National Democratic Congress stalwart, Henry Ekow Manly-Spain is in awe of President John Mahama, who he observes seems to be employing the military combat strategy of surprise to frustrate the opposition.
The reshuffle of regional ministers back to their home regions, at a time when the President was also cutting sod for the construction of 50 senior high schools, he said, was very tactical.
“His Excellency has outmaneuvered the opposition again, Mr. Manly-Spain said, explaining that the surprise reshuffle has left the opposition’s media bereft of the opportunity to put mischievous spine on the exercise.
Ghanaians woke up on Tuesday morning to the news that the President had reshuffled his regional ministers, a thing that nobody expected coming after an earlier decision by Flagstaff House to reshuffle ministers was postponed.
Official reasons were not given for the postponement of the first intended reshuffle, but rumours are rife that the President held his horses because an opposition newspaper claimed to have a leak on the reshuffle and had used the leak to play mischief.
Mr. Manly-Spain said, the surprise that the President has pulled on the opposition is masterful and that it was nonsensical that anybody would attribute the reshuffle chess game to confusion on the part of the President.
Following the surprise reshuffle, some opposition newspapers have gone awash with the jaundiced assessment that the President was confused.
Propagandists of the opposition have also taken to circulating on radio to explain that the President was confused because the sudden reshuffle was similar to the President’s short notice reshuffle of his ministers last year.
However, Mainly-Spain is of the opinion that if anybody was confused, it was the opposition and their mischief makers in the media and not the President.
“The element of surprise is a potent military combat strategy, it leaves the enemy no room to prepare because the protagonist falls on the enemy like a sudden shadow,” Mr. Manly-Spain.
The man who is poised to unseat Joseph Ade Coker as the NDC’s Greater Accra Regional Chairman, referred those in perplexity of what is happening to ask themselves if the President’s announcement of his intent to implement free SHS was not also a surprise.
“President Mahama is a master tactician who is employing the element of surprise vigorously in his administration, and therefore leaving the opposition with no chance at all to do mischief with policies.”
Mr. Manly-Spain praised the President for the tactical manner he is frustrating the opposition with his pleasant surprises and urged members of government to see the point and stop leaking policy information from government to opposition media.
He also advised the opposition to stop trying to downplay the presidents applications of surprises and rather focus on how best to bring up strategies that will rival that of the President.
The more the opposition resorted to unnecessary insult on the President, he said, the more they exposed their confusion to Ghanaians and presented themselves as not being trustworthy.