There is dumsor, the Accra explosion, a weak economy and the roads becoming more congested to name a few, but take comfort in the fact it's been hard on President John Mahama and his government as well.
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Mahama’s most embarrassing moments of 2015
It’s been a tough year for many in Ghana.
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So below are highlights of President Mahama and his NDC government's embarrassing moments in our [Pulse.com.gh] opinion.
Dead goat syndrome
Speaking to Ghanaians in Botswana about becoming immune to threats of strikes and demonstrations in Ghana, Mahama said he had adopted a “dead-goat syndrome".
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At the March speech, he admitted he had seen more demonstrations and strikes in his first two years and didn’t think things could get worse.
“It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn't fear the knife because it is dead already.
"I have a dead goat syndrome”.
Mahama’s comments sparked many jokes from his critics and opposition, who renamed his budget this year the ‘Dead Goat Budget’.
You have to be president to criticise me
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Last month Mahama lashed out at NPP’s Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who he claimed was not fit to criticise him.
It came after Bawumia called him “incompetent”.
As Mahama said: “Did you hear Bawumia say incompetent Mahama? You’ve never held any responsibility anywhere near the presidency before; you don’t know what it is like to be President,” he said.
He said he would take criticism from past presidents Kufuor and Rawlings “because they’ve been there before”.
He said his NPP critics “have never ever come near the presidency” and do not know what it takes to lead the country.
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Airwaves and social media feeds were full of people condemning the President for his stance. As the leader of this nation, surely we should all be holding him up for criticism?
The power barge and AMERI 'blues'
Writer nnyamewaa.com recently wrote Mahama a letter for his birthday about the Turkey power barge and a ceremony to welcome its arrival last month.
She wrote: “I thought there was no way your government could shock me into tears and make me cringe with shame again after the Brazil debacle, but you and your people keep topping yourselves. It’s like you are on a mission to humiliate us for tolerating your government’s incompetence. Who holds a ceremony to welcome an incomplete solution? Who? What at all were they celebrating? The fact that the barge (which we didn’t make) finally arrived here after missing at least three deadlines?”
“Is a ceremony the wisest thing to do for a government that is broke and about to force its citizens to pay more for power they don’t get?” she asked.
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No votes
As reported by Joy FM, almost five percent of card-carrying members of NDC voted against Mahama leading NDC for the 2016 general elections.
Results released by the Electoral Commission (EC) showed that Mahama had 95.1% support, but the 4.9% he lacked was embarrassing his critics said.
The highest votes against him were from his home in the Northern Region.
More corrupt than Nigeria
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Whether it's warranted or not, when people think of corruption, they would likely think of Nigeria. Well, now they can think of Ghana instead.
Results released on December 1 from the corruption perception index by the Transparency International stated about 71 percent of people living in Ghana say corruption has increased over the last twelve months.
That puts Ghana as the second most corrupt nation in Africa, just behind South Africa. Nigeria is in third place.
The survey asked 43,143 respondents across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa about their experiences and perceptions of corruption in their country.
“Record of failure”
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The New Statesman reported that available records showed the Mahama-led NDC government has had more access to resources in the last seven years than any other government in the past.
The paper reported that taxes, loans and oil revenues alone amount to an inflow of some GHC 200 billion over seven years, whereas under the eight years of the previous Kufuor-led NPP government, the same resources totalled GHC 20.00 billion.
NPP’s Anthony Akoto Osei, spokesperson on Finance said the resources were in such a bad state, the government had to seek an IMF bailout.
“That is the record of the last seven budgets of this NDC government. It is a record of failure,” he said.
NPP said NDC delivered one of the worst economic performances in the history of the country in the last seven years.
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Mahama Ayaraiga’s poor moments
Writer nnyamewaa.com has also laid out Minister of Sports Mahama Ayaraiga’s poor moments this year, including that he revealed that the President was unaware that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had planned to pay the Black Stars $25, 000 for placing second in the 2015 AFCON. He told the President by slipping him a paper when the team came by for breakfast.
nnyamewaa.com noted Ayaraiga’s has also told journalists to stop asking him “useless questions” on Adom FM, referring to journalists demanding to know how much the nation spent on the just ended Africa Cup of Nations.
Broken dumsor promises
At the very end of 2014, Mahama promised dumsor would be ‘banished’ by the end of 2015.
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At his 31 December, 2014 All Night at the Perez Dome in Dzorwulu, he said “2015 will be one in which we banish darkness from our land and put an end to dumsor forever”.
However, soon after the event, he said his ‘promise’ was just a prayer.
He reiterated his plans to fix the situation in his State of the Nation address this year.
If he wants to be a man of his word, he has exactly three weeks to do that. Unlikely.
Stewardship forum
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After everything that happened in the year and under President Mahama's supervision. Mahama and his NDC government held a forum to tell Ghanaians what he achieved and will do in future. Ha! That forum some say was just a comic relief.
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