Former President John Dramani Mahama

By Alhaji Iddi Muhayu-Deen

Dear John Mahama,

I have taken notice with considerable regret and disappointment, comments you made on your official Facebook account accusing the people of the Eastern Region and in particular, Akyems, of Sakawa and Mafia. I didn’t want to believe you made that post deliberately. I thought it was a typographical error or better still, somebody had hacked into your Facebook account to perpetuate this evil. And so, I waited for more than 24 hours hoping that the matter would come to your attention for you to do the needful (i.e. to pull down that post and apologize to the people).

But, till now, you have failed to exercise any of these options; thus, suggesting to me that you really meant to insult the people. And indeed, to make matters worse, your supporters are busily defending the post. This is what has necessitated my decision to write this open letter to you. Respectfully, Mr. former President, having stoop this low, you should not expect me to be very charitable to you, but, I would try to be nice as much as I can because my mum told me to respect elders and be nice to them. What I cannot do however is to choose words or constructs that do not aptly reflect what I sincerely believe and feel. I therefore hope you will forgive my diction.

First of all, it should dawn on you that what you did is clearly reckless and unpardonable. I am however willing to forgive you but on the condition that you accept this free education from me. It is pretty obvious that you do not understand the meaning of the words you used; to wit, Sakawa and Mafia. So, let me help you Mr. former President. Sakawa/Mafia is when you sponsored over 41 adverts against Free SHS and yet turn round to say your government brought Free SHS. Sakawa/Mafia is when you say you will cancel the Free SHS policy and now turn round to say Free SHS has come to stay.

Sakawa/Mafia is when your government passed a law to ban Okada and now turn round to say you will legalize the Okada business if you are voted for. Sakawa/Mafia is when you tell us that your party manifesto will be launched in August and yet, you still haven’t launched (just launched Monday night) it even though the month of August has passed. Sakawa/Mafia is when your government implemented a policy that saw public sector workers who worked for over 3 years being paid for only 3 months. Sakawa/Mafia is when your government put a complete freeze on public sector recruitment leaving hundreds and thousands of the nation’s graduates in the quagmire of unemployment and hopelessness.

Sakawa/Mafia is when you gave over 70% of the Ghana’s bauxite deposits to your junior brother, Ibrahim Mahama, without shame. Sakawa/Mafia is when as Government Official 1, you used your junior brother by name, Samuel Adam Mahama a.k.a “Intermediary 5” as a conduit for receiving bribe from Airbus in return for juicy contract. Sakawa/Mafia is when your incompetence plunged this country into 4 years of dumsor leading to several loss of lives and livelihoods.

Sakawa/Mafia is when due to your incompetence, you handover the management of the Ghanaian economy to the IMF and other Bretton Wood institutions. Sakawa/Mafia is when you took bribe including a brand-new Ford Expedition from a Burkinabe contractor in exchange for road contracts. Sakawa/Mafia is when you described Asantes as a bunch of ungrateful people and yet turn round to ask them to vote for you because you developed the Ashanti Region.

Sakawa/Mafia is when you denied teachers basic teaching materials such as chalk and when they complained, your government tells them they have been over-pampered. Sakawa/Mafia is when your government scraped teacher and nursing trainee allowance which had since independence, been the saviour and a cushion to these trainees. Ultimately, Sakawa/Mafia is when whereas somebody is implementing 1-District-1-Factory, you were implementing 1-Slay Queen-1-House in your infamous “Papa no series”. Need I say more?

Having given you this Free Education on the actual meaning of Sakawa and Mafia, kindly tell us, between you [John Mahama] and the people of Eastern Region, who qualifies to be associated with Sakawa and Mafia in the scheme of things? You don’t have to answer that, because, as the lawyers say, res ipsa loquitur; to wit, the matter speaks for itself.

The alternative is indeed scary. Have a good day Mr. former President. The voice of a citizen NOT a spectator.

Assalamu alaik

Yours in Service of our Motherland

Alhaji Iddi Muhayu-Deen

#ForGodAndCountry