Dear president, kindly accept my warm greetings coming from Nandom in the Upper West Region. Derbie Raphael is my name and a resident of Nandom, one of the newly created districts in the Upper West Region, the region you so much disrespect and abhor its indigenes to the extent that you wish us dead. The reason behind your deliberate delivery of expired relief items to the flood victims in the region last year around this time and again commissioned a regional hospital which is still locked up as I speak. This is something I am unable to fathom because even if you hate somebody, you don't wish the person dead. Anyway, this is not the main reason why I am writing you this letter, I shall write elaboratively on this topic in my next letter to you.
Without further delay I will want to deeply take a nose-dive into the main reason why I am writing you this letter. Mr. President, I am one of those people who find it uneasy to be economical with the truth though painful as it pieces through the bones like a sharp double edge sword. So, I am an ardent believer in the wise saying, "a man must not swallow his couth because he fears to disturb the sleep of others". So Mr President, expect nothing from this article but the real truth. I can recall the loudness and vigour that accompanied a statement you vehemently and repeatedly made in your plagiarised inaugural speech calling on Ghanaians to be responsible citizens.
In all sincerity Mr. President, I was one of the people who had an unshakable believe in your capability to deliver though I don't share the same political orientation with you. The confident and passion with which you touted your credentials prior to the 2016 elections actually wooed me and many Ghanaians to believe that indeed you were the Messiah to salvage the country from every difficulty she was facing.
To be frank and fair with you Mr president, I just realised that I mistakenly overrated you. You are no where near the level I actually placed you and this piece will delineate why I said so. Mr. President you know it is not easy to cajole a village literates like many others you did to. I guess you also know how practically impossible it is to gain the trust of such people back? That is the problem you are facing now.
Mr president, you can recall you have made lots of lofty and mouthwatering promises to the discerning people of this country which were so appealing and favourable to the youth. Among them were; protecting the public purse, creating a lean government, totally undoing unemployment, ensuring a robust economic growth, ensuring citizens' security, above all was fighting and making corruption a thing of the past inter alia.
Godly speaking Mr president, you are now facing credibility deficit if I should be civil and charitable in my rendition as far as your promises and works are concerned so far. I can remember I published an article titled, "The substandardness of this government is a clear demonstration of an advanced failure" when you were six months old in office. Most of your boys descended on me on the premise that you were not settle yet. Unfortunately for them, you have not been able to prove me wrong. You have indeed danced to the music I played.
Ghana is now retrogressing instead of progressing. I am unable to clearly point out why this mess. Could it be that you can not recall the promises that you made as a result of your general body weakness stemming out of advancement in age? Or could it be an advertent attempt to compensate your family, cronies and party faithfuls?
Mr. President your lean government has suddenly turned in to an elephant size government which is producing virtually nothing. This reminds me of a statement you once again made after winning power, "we have the men". Indeed, you have one hundred and twenty-four (124) men and women in your government, the largest government ever since Ghana gained independence but they seems to be doing a lot of nothing while draining the public purse you promised to protect.
Mr. President, you have totally lost control of your family and friends appointees. You fail to clip their flightless wings even though they produce lots of scandals almost on daily basis. It is abundantly clear that you have successfully failed to get hold of the key issues bordering the ordinary Ghanaians.
Your consistent and unrepentant shifting of blames on former president Mahama is enough a justification that you are indeed derilic in your duties to this country.
Mr President, I think it is time for you to take a bow and leave the political stage. Over 45 years in active politics should be enough but your unrepentant quest to become president has put you in this bewilderment. To further buttress this point, you will agree with me that you are being misled by your appointees almost every time. That is a sign of lack of attention to details and required diligence to run this country effectively.
Mr. President, let me be candid enough to remind you that you rode on the back of corruption to become president. As we speak now, corruption has grown into a huge tree bearing fruits which your family and friends government is plucking every day. In fact, corruption has been institutionalised under your watch. Transparency International has confirmed it in their reports that Ghana is worst now in terms of corruption than before. The clerics, Prof. Martey also confirmed it. Your own MP, Hon Kennedy Agyapong also said it. The list is a tall one. Your government is now riding on the wheels of corruption. Your relatives and cronies embark on corrupt activities with impunity yet their flightless wings are not being clipped. That resulted in the loss of 9.6million dollars. When civil society organisations, clerics, pressure groups and individuals call for their prosecution, you waste no time in clearing them, an attitude that won you an unenviable accolade, "the corrupt clearing agent".
Mr. President, you parroted a lot of irrelevances on security of the citizens but as we speak, citizens of this country can not go about with their daily activities freely and peacefully. The insecurity under your watch is wearing beret. Ghanaians have loss a number of relatives through armed robbery attacks, contract killing, kidnapping which is very alien to mother Ghana and you have not been able to walk your talk. Mother Ghana is in shambles and seriously moaning for rescue. The worst of it all is your intolerant attitude towards constructive criticisms. You have successfully introduced the culture of silence in the country and any one who expresses his views contrary to yours is pursued. Classical examples of such incidents are the untimely death of Ahmed Suale, Manasseh Azure exile to South Africa, attack on Starr FM presenter, Mr. Edward and the toucher of Modern Ghana editors just to mention a few. Mr president what you should note on the culture of silence in the country is the damming ramifications on the citizens. Let me tell you what Harry Truman once said "once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasing repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fears".
In conclusion, the above notwithstanding Mr president, I think you still have one more chance to redeem a modicum of your credibility deficit, that is to organise a transparent, free and fair elections in 2020. I know this is very difficult especially when your appointed EC has started demonstrating signs of gross incompetence and deliberate attempts to rig the election to favour you. My humble advice to you Mr president is that start preparing your handing over notes for the incoming government because the indicators and signals are loud and clear that Ghanaians can no longer entrust our destinies into your care again.
Your family and friends government have told Ghanaians that the former president, John Dramani Mahama is so powerful to extend that even as he lost power, he is still able to hack your software and bussed people to destabilise the BECE placement system. The reason behind the notoriety you gained in blaming him for your failure to deliver what you promised us.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
.........signed.........
Derbie Raphael
derbieraphael@yahoo.com
derbieraphael.blogspot.com
0240371356
