This Is Not Funny, President Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama is preparing feverishly to contest the 2020 presidential elections. Having been duly elected by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as flagbearer, he has already hit the ground running by meeting several interest groups and heads of institutions.

Even though he suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2016 elections, he is optimistic the electorate will give him yet another opportunity to redeem his bruised image and restore the dignity of his party.

He has also expressed concerns about the goings on within the political, economic, security and social space, which is a good and responsible thing to do.

Like any other Ghanaian, he has every right to express concerns, just as he did on the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election violence.

But the former president recently sounded a bit un-presidential when he tried to downplay the arrest of some alleged coup plotters by the security agencies. He joined some jesters on social media to question the plausibility of staging a coup with the kind of weapons reportedly retrieved after the arrests.

Speaking at the 13^th Annual Residential Congress of the National Health Students Association at Korle-bu, he said he never knew that, even ‘bentua’ (enema) could be used as a weapon to destabilize a country.

After critical analyses, THE NEW PUBLISHER does not think the statement was appropriate.

The paper is of the view that while it may be pardonable for political apparatchiks to make such a mockery, the caliber of John Dramani Mahama cannot be speared.

A coup is a very serious issue, and we think the handlers of state security deserve some respect, especially when they talk about elaborate plans targeted at the Presidency, with the ultimate aim of destabilizing the country.

It beats our imagination, whose interest the supposed mockery of the arrests is tailored to serve. Well, maybe he knows more about the conspiracy than the rest of us.

By the way, assuming without admitting that ‘bankuta’ and ‘bentua’ cannot be categorized as weapons, what does he make of the retrieval of AK-47s, caches of ammunitions, grenades and other explosives from the suspects?

Is it not disingenuous that the very John Mahama, who saw virtually nothing wrong with the manufacture of weapons in a hospital, the dawn testing of such weapons at the beach, and the procurement of explosives-making chemicals, rather feels threatened about so-called ‘thugs’ at Asutuare?

To the paper, what is more funny is the presidential candidate who is apprehensive of introducing his own social intervention policies, but is eager to review same when introduced by his political opponents.

What the former president should remember is that he lost the 2016 elections largely because he had no message, and that is what he should be concerned with.

To THE NEW PUBLISHER, what is funny is when one says something is impossible to do, and turns round to claim he could review it. What, to us, is funny is the person who days before leaving office, hands over 70% of the country’s bauxite deposits to his blood brother. What is funny is when, an incumbent, who loses an election by a million votes, still thinks his ‘beater’ would only win the next election through rigging.

As for the alleged coup plotters that were arrested in their bid to destabilize the country, we see nothing funny about it.