I am struggling to understand politicians obsession with their performance after just a mere hundred days in office. It is a habit that infects governments across the globe, and our dear nation is no exception. Previous governments were consumed by it; Kufuor touted his achievements and Mahama did not shy away from pointing Ghanaians to what he had accomplished in a hundred days.
Against this background, trust politicians to gloat when there is really nothing to gloat about and to demand praise when they least deserve it. It is their stock in trade and this was very much in evidence last week when the ruling NPP took to the airwaves to list all it has been able to do for Ghanaians a mere 100 days into its administration. Not only was this laughable, it was premature, delusional and intentionally designed to misinform and mislead.
There isn’t one single achievement the NPP can justifiably point to as concrete proof that it has indeed done something for the ordinary Ghanaian. If anything, the party is still groping in the dark, desperately trying to come up with solutions to the country’s myriad of problems, problems it has steadfastly maintained it inherited from the previous Mahama administration.
The NPP rode a wave of public discontent with the NDC to victory last year and along the way, it profusely promised to fundamentally change the lives of Ghanaians. But there has been little in the way of changes, so far.
Reality has finally set in; the party has realized belatedly that governance is vastly different from campaigning for political office. Translating campaign promises into action is not exactly a walk in the park; you are going to run into a lot of roadblocks.
What bothers me endlessly is the mind bogglingly naivety of the NPP in boldly and loudly proclaiming that it has achieved very much in a relatively short period while failing to take stock of its glaring failures; legislatively, no law beneficial to the population has been passed by the NPP dominated parliament; vigilante groups tied at the hip with the NPP are running around intimidating innocent citizens; millions of Ghanaians are unemployed, millions are battling crippling poverty.
Millions of our citizens don’t have access to adequate healthcare, and worse, thousands of our school children still learn under trees and the blazing sun. More troubling is the fact that the financial plight of Ghanaians has worsened by recent hikes in transportation.
A note of caution to the NPP…hold your horses; nothing of substance has been achieved under your watch. Instead of prematurely blowing its horn, the NPP and indeed, the entire nation will be better served if the party concentrates on satisfying the needs of the citizens; good roads, hospitals, schools and full employment for our young men and women. The party has four years to prove its worth. There is absolutely no need to go a victory lap just yet.