Rather than licking his electoral defeat wounds in 2016 with genuine humility and come out with winnable strategies next time around, ex-President Mahama is shamelessly walking everywhere, telling people his loss stemmed from his strong rejection of “juicy campaign promises”.
Clearly, Mr. Mahama thinks his electoral trashing was somehow a fluke in that by his brazen argument Nana Akufo-Addo could not have beaten him to become president today had it not the NPP leader’s empty campaign promises to voters.
The wise had said over and over that every failure/mistake teaches a useful lesson, especially, if the one or those who failed are ready to learn anything productive from that infraction. Particularly, judging from his recent seedy pronouncement at the NDC’s so-called Unity Walk in Tarkwa in the Western part of Ghana, it is obvious former President Mahama is still living in the fantasy world after his crushing defeat. Any savvy politician will modestly learn from his/her mistakes; and then make unassuming effort to contextualize the actual circumstances that led to the electoral failure.
But what do we see and hear from Mr. Mahama, lately? Aside from him and his die-hard cheerleaders subtly using their over-advertised “NDC Unity Walk” to promote Mr. Mahama’s second or third presidential bid, the ex-president is cunningly behaving as if he doesn’t really know the basis for his massive electoral rejection by the majority of Ghanaians in 2016. If we were to construct a standard form of deductive argument based on Mr. Mahama’s false logic, we may have something like this one:
Empty campaign promises in 2016 won the presidential elections;
Mr. Mahama categorically rejected empty campaign promises;
Therefore, Comrade Mahama did not win the 2016 presidential elections.
Often, the way some African leaders talk and behave in and out of office makes many of us least surprised that our resources-rich continent is still struggling hard to find its “libido” to enable it compete confidently and productively among the rich and powerful continents. Sure, in the above argument the premises—misleadingly—support the conclusion typical of almost all deductive reasoning. Thus, on its face value, ex-President Mahama’s argument appears valid, but the same time it is pathetically unsound.
More so, an argument doesn’t require true premises or a true conclusion to be valid. On the flip side, a cogent or sound reasoning requires true premises and a genuine conclusion. More importantly, trending toward deductive argument in an unpredictable world of human behavior coupled with raw African politics can only come from unseasoned politicians.
Mr. Mahama probably would have been given some form of a pass if elections and political campaigns are mostly based on mathematical analysis. The former president’s contention that then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidential victory was the result of “empty promises” dishonestly ignores several significant socioeconomic factors under the Mahama-led government that adversely crystallized in a clear view of Ghanaians prior to the December 2016 general elections.
This is to say there was crystal ball of foreboding events leading to the 2016 general elections that didn’t
need anyone to have “supernatural powers” to figure out that then Mr. Mahama’s not-so-competent regime was heading toward defeat in the polls. Apparently, ex-president’s inability to make an insightfully humble critique of what actually precipitated his government’s implosion at the hands of the current president of the republic is symptomatic of his internalized incompetence.
Even in the opposition, former President John Mahama is displaying some of the relics of his inept leadership via unguarded quasi-campaign utterances.
It is too early to predict a party’s flag bearer; but, the best gift the largest opposition party NDC can ever give the NPP-led government is to choose ex-President Mahama to contest against President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia ticket. In that likely scenario, the NPP presidential pair will laugh all the way to the “electoral bank” to cash their landslide check one more time.
In any event, this is my unsolicited suggestion to ex-President Mahama regarding the consequential reasons behind his humiliating defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo in the presidential election.
Again, like almost all reasoning bordering on deductive, their validity may be assured but the same cannot be said about their soundness. Hence, the valid and sound rationalizations Mr. Mahama needs to be telling smart-thinking Ghanaians in sincere fashion are the following line of inductive argument:
I have now realized that most Ghanaians are not politically docile to be taken for granted;
I should have exhibited genuine sensitivity to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians instead of telling
them I’m tone deaf like a “dead goat.”
That, the “dumsor, dumsor” was my Achilles’ heels; I could have done much better;
That, constructing flyovers everywhere in the cities cannot fool Ghanaians;
Majority of Ghanaians are dead serious about multiparty democracy taking roots in Ghana;
That, most Ghanaians today have clear understanding that true democracy requires transparency,
accountability, and corrupt-free government officials for the system to function well;
That as president I should have shown contrition when an investigative reporter exposed the
rotten maggots within the GYEEDA, SADA, and later the Burkinabe’s Ford truck presidential gift;
Therefore, taking all these premises into account, I truly understand now why I lost the elections!
Bernard Asubonteng is United States-based writer; send your comments to: [email protected]
Source: Bernard Asubonteng
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After reading this, if you still rank inductive above deductive we shall talk or have a debate. "Although the use of inductive reasoning demonstrates considerable success, its application has been questionable. Recognizing this, Hume highlighted the fact that our mind draws uncertain conclusions from relatively limited experiences. In deduction, the truth value of the conclusion is based on the truth of the premise. In induction, however, the dependence on the premise is always uncertain. As an example, let's assume "all ravens are black." The fact that there are numerous black ravens supports the assumption. However, the assumption becomes inconsistent with the fact that there are white ravens. Therefore, the general rule of "all ravens are black" is inconsistent with the existence of the white raven. Hume further argued that it is impossible to justify inductive reasoning: specifically, that it cannot be justified deductively, so our only option is to justify it inductively. Since this is circular he concluded that our use of induction is unjustifiable with the help of Hume's Fork.[11] However, Hume then stated that even if induction were proved unreliable, we would still have to rely on it. So instead of a position of severe skepticism, Hume advocated a practical skepticism based on common sense, where the inevitability of induction is accepted.[12] Bertrand Russell illustrated his skepticism in a story about a turkey, fed every morning without fail, who following the laws of induction concludes this will continue, but then his throat is cut on Thanksgiving Day.[13] Biases Edit Inductive reasoning is also known as hypothesis construction because any conclusions made are based on current knowledge and predictions.[citation needed] As with deductive arguments, biases can distort the proper application of inductive argument, thereby preventing the reasoner from forming the most logical conclusion based on the clues. Examples of these biases include the availability heuristic, confirmation bias, and the predictable-world bias. The availability heuristic causes the reasoner to depend primarily upon information that is readily available to him/her. People have a tendency to rely on information that is easily accessible in the world around them. For example, in surveys, when people are asked to estimate the percentage of people who died from various causes, most respondents would choose the causes that have been most prevalent in the media such as terrorism, and murders, and airplane accidents rather than causes such as disease and traffic accidents, which have been technically "less accessible" to the individual since they are not emphasized as heavily in the world around him/her. The confirmation bias is based on the natural tendency to confirm rather than to deny a current hypothesis. Research has demonstrated that people are inclined to seek solutions to problems that are more consistent with known hypotheses rather than attempt to refute those hypotheses. Often, in experiments, subjects will ask questions that seek answers that fit established hypotheses, thus confirming these hypotheses. For example, if it is hypothesized that Sally is a sociable individual, subjects will naturally seek to confirm the premise by asking questions that would produce answers confirming that Sally is in fact a sociable individual. The predictable-world bias revolves around the inclination to perceive order where it has not been proved to exist, either at all or at a particular level of abstraction. Gambling, for example, is one of the most popular examples of predictable-world bias. Gamblers often begin to think that they see simple and obvious patterns in the outcomes and, therefore, believe that they are able to predict outcomes based upon what they have witnessed. In reality, however, the outcomes of these games are difficult to predict and highly complex in nature. However, in general, people tend to seek some type of simplistic order to explain or justify their beliefs and experiences, and it is often difficult for them to realise that their perceptions of order may be entirely different from the truth.[14]"
He is just like a dull student who was helped to cheat and pass his exams for promotion to the next class. He then found the academic work of his new class too difficult for him to cope with.So, naivety and incompetence were manifest in his administration.
The incompetent John Ford Mahama is greedy, a t.h.i.e.f and a kleptomania.
Im surprised that this author still found need to write this article. Isn't it clear that most Ghanaians no longer regard nor pay serious attention to Mr Mahama's outbursts? He has managed to earn himself the reputation of a man who just throws out words like a tap does water; and Ghanaians learned to merely endure him and his occasional prattle. In any case, even if we grant his argument that juicy promises won Nana Akuffo Addo the 2016 election, he would still be obliviously implying that either Ghanaians found Nana Akuffo Addo more credible than he Mahama, or that Ghanaians were ***barred word*** by improbable promises. I know Mr Mahama would comfortably opt for the latter. But, then, his problem would be having to convince me that the same Ghanaians were not likewise ***barred word*** by something in 2012.
the ex president is yet to come out of the dizziness of the nock out he had in the 2016 elections. His selfishness and naivety is what is clouding his mind and not making him think properly. I see him as a loser before he even becomes a flagbearer with his inexperienced and insulting sharp teeth commmarades!
Its very fundamental Absurd with the tactics our political wizards use for their own selfish agains ..many see politics a means to make money to be shared to a party foiled with so called projects or agenda, ..play of mind games and smartness is the order of the day... Being able to dwindle the minds and hearts of people makes you a star in Africa the tactics played by the whites is what we use against our very selves because of power and wealth.. The consious intention to demean the reputation of an ex president cos of selfish will and power to take the people for granted wont wash this time ..The problem of africans is trust of so called LEADERS. The true worth of Leadership is one that seeks betterment of his people first before theirs and forge a force to lead more minds in that direction by fortituding a birth of selflessness to other african upcoming leaders to assert in their ways ...LEADERSHIP MEANS YOU LEAD MANY TO WHAT U HAVE ACCOMPLISHED BY YOUR DREAMS ,DREAMS THAT CAN CARE FOR GENERATIONS NOT YOUR ACADEMICS WHICH YOU CAN NOT GIVE OR TRADE WITH... A CREATIVE ,INNOVATIVE DREAM THAT CAN CARE FOR GENERATIONS...politics in my time in Africa is PARTY SELF SEEK CONTEST..
Peace Fm mind the things you post, uts not just about blogging, its about business also... How to make money out of the things you present on this global platform. And i ask did you post for money? did you post this for traffic? did you post it for the sake of journalism? ah! or did you even read before? cos any business man who reads this off a press website would conclude that you and the guy who wrote this thing are having gross hate for Mahama
The writer is just anti Mahama which he did showed clearly in his write up.your title was "why JM loss 2016 polls but to my surprise there was nothing like why JM loss 2016 election but was just attack to the ex prez.you only stated what u think JM should do and tell Ghanaians as ex prez buy didn't tell us why he Los the election.what make you more anti JM in your write up is that the greatest gift the NDC could give to the NPP is if JM should win the Flagbearership.without giving reasons to that.. This is a clear attack and anti JM... I will not be surprise if the writer is not an NPP member or a supporter... This is the ***barred word*** write up I have wasted my time to read... It is like what the ruling govt has done to us now.. Empty promises.. You gave the article a nice title but the body doesn't what anything to do with the title.. Such is what the ruling govt is doing to we Ghanaians now... A clear lies and deceive of Ghanaians.. You are in US and u are writing this Pasco.... Come to Ghana and see the hardship we are in now. worse than last year.. How we are disappointed in the govt over campaign promises..and write write something sensible about it on how the govt is going to fulfill the promises and what he suppose to tell Ghanaians if he is finding difficulties and can't fulfill the promises...
Why are people letting their emotions cloud their judgment? Just cos someone said dnt mean you should take it. One must analyze the situation. The writer has a genuine hate for the ex president, and he has made it too obvious. First of all, the ex prez could have done more if he wasnt busy with the whole trial they did for months.. Also, every government has issues, I can see a lot with the current ones even tho others refuse to sit back and pay attention. Let's not use vulgar rD's on our leaders and ex leaders, its just not nice, we r all human beings with flaws
Bernard Asubonteng, I plead you wake up from slumber and see clearly what is happening in Ghana now. The silent of the majority is the loudest in recent times. This is not an imposed culture of silence but a message to the politicians that I have the power of my thumb and nothing can dissuade me from exercising it. It is the response to the deceit by our leaders. Wake and listen to the silence and decipher.