It is an undeniable fact that former President John Dramani Mahama is the most honored politician in Ghana who is blessed to have occupied virtually every significant position created by the Constitution of Ghana 1992, but with little regard for his people who pushed him through this journey to attain the Highest Office of President of the Republic of Ghana.

A young John Dramani Mahama surfaced in the town of Bole in 1995 and introduced himself as a native of the area and a son of the late Edward Adama Mahama (E. A. Mahama) and was seeking to become the Member of Parliament of the good people of Bole.

Fast forward, he was accepted and voted for in the 1996 Parliamentary election to represent the Bole constituency. Upon making it to Parliament for the first time in the second Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana and was appointed Deputy Minister for Communications and subsequently the substantive Minister.

It is sad to note that when he was asked by the good people of Bole to connect them to both radio and television networks in the country, he said the area was in a valley and that wasn’t possible. Preposterous Isn't it?

In 2000, he was re-elected as a Member of Parliament for a second term, but his party lost power in that election. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by former President Kufuor and Prof. Sulemana Adams Achanso as District Chief Executive (DCE) and NPP Parliamentary Candidate then gave Bole both the radio and television connectivity former President Mahama failed to provide.  

Surprisingly, in the 2004 elections, whilst seeking re-election as the MP for the third time, former President Mahama was asked why the NPP was able to provide them with what he said was not possible because they were in a valley, his reply was “I signed the contract before leaving office on 7th January 2005”. Hmmmmm, your guess is as good as mine.  

Let me hesitate to add that, whilst he was the Minister for Communication, Bole had just four (4) phone booths stationed at the following locations, Bole hospital, Bole Senior High School, Mobil filling station now Total and Planners point respectively. But the NPP again under former President Kufour brought space phone now MTN, Vodafone now Telecel, Tigo and Airtel networks to Bole.

Suffice to say, former President Kufour and the NPP further divided the district into two as Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba respectively. So, if Mahama says today that he will be upgrading the district into a municipality when re-elected, my humble question is, what did he do when he had the opportunity? The simple answer is he was incompetently sleeping on the job. 

Unfortunately for Former President Mahama, the good people of Bole knows that it is because of the Bolewura’s passionate appeal to the Vice President who recently visited him to upgrade the district into a municipality that woke him up from his slumber which I call a knee jerk reaction to promise to also upgrade the district to a municipality.

Moreover, it is also the case that, because the Chief Imam of Bole requested for a renovation of the Central Mosque which the Vice President gave the strongest assurance that the mosque would receive a significant face lift and infact the necessary assesment to get work started has been completed courtesy the Vice President, former President Mahama in his usual style claimed that no one informed him about the state of the mosque. This comment shows that the former President has totally lost touched even at his back yard of Bole. 

Furthermore, let me state without any ambiguity that his rushing to also construct an Astro Turrf in Bole next week is also because of another request made by the revered Bolewura to Dr. Bawumia which has caught his attention for him to indulge in this panic reaction.  

Let me respectfully say that if Bole did not have an Astro Turf, didn't the former President Know? Recently his son (Sharaf) was with him in Bole to organize soccer games and apparently used a private facility which had an Astro Turf for the games. Permit me to say that even if he was not aware, his Sharaf's games gave him first hand information about the situation. So, he cannot again pretend.  

Again, his reaction is yet another sign of his monumental failure and neglect for the good people of Bole. He is now struggling and pretending to provide an Astro Turf for Bole because the NPP government under Nana Addo and Dr. Bawumia has already ear marked the construction of An Astro Turf in Bole under phase two (2) of the SOCO project. The former President's attempt to also hurriedly construct an Astro Turf in Bole can only be seen as a political gimmick which ought to be seen as such. Hon. Abu JINAPOR as a first time MP has provided three Astro Turfs for his constituency. 

I don’t want to say that he is always waiting for Dr. Bawumia to be approached by his people to solve their problem that will always wake him up from his pretense.

The fundamental question the people of Bole should be asking is doesn't the former President Mahama interact with his people to know their problems?  

Let me conclude by saying that, it takes the heart of a kind and generous man to change lives and not one who has money. If you are rich and cannot help people, it is meaningless. Dr. Bawumia is a leader with vision who would do all it takes to ensure the good people of Bole get the needed development when elected President of the Republic in the 2024 elections.

Harisu Abdulai

Concern Native of Bole.

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