I don’t do politics. Well, that is what I have convinced myself to believe since I ventured into the writing trade.
And with great caution from my sister Afia Sintim, I have stayed off that beat and directed my bookish energies elsewhere.
So far, I have succeeded in keeping away from that rambunctious enterprise, except the few occasions where I have found the invitation irresistible, like the occasion of the recent SONA by President John Kwame Dramani Mahama.
Governing in prose
Who wrote the president’s SONA? I guess the same speechwriter is behind his inaugural address. How do I know?
The two speeches (his major national addresses since winning power in December) were very well crafted.
If they were books, they would qualify to join the table of the unputdownables.
IMANI President Franklin Cudjoe shares this position, too.
The President made this SONA a conversation, owning up where he needed to, and standing firm where it fell on him.
He was confrontationally honest about the state of the economy. He sounded messianic when he pledged that “I, John Dramani Mahama, I will fix it”.
He appeared quite believable because he personalised it. He told us he has fixed things in the past.
He said he fixed Dumsor before he left office the last time. Soon after the speech, the NPP reworked the lyrics of a Nacee song to pin the Dumsor tag right back on him.
Maybe the President’s speechwriters will avoid the dumsor discussion next time; it takes a lot away from his credits.
Work begins where a good speech ends. Somebody who knows the business of politics too well, Sir Tony Charles Lynton Blair, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, tells us that politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose.
The NPP do not trust President Mahama; they say last week’s SONA was only another NDC manifesto.
Like poetry, manifestos usually sound sweet until we demand a manifestation of things promised. The prose of delivery is where politicians fail us.
ORAL billions
The state of a nation is like the state of any marriage, especially if the parties in the marriage are former divorcees.
If the previous marriage was good, there wouldn’t be a new one. The narrative of talking down on the old government is familiar, especially after a big electoral win.
From President J.A Kufuor’s “Wh3 wasetena mu (assess your economic situation and vote), to Nana Addo’s ‘Y3 te sika so (we are poor while sitting on money), the commentary on the previous government’s work is necessarily negative.
President Mahama did not deviate from the pattern, especially when ORAL alone has reported thousands of cases involving billions of dollars carted away from government circles by the previous administration.
Beyond ORAL and the President’s promise to go after millions of Ghana cedis (some 50 million a month) allegedly looted from the pockets of ghosts at the National Service Secretariat, we walked away with other decision points and proposals from the SONA: People living with disability will go to university for free; teacher dabre (housing for teachers); Saglemi to be looked into; women’s banking to offer tailor-made support to women, tax reforms, and big cuts in government expenditure.
The President would stick to his promise of working with 60 ministers.
When the president shared his 26-point social contract earlier in the year, I wrote that John Mahama will go down in Ghana’s political history as our greatest leader if he is able to accomplish only half in his four-year term.
History shows that we are rich in cataloging good intentions and brilliant ideas, but very poor in producing good results.
It looked like President Mahama completed the thoughts of many Ghanaians when he lamented some of the failures of the previous Akufo-Addo administration, including Agenda 111, which he said, failed to deliver even one operational facility, and the Pwalugu factory, which he described as mere bush.
Second-term dangers
Thankfully, the President assured that he is not going to hide behind these excuses and fail to deliver on his mandate.
While it is early days, it seems many things are going well for the Mahama administration. But it is also too soon.
First, it seems even the most critical minds in Ghana agree that President Mahama has done some good with the team he has put together.
From his pick for Attorney-General to the selection of Gizella Tettey-Agbotui as Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, there is a feeling of comfort that capacity and merit won over reward for campaign work.
There is something about political second terms that does not always deliver the goods that a lived experience promises. President Mahama has termed it his legacy term.
Second terms can be dangerous. When he won his second term, American President Donald Trump promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war in days.
But his recent meeting with the Ukrainian leader tells a different story about the reality of second terms.
In his first week as president, Trump tore up some policies he made during his first term, saying they were not smart because Joe Biden made them.
Things are looking for President Mahama. It doesn’t look like his likeability and good fortunes will diminish anytime soon.
He is wise not to cancel free SHS, but in seeking reforms, he should not produce new problems.
In seeking to spread STEM across all SHS institutions, he should not fall to the danger of killing the unique advantage that is assured when we concentrate on single success stories.
Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin
Tissues Of The Issues
bigfrontiers@gmail.com
