Nothing Mysterious About The Defeat Of The NDC Regime Of President Mahama

To say that losing power came as a great shock to the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is to make an understatement.

Many of them neither knew what hit them, nor saw the electoral juggernaught coming at them. It is amazing just how easy it is for those in power to become detached from reality - and to become delusional.

Perhaps in the fullness of time, the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will come to understand the major role that the steady erosion of the moral authority of President Mahama's administration (to the point that made it lose the trust of so many Ghanaians) played in the party losing power in the 7th December, 2016, presidential and parliamentary elections.

Whiles many of the leading lights of the party were confident that the host of completed infrastructure projects distributed  in districts across the country,  had earned President Mahama's government the right to be returned to power again, most voters, on the other hand, were of the view that a regime they saw as corruption-riddled - which they felt was dominated by  greedy, arrogant, amoral and incompetent individuals - had to be booted out of office to bring the days of impunity in Ghana to an end.

In other words the 7th December, 2016, presidential and parliamentary elections were regarded by the vast majority of voters as a referendum on the suitability of an NDC administration continuing to govern the Republic of Ghana after the ruling party's 8 long years in power - from a good governance perspective.

Alas, in the view of a majority of voters, the ruling NDC regime of President Mahama had failed good governance litmus tests in too many instances and on far too many fronts, for comfort.

To such fed-up voters, there was a long list  of corruption scandals which illustrated the impunity of the rich and powerful during the Mahama era: the Smarttys Management and Productions Limited's bus branding saga; and the super-scoundrel Woyome's barefaced Jack-where-art-thou-cheek in unlawfully  hanging on to judgment-debt  (to the tune of some GHc51.2 millions) when he knew perfectly well that he had obtained taxpayers'cash by inveigling people who had a fiduciary duty to protect the public purse -  and therefore ought to have know better than fall for his wiles - but unfortunately failed to do so.

They are just two examples of the outrageous goings-on in the Mahama era that incensed many voters.

Yet another example, was the confirmation of the public's suspicion  that the government  would fail to carry out the recommendations contained in the  report of the Justice Dzamefeh Commission that enquired into events surrounding the  participation of the senior national male soccer team, the Black Stars, in the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.

It was felt by many that though unearthing yet more evidence to ordinary people that the rich and powerful could always act unethically and unlawfully with impunity, under the Mahama administration, nothing would eventually come of it, in terms of change for the better in football administration and in the game's organisation throughout the country.

Not surprisingly,  the idea that people in responsible positions who should have been punished would yet again escape censure, after the report of the Dzamefeh Commission, led to an immediate outcry amongst football fans for justice, when its entire contents became known  - in what is a football-mad nation. When no heads subsequently rolled after the government's white paper on the Dzamefeh Commission's report became public, it caused outrage throughout the country amongst lovers of the beautiful game of soccer.

Some football fans also therefore saw the 7th December, 2016, presidential and parliamentary elections as an opportunity to help rid the nation of the NDC regime and end the days of impunity of the rich and powerful.

Then there was the utter humiliation felt by so many middle-class Ghanaians, as a result of the Independence Day anniversary celebrations brochuregate scandal: In which no heads rolled for a simple brochure full of unpardonable, unspeakable and abominable  errors - including the description of  the special guest of honour, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, as Ghana's president - and for which a fall-guy apparently foolish enough to agree to be a patsy and take the blame for those ultimately responsible for planning the celebrations, was quickly found, to enable some of the regime's arrogant "untouchables" (the perfidious Stan Dogbe & Co) to continue remaining in their positions at the presidency, despite being so egregiously negligent in their duties. Pity.

In sum total, in a harsh economic climate, when voting day finally arrived, a majority of voters (5,715,026 millions of them and representing 53.85% of total valid votes cast in the presidential election) felt that an opportune time had come for the Mahama administration to be turfed out of power - in order to bring some relief to ordinary people in Ghana.

Nothing mysterious in that really - but perhaps rather beffudling to those in the NDC who were well aware of the many completed infrastructure projects dotted around the country, but sadly were unable to decipher the real mood of the country at large, because they had lost touch with ordinary people to the extent that they no longer really understood the Ghanaian populace: who now insist on their nation  being administered only by transparent regimes underpinned by good governance principles.

Yet, it could all have turned out so differently, if the Mahama regime had not evolved into such a hard-of-hearing government, by the end of its tenure. Pity.