight major international companies and businesses that previously operated in the country and provided jobs and other services to Ghanaians. Some of these multimillion-dollar companies include; Unilever Ghana, Nivea, Jumia Foods, Game, Glovo, Bic Pen, Dark and Lovely and BET365 among others. Some of these companies operated in this country for over 20 years but could no longer sustain their business under this government citing unstable economic conditions marked by the fluctuating value of the Ghanaian Cedi, high inflation rates, high taxes, unstable energy and soaring costs of imports.

Embarrassingly, many of these companies relocated to neighbouring countries including Togo, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire where conditions of doing business in those countries are considered better than Ghana. This is how disgraceful the performance of the Akufo–Addo–Bawumia regime has been. Conditions in Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso better support business operations than in Ghana. If JM could keep these businesses in the country which employed many Ghanaians but was voted out, on which basis should the regime that supervised the collapse of all these businesses be retained?? 

The NABCO Program which was flamboyantly launched by government in 2018 was immediately terminated after the 2020 general elections rendering about a hundred thousand young people jobless after mischievously luring them to support the NPP to win the 2020 elections. This among others contributed to the deteriorated unemployment rate from 7% in 2016 to 14.7% in 2024. How can this naked incompetence and insensitivity be rewarded by another turner in the office?? Then there will be no need for any government to strive to offer the best to their citizens. 

The same deception was perpetrated against teachers and nursing trainees regarding their student allowances. They were deceived into believing they would be paid their student allowances and be posted immediately after school. These have all been a hoax. Beyond a few nurses and teachers who allegedly can pay huge sums of bribes to connected persons in high places to be posted, the rest have still home since 2020 and no allowances have been paid to them. This is contrary to the sound and sincere policy alternative of the John Mahama government which proposed to substitute the nurses and teacher training allowances with a student loan scheme like all other tertiary students in all tertiary institutions across the country so that revenue that would have been invested into allowances would be directed into infrastructural expansions in the colleges and the construction of new hospitals and schools to ensure more students are enrolled into colleges and to also ensure college graduates are immediately posted to these newly constructed schools and hospitals after graduation. Ghanaians must embrace sincerity and practicable policy alternatives rather than falling to deceit from canning politicians. 

What happened to the NPP’s 1D1F policy? What happens to the 1V1Dam policy? How about one constituency one million dollars policy? Can you identify any constructed factory that has employed your neighbours in your district/constituency anywhere? Why do we allow ourselves to be fooled and deceived in this manner in the name of politics?

Per the Auditor General’s Report, the NPP government allocated and spent $12 million on Pwalugu Dam and never constructed any dam there. Going by the current exchange rate that is over Ghc200million chopped by the NPP government for free without any damp constructed. 

Over $58 million (GH¢986 million) has been spent on the construction of the infamous National Cathedral project without parliamentary approval and the real construction of the cathedral. They just take the taxpayer money, share it like groundnuts and chop it for free. The auditor general will state it in the audit report, the parliament’s public account committee will cite them for prosecution but the Attorney General will never prosecute it because the perpetrators are his cronies. How can such a rotten regime be endorsed by electorates?? What would be the essence of democracy then?? Such a corrupt government must be voted out, so we can have a new government, a new Attorney General, a new president, and new ministers for proper investigations and prosecutions to promote accountability and retrieval of taxpayer money. 

Let’s answer the following questions! 

1. What will happen to Cecilia Dapaah’s alleged stolen cash of millions of dollars and cedes if the Akufo–Addo–Bawumia government is not voted out?

2. What will happen to the Hundreds of excavators and motorcycles that mysteriously vanished if this government is retained? 

3. What will happen to the SML scandal? 

4. What will happen to the outrageous inflation of the Ameri power badge and the inflated cost of transporting same to Kumasi if the NPP government is retained? 

5. What will happen to the worsening pollution of our water bodies through galamsey activities by known NPP members and government officials if the NPP is retained? 

6. What will happen to The PDS scandal? 

7. The Agyapaa deal! 

8. The Australian Visa Scandal which gravely tarnished the image of Ghana in the eyes of the international community etc 

The consequences of our choice of the NPP government in 2016 and 2020 has been that: 

1. Ghana has run bankrupt and cannot service its debt as we speak 

2. Ghana has been denied international capital market for borrowing 

3. Ghana has downgraded from grade “B” positive in 2016 to junk status in 2022 

4. Ghanaians are put through the pain and hell of the Domestic Debt Exchange Program where citizen/local bondholders are suffering what economists call a haircut on their investments because government is bankrupt and cannot pay them their deserved returns on their investments 

5. Former Chief Justice Sofia Akufo had to lead a demonstration and picketing against the government that appointed her as Chief Justice just to defend the aged and the retirees. 

Lies do not last. People cannot be fooled forever. No deception will succeed in the 2024 elections. If you are offered money on Election Day, take it and vote against them. In all these, one thing is certain, the NPP cannot survive their broken promises. 

******

The writer is a part-time lecturer at the College for Distance and e-Learning - UEW and can be reached via email at petersuaka@gmail.com