Can Mahama Survive - Another 2 Years As President?

Today, even those who have listening or hearing impairment and have challenges in their sense of smell can sense the groundswell of agitations by a section of Ghanaians aimed at cutting abruptly the four year tenure of President John Dramani Mahama, the only second person from the three northern regions to have led this nation since independence, some fifty seven years now. To achieve this, the forces behind this dishonorable act, operating under the guise of civil society organizations (CSOs), members of the clergy, the academia, independent opposition political parties, socio-political analysts and commentators are steadily converging under one umbrella, reminiscent of the erstwhile Association of Professional Bodies. These people, whose article of faith is to see the back of the twenty-three months old President Mahama and his government even before its mandate ends have decided not to see anything good in him, they have deliberately and mischievously narrowed down the country�s problems on the President. Recent happenings in the country sadly, and very unfortunately brings back to memory the misfortune of another elected northern president, the late Dr Hilla Liman, who was chased out of office twenty seven months into his four-year mandate by individuals and groups whose modus operandi are akin to those who are baying for the blood of President Mahama, less than two years after assuming the mantle of leadership of this nation. Ominously, issues of unproven corruption, economic challenges and alleged maladministration which resulted in the overthrow of Dr Liman�s government are the same charges being recycled and proffered against President Mahama�s government. Since the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court validating his election as president of Ghana last year, not a day passes by without threats of strike, demonstrations, sit-downs, symposia and calls for civil disobedience, all well-crafted and geared towards the removal of President John Mahama and the NDC government. Recently, there are attempts to forcibly seize public buildings including the Flagstaff House and Parliament by these same opposition political elements masquerading as independent groups. History may be repeating itself, as some group of Ghanaians, seem hell bent on ditching the government of the second northerner to have ascended the highest office of the land. The question on the lips of many well-meaning Ghanaians is whether President Mahama can survive where Dr Liman failed, given the torrent of attacks on his personality and government on daily basis. This worrying trend led to a northerner and a leading member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, but who for obvious reasons does not want his identity disclosed wrote to The aL-hAJJ, wondering if a northerner can ever become President again after John Mahama, regardless of his political persuasion. The NPP guru stated that recent happenings in the country are similar to how Dr Hilla Liman was treated and eventually booted out of office. �After what happened to Dr Hilla Liman when he was president, there were people who thought Liman should not have been president. After the 1979 coup, barely two years in office and aside all difficulties he went through, people started complaining of economic hardship and others too mocked him and said he was sleeping on the job, and only busy with chewing cola and smearing the white walls of the castle with it. He was subsequently overthrown based on these assertions� After him, it took the North about 30 years to produce another president in the person of John Mahama who succeeded his boss President Mills after his death and went on to win the 2012 elections which was challenged in court for eight months. After all the times wasted on the election petition in court, people have started complaining again about economic hardship and corruption. The same funny thing that was said about Dr Liman is being said in the worse form about John Mahma�. The NPP guru further stated: �There are even some people who think his four year mandate should not elapse before he is chased out of office. Those attacking John Mahamah have detached the NDC party on which he contested election. Their target is the person of John Mahama and the part of the country he is coming from. If these people should succeed in chasing out John Mahama before his term of office, do we have any chance, as northerners, of producing another president from the North�, he rhetorically asked? Coincidentally, while President Mahama has barely three months to hit 27 months in office; a duration at which his compatriot Dr Liman was overthrown, civil society organizations like IMANi Ghana, OccupyGhana with support from the opposition NPP, the clergy, trade unions, media surrogates, academia and others have intensified their crusade to paint the Mahama administration as the most corrupt regime and unfit to govern the country. Akin to the derogatory name calling minority president, Dr Liman suffered, the fate of President Mahama, also a minority, may be worst, if the daily threat of the above-mentioned groups is anything to go by. Haven woefully failed in their attempts to cash in on the fall of the cedi to whip up public sentiments against the government and to overthrow it through mass insurrection, those relishing the ousting of the Mahama government have now resorted to issues of alleged corruption and the difficulties in the energy sector. While these plots are against the backdrop of massive infrastructural developments in all sectors of the national economy that government has embarked on to bring respite to the masses, President Mahama according to some experts may also be blamed for sideling very experienced people within the ruling party. �The President has surrounded himself with people of low quality in governance and even in society. They are messing himself and his government on daily basis. Yet the President seems unconcern,� a governance expert told this paper on condition of anonymity.