POLITICS CORNER--*Atta Mill's year of action- just delusional*

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Weeks before Christmas last
year, President Mills declared
2011 a year of action.
On that occasion, Mr Atta Mills
assured the people of Ghana
that the year 2011 will be the
year Ghanaians will witness the
execution and implementation of
most of the promises his
government has made to them.
“Time is not on our side and we
want the year 2011 to be a year
of action. Our people are very
expectant and justifiably so
because we have made them
aware of the generosity of our
brothers and sisters from China.
They know that there are a lot
of things in the pipeline and they
are itching to see what is going
to be on the ground”, said the
President to the admiration of
expectant Ghanaians.
Some months before the
declaration of the Mills-Mahama
action year, 21st September to
be precise, the government`s
propaganda outfit got very busy.
The expectations of the
Ghanaians were raised to yet
another level. We were brazenly
told by the NDC propaganda
machinery that President John
Evans Atta Mills and his Chinese
counterpart, Mr Hu Jintao, had
signed a deal for China to give
Ghana a loan of three billion
dollars to develop her energy
sector. We were excited, and
rightly so, because we read this:
“Specific areas to be targeted
under the deal include
infrastructure development, job
creation and the development
and other derivatives of oil and
gas. The package, which would
be disbursed through the China
Bank, constitutes the first phase
of Chinese assistance, which
would start rolling out in the
next six months after the
Government of Ghana has
devised a framework for the
package.”
Ladies and gentlemen, nine
months into the signing of this
“unprecedented” loan package
and six months after the
President declared this year an
action year, the people of Ghana
are yet to have a taste of these
sweet promises. The 3 billion
USD we were promised is
nowhere to be found.
Many Ghanaians have been left
disillusioned by the non-
performance of this President.
Members of his own party have
been left baffled by the level of
incompetence being displayed by
President Mills.
Former First Lady, Nana Konadu
Agyeman-Rawlings, who is
contesting Prof John Evans Atta
Mills for the flagbearership
position of the ruling National
Democratic Congress (NDC), told
Ghanaians recently the President
is superintending over a corrupt
government.
"The people have not seen any
improvement in their lives and
there is massive corruption all
over the place," she said to the
amazement of the good people
of Ghana.
Nana Konadu also told us in
plain language that the man she
and her husband imposed on us
has not been able to deliver on
the numerous promises he made
to the Ghanaian electorate prior
to the 2012 elections which saw
him becoming President of the
Republic, since areas like Accra,
the capital city, is still reeling
under acute water shortage
whilst the electricity situation has
worsened. What did we do to
deserve this bunch of
incompetent folks ruling and
making a mess of the nation
Ghana? Just a year into the Mills-
Mahama presidency, the loud
mouthed deputy minister of
information, Mr Samuel
Ablakwah shamelessly told us his
government has created 1.6
million jobs only for Mr E.T.
Mensah, Mills` minister for
Employment, to disassociate
himself from it.
In 2008, Candidate Mills
promised prosperity for all
Ghanaians, irrespective of one’s
political affiliation. Today, what
do we see? More than half a
million more Ghanaians have
fallen below the poverty line
since 2009.
True to his words, the
President`s action year has lived
by its name. Sadly, the action he
and his party promised is far
from the action Ghanaians are
expecting from their president. In
the action year, we have been
living witnesses to the resurgence
of bitter feuds within his party.
Yesterday, it was FONKAR and
GAME, today it`s OLONKAR and
SADAM, the action year of
acronyms. The President has
absolutely no control over his
own party, of which he is the
leader; and you will be deceiving
yourself big time if you should
believe the man is in charge of
the affairs of the country.
Do you remember the much
touted STX Korean housing
project? When you ask them
about STX and when the billion
dollar project will start rolling,
they will tell you it will start next
month, next month and next
month. The truth of the matter is
that STX is dead and cannot be
resurrected.
Of course, there are some
actions going on. We have a
desperate President going from
village to village and town to
town commissioning 200 projects
here, 500 projects there and a
thousand projects all over the
place. Today, NDC foot soldiers
are in firm control of the
country. They hire and fire as
they please without the President
uttering a word. Ghana, today, is
a polarized nation, being
governed like it was in George
Owen`s animal farm. During
Atta Mills’ time, the Gas have
had the misfortune of witnessing
the installation of a second, or is
it a third chief?
Ever since Atta Mills`NDC
government took over the
realms of affairs of the nation,
there have been numerous calls
from activists and government
officials of the party asking for
the head of the country`s Chief
Justice. We all remember the
infamous “kill the cat” statement
made by no other person than
the chairman of Atta Mills NDC
party. Many such calls have since
followed suit.
Quite recently, a group that calls
itself the Network of Social
Democrats gave Justice Georgina
Theodora Wood fourteen days
to resign her office, alleging her
regime had failed woefully to
maintain professional standards
in the judiciary, saying either she
resigns or they would force her
out of office “through the
narrow window”. Quite sadly, we
had people like Kwesi Pratt jr.
supporting this shameful and
irresponsible call.
In their desperate attempt to
maintain its stranglehold on
power, the Mills-Mahama
government has resorted to
dubious plan by coming up with
something called the NDC
Heroes’ Fund, a monetary
inducement fund to recruit
desperate NDC foot soldiers to
help the party maintain political
power at all cost. Meanwhile, the
country`s external debt is
escalating by the day. It is a fact
that Ghana's debt stands at
$13.4 billion, up from around
$8.1 billion when President John
Atta Mills was elected into office
in late 2008. One may ask; what
happened to all this money? His
ministers and appointees are
“chopping” like there is no
tomorrow.
Ghanaians are suffering and they
cannot wait for 2011 to come for
them to show this incompetent
government where power lies.
Today, everywhere you go in
Ghana, the song on the lips of
our people is the same “enkoyie”
and “Atta adaada yen”. Indeed
Atta has been a phenomenal
failure and disappointing. This is
a president Ghanaians do not
deserve. Our country needs to
move forward and we shall
surely do so come 2012 with a
competent, forward looking and
inspirational president. Nana
Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is
tomorrow`s man.
Source: Desmond Frimpong,
Member of NPP-Norway
communication team