He should perish the intent of becoming the President of Ghana and also trying to persuade Ghanaians that the 4 year term is too short, so the constitution must be amended to make it 5 years.
Any dream of a third term is a bad dream! Former President Mahama thinks he is that indispensable; and we are so gullible and vulnerable. It’s time to fight against the tenure of elongation of Mahama. The storm of declaration-intention from John Mahama is a bad case. It is also deceptive, his claim that he’s going to take Ghana from the hands of a few into the hands of her people is not true.
Is Mahama not part of the knitted special interest people who are the bane of keeping on with the close-knitted special interest few. The Good Book says “where there is no vision (inspired and patriotic leadership),the people perish, or suffer.” It is a dream they do not want to end any time soon, certainly not by 2024. Some small group thinks that the NDC is now fully domiciled in President Mahama’s bedroom. He’s been persuaded by some manipulators in the party that they have the strategy to fix it.
Nothing is beyond the witch doctors and spin doctors. It does not take a genius to know that President Mahama already has already done his first and final term as President of Ghana. He can’t take an oath to be President three times. Surely, we remember that a presidential term, according to the constitution is four years. The term is run by the President and Vice President elected on the same, inseparable ticket. Therefore when President Mills died, the then Vice President, John Mahama, sworn to an oath of allegiance and oath of office as President for the four-year term to run its full course. That term expired in 2012, and he was re-elected and sworn in as President in May 2012 for the second Mahama. He lost in 2016,/2020 he should not run in 2024.
Any dream of a third term is a bad dream. My question to former President John Mahama is: what form of succession plan did he (or has he) prepared for the National Democratic Congress, particularly since he has already occupied the highest office in Ghana, but yet he is yearning to return to contest? As even using the constitutional retirement age limit of 60 years for civil and public servants as the benchmark, shouldn’t President Mahama, touting himself as a mentor for the youth, be considering retirement.
The practice of relatively young person’s taking over the reigns of a country is not novel. Around the world, there are eight youngest leaders from varied political systems – democracies, monarchies and dictatorships in Europe, Asia and Middle East. They include North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un (33), Volodymyr Groysman, Ukraine’s youngest ever prime minister (39), Jüri Ratas, the new prime minister of Estonia (38), Macedonian Prime Minister, Emil Dimitriev, (38); Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, became the fifth king of Bhutan at 26; Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 36, the Emir of Qatar and Vanessa D’Ambrosio, the only woman in the list who is serving a six-month term as the captain regent of San Marino.These young leaders are doing exploits in their various countries.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in particular, has continued to brutally repress opposition within the closed-off country and escalate testing of its nuclear missiles to the chagrin of the world. At this juncture, it is important to stress that no country allows a youth who has not been groomed for leadership to assume authority as leader. All the aforementioned youngsters ruling in their respective countries were groomed in one way or another for leadership position. Suffice to state that former President Mahama, as the only surviving president in the NDC tradition, must be a mentor not a partaker.
Allowing a novice, who has not been prepared for the exalted office of leadership to assume authority would be disastrous. Such could spell doom for a country. Mahama must know that, except the right structures are put in place, his misspeaking on old age would be meaningless. As demonstrated above with the numerous examples across the world, the age of leaders is not the problem. There are fundamental problems that need to be addressed to make things work in this clime. The issue of corruption has to be sorted out. He knows it. Former President Mahama was, obviously, directly referring to Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, the clear-and-obvious challenger to his hegemony to the NDC leadership contest. We know. But he was not bold enough.
There should not be any excitement over any constitutional change to the minimum threshold for qualification to contest the presidency in Ghana. After all, I am afraid that, if a 30-year old becomes the president today – or like as young as he claims to be – the old Nana Addo floored him in many contests. Yet nothing will change under the existing political structures. The age argument is a no-no in diplomacy, and should not be factored in this equation. Democratization and good governance are the only variables needed. All the other issues must be sorted out for us to reap the full benefits. The sages say there is wisdom in old age.
Around the world, there are countries with leaders aged above 80 years. They include Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia (88), Abdul Halim of Kedah, Malaysia (87) and Sabah al-Ahmad of Kuwait (85). These old leaders are doing well because of the well-establish structures of governance in their countries that they follow, without introducing their own ad-hoc policies.
These leaders are selfless. They don’t pursue sectional interest but focus on issues that help to build their countries. For instance, under Essebsi’s stewardship, Tunisia remains the sole Arab Spring country to have been steered towards a course leading to democracy and security. That gives credit to old age, wisdom and maturity, which a youth leader would not have been able to manage.
That, however, does not rule out what the younger generation could do. The youth is full of energy, vibrancy, power and exuberance that could be channeled into productive governance. But the youth may not have the requite wisdom to govern a complex society like Ghana. Most important question is revisited here: Who is Mahama grooming as the only surviving President and Vice President of the NDC party? A Godfather who wants to be a contestant. We must, as a party, begin to groom and mentor our youth for strategic political leadership. For now, Age is not a problem. Did he listen to the American President? Ghanaians have paid him all his entitlements. As to an 80/ 90 year old leading Ghana it’s not his problem.
