Politicians should always be honest about their intentions and communicate them forthrightly. Four years ago, President Akufo-Addo showed lofty promises to the people of Ghana. Now it has been proved that all the promises were false and he has failed in fulfilling all the promises made and the good people of this country were misled.
In any crisis, leaders have two responsibilities: solve the immediate problem and keep it from happening again. The Covid-19 pandemic is an excellent case in point. That notwithstanding, some politicians might make commitments that they have no intention of keeping. This is, of course, a big problem for the public, who reasonably expect elected leaders to do what they say or said they will do.
President Mahama, is described as a great and an effective visionary leader because of his achievements. He was intensely focused and was always enthusiastic in the pursuit to improve performance and spurred change. His eyes were always set toward his targets, and created pathway to accomplishing them. Was always driven and inspired by what Ghana can become.
Sometimes short term solutions is needed as a quick win to a problem that has ravaged a country or a society and at the same time, lay foundation for a long term. That is where I have issues with the 88 new hospitals promised by the President in his last address. Apart from his abysmal record when it comes to fulfilling promises, his approach to the current problem confronting the country lacks tact. We still have many uncompleted hospitals started by the Mahama administration across the country abandoned by this government. Apart from exposing the deficits in the system, the covid-19 pandemic has also taught us to depoliticise health issues and the need for our leaders to continue projects they inherit from their predecessors. That notwithstanding, it can also be seen that paying attention to both immediate and future problems will be a win-win situation for the country and the people. When a leader neglects a future problem, it might be one that when the need arises, a lot of damages would have been done before a solution is achieved. This is why I think government should take a calculated approach in considering the problems to attend to. While the Mahama administration was taking care of the immediate problems the country was facing, it also ensured that future problems were attended so that when the need arises, there will not be any need for hush hush solution as being done by the current administration. This government was able to handle the covid-19 or, handling the crisis without major challenges when it comes to availability of health facilities because of the huge investment the Mahama administration made in the health sector. Some of the new hospitals are being used as treatment and quarantine centres. The University of Health and Allied Sciences laboratory has began covid-19 testing, the temperature testing device fixed at the international airport during the Ebola epidemic, is what is being used to test covid-19 by the health personnel at the airport.
Former President Mahama is considered one of the most respected politicians in the world, not because of the position he held, but because of his achievements. He is still the man that everyone looks up to and respect because of his personality, his characters, traits, and leadership qualities he exhibited in office. If you want to be a leader, you must first act like a leader. A leader cannot win the trust and hearts of others if he does not possess the qualities and character of a leader. He looked and acted and set himself as an example. You need to become an example before people will acknowledge you as a leader. The former President, to this day, is still a well behaved man who does not misuse his status quo to garner false respect from others. His popularity has increased exponentially since he left office because of his demeanor and his display of true statesmanship.
The current leadership thinks that being a leader is all about making political gains or winning elections. The President and his government, focus much on making political gains and forget the most important issues in the country.
One unique trait of the former president is his long-term thinking and visionary leadership. Apart from the massive infrastructure projects, under the former president, the world bank and the IMF projected that the country’s economy will grow by 7-8 percent between 2017-2019 as a result of the investment he made across the sectors especially, the oil and has sector. Locally generated funds to support the covid-19 fight were taken from the various oil funds established by the Mahama administration.
As a politician and a political leader, former President Mahama’s ability to speak well and coherently, has helped tremendously in his journey to becoming the President of Ghana and now, the Presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party in the country. He is able to bring the right message to the people. Without having the ability to communicate effectively, a leader cannot deliver a clear message to the people, which will automatically result in losing trust and confidence
Because of the tremendous role he played in the Ebola epidemic fight, Mr Mahama saw how countries health systems were stretched thin and how the virus overwhelmed them. The West African countries had little political or economic leverage, given wealthier countries natural desire to always put their own people first. With this in mind, he quickly embarked on massive infrastructure development and extended health facilities to every corner of the country. In spite of this administration’s laid back attitude and irresponsible attitude which led to the virus hitting us, we were partially ready for the virus because of these facilities. He made larger systematic changes to enable us respond efficiently and effectively when the next epidemic arrives.
In building the hospitals and the clinics, the Mahama administration indirectly created part of the infrastructure for fighting epidemics. The UHAS trains health workers who monitor disease patterns and also serving as part of the early warning systems that will alert the country to potential outbreaks.
The former President’s support so far in the covid-19 pandemic fight is being commended across the country. This is the first time we seeing an opposition leader giving such an enormous support to an incumbent during a national crisis. Government has adopted and implemented some of his suggestions, he has been making donations to the vulnerable and people affected by the restrictions and has personally joined the covid-19 preventive measures education via his social media handles and other platforms. His party has formed a covid-19 emergency response team to support government in the fight and have suspended all their political activities.
Source: Ohenenana Obonti Krow