A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.

Dear Mr President,

You contested for Ghana's presidential race for two consecutive times before finally you were given the nod on the third time. Finally, Ghanaians gave you our trust, hope, confidence. We put our country’s fate in your hands. You see, the only thing you rode on to become the president of this country is our hope, our desperation to test whether or not you would do anything different from what most of your predecessors did. So far so good, you are towing the same line. Truth is I do not think you have done anything different to excite us, Ghanaians.

Kojo Yankson of multimedia fame once said on the AM Show on Joynews TV that sword cutting should not be covered by the media. When the president travels to do anything else other than commission anything into use in the country, it should not be picked by the media. We are losing faith in you, Nana. You are cutting too many swords without accomplishing many of those projects. We need to see projects getting completed. You are able to commission a number of projects within just a week or two. Commissioning projects without completing them never makes any difference in our lives.

You blasted the Mahama administration for incessantly increasing taxes. Nana, ever since you took office, prices of goods and services have been on the spike. Increasing on a daily basis. I am a young journalist from a deprived part of this country. Last two weeks, I did a market survey in the Sunyani main market, Nana, the traders are crying on you. While some of their goods are constantly getting rot as result of less partronage, transportation fares are constantly being increased. And the minutes fares are increased, prices of goods also get increased. One woman even went ahead to mention your name, that Nana do something. Of all that you said prior to the 2016 elections, we have not seen any change in our lives.

Last week Friday, I went out there again to seek the views of the ordinary man on your administration and the possible announcement of increase in some taxes in the upcoming budget reading, and I was almost beaten. As though, I am the cause of it. People can't believe that your government could be this insensitive to the plights of the ordinary citizen. People are up in arms against you, Nana. Please do something.

Another thing that is so very unacceptable is that almost two years in to your administration and you still stand on platforms to blame the erstwhile Mahama government for our current woes. Really?? Nana!! Please stop towing that line. We knew what we were going through during that period and that is why we decided to give you the mandate. If you keep reminding us of that instead of fixing those problems, we would have no option than to vote you out in the next election. Manasseh Azuri Awuni of Multimedia wrote in one of his articles that he does not wish for you to lose the next elections because there is no credible opposition as it stands now. Well, if there is no credible opposition, it does not mean you should toy with us. Remember, you have to get a certain percentage before you would be declared winner of an election, well, I believe we can go to the tenth round but none of will get that required percentage. That is when all of you will realise that our election style of shifting cultivation is over.

Ghanaians need you to rise above the pettiness, do something worth celebrating. Anytime, your government’s seeming dysfuntionality comes up, all that you and your appointees point figures at is free SHS. Please, with all due respect, that wasn’t your only campaign promise. You made a lot of promises to Ghanaians. Please fulfil them. In any case, how functioning is free SHS?

Corruption is swallowing your government. Your excellency, with all due respect again, you seem inept especially when it comes to the fight against corruption. Your campaign speeches gave us a lot of hope. But now, your actions and inactions are eating those hopes away and once its all gone, you can not get it back.

As for the mid-year budget review taking place in parliament tomorrow, it will either somehow partly revive our trust in you and your entire government or it will further diminish our trust in you. Either way, we await to see the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta in parliament tomorrow.

As for how you sacked the Electoral Commission boss and her two deputies and the circumstances surrounding the issue, I won’t go into that. My only hope is that now that the onus falls on you to appoint a new boss for the commission, you will do a better job. If not, you would have sacked her for nothing. Some names have begun coming up. Well, what is your choice going to be? A number of people have called on you to do broader consultation before finally appointing anyone. We are waiting to see how you will go about that.

Finally, Your excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, please, start sounding like a president and not a presidential candidate. You are talking more than you are acting. Let us see the man we voted for, not a different man. Remember, Former President John Dramani Mahama had only one term. It can be the same for you. It is not too late.

You asked me to be a citizen, not a spectator. Well, here I am being a citizen.

                                              YUSSIF SCRIBES.