Addressing the NPP’s recent tag of President Mahama as “terminator 1”, Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, has come to the President’s defense, by ironically conferring on him an even higher status; “ruthless terminator.”
Following the President’s dismissal of all post December 7 2024 appointments by the former government, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a press conference reported “terminator 1” as the President’s new befitting coinage, claiming it was already in use on the streets.
Isaac Adongo resonated with the name but for very different reasons. Whereas the name was birthed, according to the NPP report, in condemnation of the President’s actions, the MP has used it to laud the President’s house cleaning efforts.
“His excellency John Dramani Mahama is a ruthless terminator. They should go to the National Service Authority and ask, – he terminated ghost names at national service. He terminated national cathedral payments.
“Or they have forgotten that his excellency terminated renting private jets?”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
For no other reason should the President be referred to as a “terminator” or in this case “ruthless terminator” beyond his brazen approach to discarding every ill that was allowed to prevail in the country over the last eight years.
Emphasizing the facts and figures of Ghana’s barely surviving economy and the need for drastic reforms to recover, he stamped the President’s new name, but firmly dismissed all negative connotations attached to it.
Every dismissal, even the ones the NPP were strongly vilifying, were justified, he asserted. They are only lashing out because the president, by these actions, is putting a stop to recklessness and corruption they hoped to enjoy even when out of office.
“In fact, his excellency John Dramani Mahama terminated a non-existent CEO that was running a port that doesn’t exist. So yes, he’s a terminator – terminator of default in payment and declaring bankruptcy. He has terminated that too”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He further defended the terminations, citing ill intent and poor judgement, since the past administration refused to consider what budget the new government was expected to use to uphold the employments.
“The basis was not just because they were employed after December 7, it’s because it’s a fiscal problem” he stated, arguing the government would have crippled itself within months had it tried to maintain these appointments within its current fiscal space.
Economic, social and political ramifications made dismissals imperative and, unfortunately for the NPP, President John Dramani Mahama, the “ruthless terminator” was up to the task.
He would not be taken in by lies, political manipulation or intimidation on any front.
A Healing Cedi
According to the MP, the measures adopted and implemented thus throughout the country have already realised a kind of healing for the Ghanaian Cedi.
“It has suffered a lot of punches, you know. So what we are seeing now is a cedi that is resting at its corner. It’s smiling too. At the moment it is not receiving punches”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He attributed the cedi stabilization and current improved economic environment to President John Dramani Mahama’s return, applauding his government’s policies since coming to power.
Adongo assured that though the “cedi isn’t completely out of the woods, as it is still recovering,”, it was only a matter of time before that happened.
NPP Holds 58 Press Conferences
Expressing a lack of surprise at the chaotic conduct of the NPP Opposition, Adongo dismissed their press conferences as one too many, with little to no impact on national development.
“The national conversations that are very important to us are the ones that we are doing today. At the time Amin Anta was holding a press conference (NPP), the people of Ghana, those that love Ghana, were busy discussing how to clear the mess that they left.
“We were busy finding solutions to the wreckage, the recklessness, getting the economy out of the ICU and he, the one who caused it, was busy holding press conferences”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
According to him, it has been the party’s nature to hold press conferences at the least provocation.
“Even as the government, they were holding press conferences,” he said. “I hear so far, they’ve done about 58.”
Left to his own devices, the defeated party should not bother telling “their side of the story” as Ghanaians, who voted them out, were already aware of the details and made informed decisions.
He referenced the party’s abysmal economic and debt management strategies, which caused “even the aged and vulnerable,” in society to pour out on the streets in protest.
“People have died because they couldn’t buy their medication. The financial sector you came to meet was a full value chain starting from banking, to finance houses, to savings and loans, to microfinance. All of them, ‘yammutu’; only banks are standing on one leg, and even that leg is limping”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
Surprise At Last
The MP further expressed his absolute lack of trust for former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. It didn’t matter that former President Nana Akuffo Addo trusted Ken Ofori-Atta to handle Ghana’s finances, Adongo would rather die.
“I’m surprised that this country ended up with such a Finance Minister,” he said, stressing how utterly baffled the appointment of the former left him.
“The finance minister who as late as February, 2022 was convincing people to give us $3,000,000,000 because the economy was robust? February 2022, go and check our last Eurobo issuance.
“In seven to eight months’ time, this man had written a letter to the same people saying that we can’t pay you”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He vehemently condemned the indirect manner in which the then Finance Minister announced default in payment to bondholders and creditors.
“He didn’t even write to them,” Adongo said, complaining about the lack of regard the press releases by the former Finance Minister showed, for the people whose money he had collected.
However, things are different now, he asserted, thanks to the prudence and wisdom of the “ruthless terminator,” who wouldn’t hesitate to make further terminations under his government if it threatens his reset agenda for the country.
