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For sometime now, I haven’t been very active on social media to express my thoughts on issues of national interest, as I usually do as a good citizen, albeit have been following some of the economic and political discourses within the media space. A few friends noticed my absence and kept calling to find out what had happened to my e-pen.

Well, my absence was primarily occasioned the fact that my economic and financial survival and security have been brutally hit by Dr. Bawumia and Ken Ofori Atta's inhumane and insensitive debt exchange program that has caused a few deaths already.

My lifetime investments hang in a limbo, as the country’s economy, under the leadership of Dr. Bawumia, keeps hibernating under the unbearable heat of IMF’s microscope.

Friends, now you can understand why the mind to write wasn’t there for sometime. You know when things fall apart the centre can’t hold. You need no one to tell you the centre of Ghana’s economy cannot hold.

Almost everyone connected to this debt exchange thing is confused, the managers and innocent victims alike. No wonder the Vice President, the chief economic manager of the country, has never spoken a word publicly about the debt exchange things, even though he is the main man directing affairs behind the scenes. Ostensibly, the man is super confused, as all his economic theories have been exposed by the two exchanges – exchange rate and debt exchange.

Talking about people being confused, one person who seem more confused than the Vice President is the Majority Chief Whip in Parliament. I saw on Facebook someone calling him Annoh Dumb-preh. I thought that was a bit below the belt, even though I am of the view that his analysis was completely dumb.

Well, I heard the Majority Chief Whip speak to some issues in a video making rounds on social media and I was like who the f-word made this guy Majority Chief Whip. Albeit he speaks good English alright, his intellectual capacity to analyse issues definitely falls below average.

O how have we destroyed the country with our thinking that anyone who speaks good English is intelligent! I dare to say that any objective person who has been listening to his analysis on issues over the years would come to the same conclusion as mine.

Who in this country doesn’t know the Vice President and his buddy and financier, Ken Ofori Atta, are the cause of the economic woes in this country. So, what would cause a leader of our Parliament to blame the outgone Trade and Industry Minister, who on several occasions had to virtually beg the Finance Minister before fractions of his meagre budgetary allocation would be released to him. Why do you blame such a powerless Minister whose unparalleled work records the President praised umpteenth times.

Without mincing words, no right thinking human being would seek to exonerate the Vice President, who is the head of EMT and the Finance Minister who controls the country’s purse and rather blame a Trade and Industry Minister who brought hard work, integrity and credibility to bear on his scope of work to positively affect the image of the government and the party in the midst of self-inflicted economic crisis.

When the government eventually decided to go for IMF bailout and the government needed a man of integrity and credibility to speak to Ghanaians to calm them down, they settled on Mr Alan Kyerematen. Integrity matters!

As if attempting to blame Mr Alan Kyerematen for the country’s economic woes wasn’t dumb enough, the MP, veered into a slippery ground to expose his weak intellectual capacity the more. He claimed he had done his analysis in respect of who would be a better candidate for the NPP in 2024.

According to him, the difference between the NPP and the NDC is only 2 to 3% and it is Dr. Bawumia who can guarantee the NPP that difference to win power in 2024. Really? Whoever made this guy a leader in parliament ahead of fine analytical brains there has done a great disservice to the party.

As usual of him, he failed to proffer any facts or data to back his infantile claim. He thinks NPP delegates are so gullible that they would swallow whatever he says hook, line and sinker simply because of his position. And, when the interviewer asked him about the Ashanti Region relative to who can garner more votes for the party in the region, he greatly fumbled and even indirectly insulted the intelligence of the Ashantis.

How could any sane strategist think of invading his opponent’s strongholds without first thinking of ring-fencing his golden stronghold to protect his fortunes from dwindling. According to the MP, Dr. Bawumia stands a better chance of getting the needed 80% votes in the Ashanti Region than Alan Kyerematen. How insane!

Again, he mentioned the North, Volta and Zongos as the NDC strongholds and posited, without evidential facts and data, that it is Dr. Bawumia who can penetrate these strongholds to win significant votes for the NPP. This guy is politically hollow!

In the 2020 election, when Dr. Bawumia was on the ticket and the government had established a whole Ministry and development fund for the Zongos, what was the results in the Zongo? And, now that the Zongo Ministry is dismantled and the Alhaji is perceived by many Muslims as someone whose life doesn’t espouse the true teachings of Islam, what does the MP think would happen to the party in the zongos in the next election.

Even if one has to assume without admitting that his claim holds water, how many votes can the Alhaji garner from these strongholds as against the quantum of votes John Mahama would inevitably gain in the Ashanti Region and the Christian community. People like Annoh-Dompreh should have been taught the rudiments of politics before making them leaders.

Even with Nana Addo as the sitting President going for his second term, John Mahama’s performance in the Ashanti Region was a significant improvement on that of 2016. Besides, considering all the things Dr. Bawumia said prior to the 2016 and 2020 elections, in the light of the current economic situation, what can he tell Ghanaians again to win their trust and confidence. The man has completely lost it. Ghanaians have learnt their lessons.

The NPP can’t afford to lose any percentage of the Ashanti Region and Christian votes to the NDC, as the consequences would be dire. Therefore, whoever becomes the party’s candidate should be someone who can overwhelmingly attract more votes from these two quarters than 2020. The MP lacks the capacity to understand this simple facts.

I will be back with part 2

Yours truly,
Citizen Attoh Quarshie
(The James ToCitizen wn Patriot)