Governance is not about empty sloganeering and PR stunts – Mahama

Former President Mahama has descended heavily on the Akufo-Addo government saying ”governance is not about empty sloganeering and PR stunts”.

Mr Mahama has bemoaned the present unprecedented economic hardships and urged the government to take up pragmatic steps to ease the burden on the ordinary Ghanaians.

”The speed with which hundreds of thousands of young people spontaneously took over social media and demanded that this country be fixed is a cautionary tale on how exactly the people feel about the
way this county is being governed”.

Rather than cynically scoffing at these calls, ascribing political motives to them, and pretending that the
genuine cry for help from our citizens is the figment of the imagination of some political leaders, we
should be lending a listening ear to these young people and indeed the general population.

The problems facing our country and the solutions to them cannot be reduced to a handful of fancy
slogans and poorly conceived and implemented half-measures aimed at obtaining short-lived political
gratification only to have them inflict deeper socio-economic wounds on our country and leave more problems than they resolve.

Governance is not about empty sloganeering and PR stunts. It should be about methodical steps that are well-conceived and thought through to address our problems holistically and permanently. It should be about crafting and rolling out a vision that transforms society in meaningful ways with clearly benefit all our people.

The seemingly intractable problems we face and the vicious cycle they continue to perpetuate, should
compel us to create room for more consultation and deliberation among competing political forces and ideologies as we demonstrated when we convened the Senchi economic forum leading to the
formulation of Senchi Consensus.

Sitting with political opponents to find common ground and thinking through national problems is not an admission of defeat nor helplessness. It is a demonstration of maturity and statesmanship, oozing out of a shared desire to see our nation progress irrespective of the colour of those who govern at a particular point in time.

Those who govern are but temporary employees of the people of Ghana. They will change from time to time depending on the mood of the electorate, but our country must progress no matter who goes into or comes out of government.

We in the NDC stand prepared to engage in fruitful national dialogue aimed at finding concrete solutions to our most pressing problems.

Polarization, extreme partisanship, and the zero-sum approach to governance only serve to hurt our people more. The clock is ticking, and our people are watching, rather impatiently I must add, to see if we will course-correct and adjust to their demands and begin to drive a new narrative and paradigm, that prioritizes working in their collective interest and delivering measurable results that enhance their welfare and resolve their problems.

This work must begin now, and it helps a great deal when platforms like this one are created to foster
useful conversations about our nation, its many problems and how to address them.