In our part of the world where there is dearth of infrastructural developments, politicians depend on promises to undertake same during their vote-seeking rounds.
Their ability therefore to convince the electorate about their capability and willingness to fulfil their promises in that regard will determine the number of votes they get at every given location.
It is simple to differentiate the sincere politicians from the contrary by juxtaposing their stewardship against their promises upon assumption of leadership at the throttles of state.
Politicians with the tendency of being economical with the truth soon change their tongues when the reins are in their hands.
Like bad workmen, they soon blame their failings not upon their tools but so-called inefficiencies of their predecessors.
At the time Candidate John Mahama assured Ghanaians that he would complete the Agenda 111 health projects strewn across the country, what was in his mind?
His assurance came in the wake of warnings from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), originators of Agenda 111, that Ghanaians should expect cessation of the near-completed projects given the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) record of abandoning infrastructural works they inherited from previous governments.
Here we are under a John Mahama’s second and last term and the hymn has changed. He is reported to have stated that it was not prudent to start 111 hospital projects simultaneously.
Saying this after taking over as President is completely at variance with his pre-election assurance and bespeaks insincerity and dishonesty.
Did he not interrogate the subject sufficiently before giving the assurance that he would not abandon the project? And what does this say about him as the First Gentleman?
Politicians should be mindful about their words since these would be available for playback in future, especially in an internet-powered age.
It is instructive that Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s posturing does not point at an appetite on the part of government to complete the projects anytime soon. Even the Weija Children’s Specialist Hospital, complete and ready for commissioning, has been abandoned.
Is it not acceptable to draw the conclusion on this score that Ghanaians were scammed by the NDC when they told their compatriots that the projects would be completed?
It is important to note that besides addressing the health infrastructure deficit in the country, the Agenda 111 was intended to absorb the many unemployed nurses being churned out by the health training institutions across the country.
We have taken note of the announcement that unemployed nurses would be engaged as volunteers by government. Was that what they were told when the President, then a candidate, sought their votes? He assured them about automatic postings and they were excited. Now they are the wiser, especially when they are reminded about what the President said about politics. In politics, he said, the truth is blended with lies so the electorate can be convinced to vote for them.
With the Florence Nightingale module of volunteerism now being adopted for unemployed nurses, not employing the health workers this year or perhaps next year is an undeniable fact.
The Agenda 111, now a useless project in the estimation of the President, is closer to the President’s Utopian 24-Hour Economy dream because such facilities will operate for the said period with health workers such as doctors, pharmacists, nurses, dentists and others working on shift basis.
Indeed, it is better than the really useless project of building ‘ghost’ markets dubbed 24-hour markets.
