The 2024 general elections are fast approaching and the political atmosphere is highly charged with the usual name-calling and description of candidates in one way or the other. In the heat of the 2016 elections, the most widely used description was incompetent. Fast-forward to the 2020 elections, the commonly used word was a liar but it never succeeded. 

Interestingly, the word liar is rearing its ugly head again into the political discussions, orchestrated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). It is very weird to label a particular politician as a liar just because he is not able to fulfill all his political promises. Granted the description of a liar by the NDC is correct, I believe the NDC Presidential Candidate who has been a president of Ghana before best fit it. 

Critically comparing Dr. Bawumia and the NPP to that of Mr. Mahama and the NDC on fulfilment of manifesto or political promises, the former have successfully implemented 83% of the 2016 manifesto and 80% of the 2020 manifesto but the later managed to implement abysmally 28% of their 2012 manifesto. Dr. Bawumia is just a vice president but he is able to support his boss to achieve excellent success but Mr. John Mahama as a President with all the authority, preformed poorly. So, looking at the definition of a liar according to NDC, it is clearly that Mr. John Mahama who miserably fulfilled only 28% of his manifesto promises is best fit to be called not just a liar but a Desperate JOHNLIAR not Dr. Bawumia. 

It is important for you to know some of the unfulfilled promises of Desperate JOHNLIAR as a  President of Ghana. The following are some of the promises Mr. John Mahama made that never materialized; 

1. pay remuneration of Assembly Members through the consolidated fund. He never did and he is promising them again. So who is Mr. John Mahama? A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

2. pay teachers who accept posting to the rural areas 20% of basic salary. He never implemented it and he is here again with the same promise. So, who is Mr. John Mahama? A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

3. build 10 new colleges of education across the country. Mr. John Mahama never built them, so, who is he? A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

4. establish special pension scheme for farmers, fishermen and others. He failed to honour that promise and he is here again promising same (desperately including OKADA riders). So, who is he? A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

5. pay licensed teachers professional allowance of 15% of basic salary. This promise never materialized. He can't promise this one this time around because Nana-Bawumia government have implemented a similar professional development allowance. So, who is John Mahama? A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

6. pay Technical/Vocational Education teachers 10% of basic salary. Those teachers are right to call him a Desperate JOHNLIAR because they never benefited from it. He failed as usual to fulfill his promise. 

7. keep an average GDP growth of 8% per annum. In fact, Mr. John Mahama inherited GDP growth of 9.3% from President Prof. Atta Mills and ended his term with GDP growth  of 3.4%. He is not only a Desperate JOHNLIAR but Incompetent John as he was rightly described in 2016. 

8. achieve budget deficit of 5% of GDP. He ended his term with budget deficit of 8.7%. So, if he is not a Desperate JOHNLIAR, then, who is he? Definitely, A Desperate JOHNLIAR! 

9. pass the right to information and affirmative action laws. Mr. John Mahama never did. It took Dr. Bawumia and his boss to pass them. So, who should be a liar now? A Desperate JOHNLIAR of course. 

10. attain per capita income of US$2,300 at the end of 2016. Unfortunately, Mr. John Mahama could only attain US$1,900 per capita income. So, it is fair to call Mr. John Mahama a Desperate JOHNLIAR. 

11. cut sod for a US$10billion Hope City Project. Ghanaians have witnessed things in this country under Mr. John Mahama. Where is the Hope City Project, Desperate JOHNLIAR? This was unarguably the biggest political scam ever to happen to Ghana. 

In conclusion, there are numerous unfulfilled promises made by Mr. John Mahama as Presidential Candidate and President (2012 - 2016) for which Ghanaians should not be entertaining him at all. He can't be trusted per the record available. The above lies are just microcosm of lies he told Ghanaians that never materialized. According to NDC description of a liar, it is not out of order to conclude that Mr. John Mahama is a Desperate JOHNLIAR. 

Thank you

Alhaji Salifu Hadara 

A Patriot

North East Region

Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency 

salifuhadara21@gmail.com

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