Poisoned Chalice!

“But John Mahama doesn't particularly excite voters either. This country uniting behind him would be as difficult as a mouse uniting behind a cat!"

I am sitting here in torrid heat, sweating all the way into my underwear, completely paralyzed by the fifth or sixth dumsor of the day and quite agitated that another wasteful day is on the verge of being tossed into the dustbin.

My thoughts drift from one thing to the other, looking for something interesting to think about. Eventually, they capture our presumptive president, John Dramani Mahama, working his laptop in his office --- his generator roaring in the background.

The office is full of party members and old friends looking for spoils in his incoming government and making various commitments for the campaign.

I see some pastors and mallams too.They have come to serenade him with their latest visions and prophecies and to pray against the forces of evil contending against his second coming.

He was a dead goat only recently, but he is completely politically resurrected, and is now rehearsing the fine details of another four-year occupancy in the Jubilee House.

Fate has been merciful to him. His office is now a beehive of activity, for clearly, president Akufo-Addo and the NPP have lost control of the ship of state. Most Ghanaians are waiting anxiously to punish the NPP in the elections for the flood of economic mess into which they have drowned this country.

Dumsor is now a daily albatross; the economy is a worsening spectacle depreciating with savage intensity just like the dumb cedi. Crime and momo fraud is rife.The price of food is severe. Despondency is widespread. This is a strange Ghana.

But John Mahama doesn't particularly excite voters either. His resurgence is the result of Akufo-Addo and the NPP's epic economic mess, and the dearth of creative political leadership engulfing many countries.

Charismatic leaders like Kwame Nkrumah or Bill Clinton are now extinct. Our new generation of leaders are typical old men with a sophistication in economic theorizing rather than pragmatic intelligence or creative action.It is strange how old, uninspiring men seem to be the new norm these days. Let's call it the golden age of the old men. With tired brains and weak muscles, they can barely energize the economy.

Though relatively younger than Akufo-Addo, John is a chip off the old block --- quite ordinary in speechcraft, and flat too in his ability to galvanize a desperate population into concrete action like the Kwame Nkrumah or Jerry Rawlings.

With things looking so bad and economic stress taking over our national psyche, our new leader must not only be a rabble-rouser. He must have the ability to unify this country under the twin symbols of national pride and development.

Unfortunately, John is not so politically endowed. He is already a divisive figure by virtue of being a former president with old bones to pick from old foes. This country uniting behind John Mahama would be as difficult as a mouse uniting behind a cat!

As Ghanaians prepare to rescue the NPP from its legendary economic misrule, the sadder reality is that this country is in a hopeless economic situation.

The resurgence of John Dramani Mahama, a fine gentleman by all standards, offers little assurance of the end of corruption and the beginning of our economic renaissance.

The waters of Ghana are troubled waters. They are in distress. This is the wrong time for old ideas and divisive politics. This is the time for strong, passionate, pragmatic, servant-leadership. Can John Mahama lead Ghana to new horizons of stability?