Former President John Mahama says his government would have been the one wallowing in the current economic mess, which he said was created by the NPP government’s mismanagement of the country, if he had won the 2020 elections.
Mr. Mahama seems to be thanking his stars for escaping a trap he said was set for him by the Akufo-Addo-led government prior to the last general elections.
Addressing NDC delegates at Nkwanta North in the Oti Region on Monday ahead of the party’s primaries next month, the former president said the way and manner the NPP administration governed Ghana between 2017 and 2020, was akin to digging a pit for the next administration.
Mr. Mahama therefore revealed that he losing the 2020 general elections to President Nana Akufo-Addo has a silver lining.
The former president cited a number of developments which he said expose how the economy was mismanaged by the government.
He stated that because the NPP government has fallen into their own pit, Ghanaians are yearning for the NDC to come back to power and bring restoration.
“God’s time is the best,” he stated, adding after the party lost power in 2016, it staged unsuccessful comeback in 2020 “because God was delivering us from something. He knows a large pit has been dug for us to fall in, but God said you should step aside, those who dug the hole, they themselves would fall in their own pit.
“So they have fallen in the pit and it is obvious to the whole world, that is why Ghanaians are saying that NDC should come and save them,” Mr. Mahama said to rapturous cheers.
He also touched on how expensive the rather Free SHS has become, claiming the amount parents spend on children going to senior high school is more than when they used to pay school fees under the NDC government.
The Free SHS policy, he also said, has reduced contact hours, left students without food among others.
Nonetheless, in his view, Mr. Mahama said Ghanaians are going through trials just to learn lessons from their past mistake of voting for the NPP government, whom he accused of making “big promises” just to win power.
He added that the NPP has been exposed by one of their own as being a party of “no action, talk alone”, but said the NDC on the other hand “does not promise but delivers”.
Meanwhile, former President Mahama has appealed to NDC delegates in Nkwanta North to give him 100 percent in the presidential primary in May 13, 2023, and also charged them to work hard to increase his votes in the 2024 general elections.
He would be competing in the internal election with two others: former Mayor of Kumasi Kojo Bonsu and former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffour.