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Sunday, December 30, 2012

So, the NPP sued President Mahama only as a PROCEDURE? (Part II)


Monday, December 31, 2012
It is clear that the more we look deeply into the NPP’s rejection of the outcome of the Presidential elections, the more we see hidden truths about why the party’s leaders and supporters are the way they are today, and where they have dragged matters to.
It is their constitutional right to use the judiciary to seek redress in this case; and it is our constitutional right too to interrogate the implications of what they have set out to do and how they do it. As citizens, we expect that our country will be ruled by those who deserve the people’s mandate. That is why what the NPP has begun doing since it became clear that its Akufo-Addo couldn’t set foot on Canaan must not be lost on us.
Indeed, he was in Jerusalem before the elections but the Walls of Jericho didn’t fall for him to enter the Promised Land when the bugles were blown at the polls. The lawsuit at the Supreme Court seeks to unravel why. An obviously intriguing pursuit in the labyrinth of the law, isn’t it?

So, the NPP sued President Mahama only as a PROCEDURE? (Part I)


Monday, December 31, 2012
Life will not grind to a halt in the country just because the NPP has rejected the outcome of the Presidential elections and is uncompromising in national affairs. As I sought to imply in my earlier opinion piece (“The NPP shackles itself by suing President Mahama”), there are many contradictions, inconsistencies, and legal technicalities in its lawsuit at the Supreme Court that should make those NPP supporters and apologists nursing bloated optimism hasten slowly in thumping their chests.
In responding to that opinion piece, varying viewpoints came from NPP supporters and apologists to give me the impression that they have already satisfied themselves of pursuing a winnable case and won’t listen to any other viewpoint. Already steeped in this optimism, they are behaving as they did before the elections only to be stunned stiff by reality when the dust settles.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

NPP shackles itself by suing President Mahama


Saturday, December 29, 2012
Now that the NPP leaders have submitted their petition to the Supreme Court to demand the declaration of their defeated flagbearer, Akufo-Addo, as winner of Election 2012, they seem to have made good their threat to pursue their claims of electoral malpractices to the full. They can now congratulate themselves as successful lawyers and politicians who know how to follow the due process to achieve “victory”.
By that action, they have jumped a major hurdle on their way toward reassuring their followers that they are good warriors who know how to fight their cause. They know how to buy time.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Our MPs are part of our national crisis…


Friday, December 28, 2012
Who would have thought that MPs vested with the power to make laws will not know that there is a Constitution whose provisions must not conflict with the laws that they pass?
Jones Kugblenu, the Public Affairs Director of Parliament, has revealed that there is a “legal discrepancy” which has created a conflict between the Transition Act and the 1992 Constitution concerning the inauguration of the new Legislature.
The result? Unless that conflict is resolved to bring that “legal discrepancy” in the new Transition Act in line with the Constitutional provision, the new Parliament cannot be inaugurated. In short, the provision in the new Transition Act has to be amended to resolve that conflict.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

As the NPP knocks on the doors of the Supreme Court…

Thursday, December 27, 2012
The NPP says it is set to meet the constitutional deadline of 21 days to file its case against the Electoral Commission in connection with the 2012 Presidential elections. We hear the suit will be jointly and severally filed tomorrow (Friday, December 28) in the names of Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey (National Chairman of the party), Akufo-Addo (defeated Presidential candidate), and Mahamudu Bawumia (Akufo-Addo’s running mate).
The respondents, we hear, are Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan (the Electoral Commissioner), President John Dramani Mahama (incumbent President of Ghana), and the Electoral Commission (as a corporate body responsible for conducting the elections).
Interesting case afoot, right? We are so much invested in it as to wish the NPP Godspeed to the chambers of the Supreme Court to test the legal waters against its fate.
If the matter goes to court, it will become “subjudice,” and we can’t comment on it anymore without committing contempt of court and be held liable for any comment regarded as prejudicial to it. Thus, while we have the chance to comment on it before it enters the judicial labyrinth, we will do so.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Inauguration of President Mahama: Will Kufuor attend?


Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Even though the NPP is yet to file its case at the Supreme Court to fight the EC (the NDC and the media too) over the outcome of the Presidential elections, I am quite certain that the matter will not be determined before January 7, 2013, when President Mahama will be inaugurated into office.
Time and tide seem to confirm that the proceedings will even not begin by then. Thus, we expect the normal course of action to be taken by the state to pave the way for President Mahama’s instatement into office.
The very Chief Justice who is to empanel the Supreme Court to hear that case is the legitimate authority to swear the President into office; and she can’t shirk her constitutional obligation just because the NPP is up in arms against the Electoral Commission’s certification of President Mahama as the winner of the Presidential elections, meaning that she will participate in the ceremony.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Armageddon beckons the NPP as its chickens come home to roost


Monday, December 24, 2012
After basking in the accolade given him by his followers as a “legal luminary,” the day is gradually dawning for Akufo-Addo to prove that mettle. Will he go to the Supreme Court and stop this trial in the mass media or not?
Here is a pointed observation by a friend: Since 2009, he has embarked on a “Thank You” tour, “Listening” tour, “Hope Restoration” tour, “Free SHS” campaign tour, “Demonstration” tour and is currently going on a “Going to Court Announcement” tour. My friend concludes that “I hope from the Supreme Court, he will summons the NDC to Antoa Nyama.” Interesting times ahead.
The 21-day window of opportunity for the NPP is narrowing and utterances from the party’s inner circles are still not clear on what the defeated Akufo-Addo and his gang are up to. Some have been quick to describe the intended court action as a ploy or a “419” scam.  I won't call it so because the party’s leaders/followers (just like every Ghanaian) have every right to go to court to seek redress.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Is the NPP really Asante, and Asante truly NPP?


Sunday, December 23, 2012
A truism is that Ghanaian politics is heavily influenced by ethnic sentiments (call it tribalism).Over the years, the ebb and flow of national and local politics indicates the extent to which ethnicity has dominated our attitude to politics. It may be for weal or for woe.
Regardless of how we view the 2012 elections, ethnic or tribal sentiments played a huge role in the success of the NDC and failure of the NPP. President Mahama’s appeal to the conscience of his fellow Northerners for their votes on the strength of his being a Northerner did something good for the NDC while Akufo-Addo’s “Yen Akanfuo” detracted from the NPP’s standing. Let’s be blunt about it.
For the NPP, this defeat has other causes, which is why the party has rejected the elections and is gearing up to seek redress at the Supreme Court. That’s a long story on its own. But there is a shorter story that the NPP is not telling us.
One major problem that makes it difficult for the NPP to shed off its stigma as an “Akan” party is the mentality that shapes and shaves the attitude of its followers. More often than not, any criticism of the NPP is regarded by the party’s supporters as a direct attack on Asantes, which worries me, not because it is true or because I agree with it but because of its tendency to worsen the NPP’s outreach efforts. It is a gross misrepresentation to be condemned.

Friday, December 21, 2012

The NPP’s defeat: How religion did it (Part II)


Friday, December 21, 2012
These hypocrites didn’t stop there. They exploited every bit of opportunity to present the NDC and President Mahama as anti-Christ, anti-Christianity, and everything anti in the hope that the Christian and Muslim communities would see things through their eyes and translate that picture into a voting down of the incumbent.
Their utterances, especially in the aftermath of the Mensa Otabil fracas, confirmed that they were exploiting the religious element, convinced that they had done enough to win the hearts of Christians, particularly.
While all this scheming was going on within the NPP’s own circles, some opportunistic religious leaders were themselves taking the initiative to spread the NPP’s message. We heard all that they said, especially in support of Akufo-Addo’s fee-free SHS education, which they trumpeted as manna from God to be snatched without hesitation.

The NPP’s defeat: How religion did it (Part I)


Friday, December 21, 2012
Do you recall what happened when rumours circulated that Akufo-Addo had pissed on a mosque in the Tamale area when he visited the palace of the local chief to seek his blessing for his bid for the Presidency? Or that the late President Mills won the 2008 elections because of the spiritual powers inherent in the ring that the Nigerian T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue had given him?
In Ghanaian politics, religion plays a major part in making or marring of political fortunes. As the NPP leaders huff and puff at the outcome of Election 2012 and threaten to go to court to seek redress but can’t go once-and-for-all, they seem to gloss over a crucial element that I want to discuss here.
Of all the factors that contributed to their defeat, none jumps at me more than the role that religion played. In fact, putting everything together, I can say that despite the NPP leaders’ placing their faith in God and nursing optimism that the Lord would help them win the elections, the outcome of the polls proves otherwise.
God took the bite out of that arrogant posture to bring down on them the house of cards that their Men-of-God had helped them build! God is not an Alata Man to be toyed with, my friends!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

NPP, leave Afari Gyan alone and go to court (Part II)


Friday, December 21, 2012
The signals being sent out by the NPP are disheartening. I want to say at this point that the party’s choice of Afari Gyan for verbal attacks and open confrontation over Election 2012 is a disgrace, to say the least. And here is why:
This Afari Gyan was their target of scorn when the NPP lost the Presidential elections in 1992 and refused to participate in the Parliamentary elections, choosing instead to indulge in empty scholarship, writing The Stolen Verdict that did them no good. It was just a record of their lamentation for losing an election that they were ill-disposed toward winning because their Presidential Candidate was no Presidential material. A successful historian he was, but no Ghanaian in the proper frame of mind would go for Adu Boahen as President.
Many factors worked against him, which put Rawlings poles ahead of him in the race. Instead of assessing their own inadequacies and making amends for the future, the so-called “interrectuals” that they labelled themselves, chose to write a book on the elections. What a waste of talents?.   

NPP, leave Afari Gyan alone and go to court (Part I)


Friday, December 21, 2012
The NPP’s “Concert Party” show is providing enough humour to entertain us; but it is based on one very ugly and damning foundation that must be condemned by all peace-loving Ghanaians.
The NPP leaders’ constant disparaging of the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, is reprehensible. Behaving as if they have chosen him for a special vengeance, they have subjected him to all forms of verbal abuse, curses, and vain threats ever since it became clear that their Akufo-Addo and many NPP Parliamentary candidates had lost Election 2012.
Instead of seeing themselves as the cause of their candidate’s electoral woes, they have metamorphosed into adrenaline-filled matadors, roaming the political landscape, seeking whomever to destroy. In their characteristic “mate me ho” element, they have isolated the Electoral Commissioner to gore out of existence. It is disgraceful for them to behave this way, and I unreservedly condemn them.

Does Akufo-Addo know the way to the Supreme Court?


Thursday, December 20, 2012
As if unable to overcome the shocking defeat that he suffered at the 2012 polls, the NPP’s Akufo-Addo has chosen to chart a path that is remarkable only as a temporary respite and not the solution to his distress. He is using this path to seek sympathy and how to deal with the aftershocks of Election 2012.
I wonder if that’s the appropriate move to make. He seems to be on a new campaign for what he might have in his mind only. Instead of wasting time and energy retracing his steps, it will be better for him to take his case where the NPP has already told us is the ultimate quarters—the Supreme Court!
Nothing else will add anything new to his fate, which is already sealed and continues to be concretized each passing day that the hanky-pankying goes on.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The NPP’s hot potatoes


Wednesday, December 19, 2012
At long last, we now know what the NPP will go to the Supreme Court for. The party’s General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, has enumerated three reliefs that the party will seek:
i.              The number of votes stolen for President Mahama to be deducted and those deducted from Nana Akufo-Addo to be restored.
ii.             Polling stations where the number of voters were more than the number of people verified by the verification machines would be cancelled as stated by the EC prior to the elections.
iii.            To contest why the “no verification no vote” statement of the EC was adhered to in the Ashanti Region, the stronghold of the NPP, but was ignored in the Northern, Greater Accra, and Volta regions.
He praised the almighty God for helping the NPP to verify the series of theft committed by the NDC to win the elections illegally right on time, saying “the NPP shall win in court.

What the Supreme Court will do to Akufo-Addo


Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The NPP says it is optimistic of victory at the Supreme Court when it presents its case against the Electoral Commission, the NDC, and the media over the just-ended general elections. I don’t know what that “victory” means or will translate into, long after the President-elect would have been installed in office to begin his full-fledged four-year first term and lay the foundation for a second term at the 2016 polls.
Where does Akufo-Addo’s term come in? If instating him at the Presidency is that “victory,” then, the NPP leaders are in for a harvest of woes. So certain are they of winning their case that they aren’t preparing themselves for anything else just as they did before the elections. Their claim that they will accept the Supreme Court’s verdict is mere hot air. Those who cry wolf at will make it difficult for them to be believed.
As we wait for its legal team to head to the Supreme Court in search of seek redress, we remain baffled by many issues concerning this particular court case. We are not bothered by the NPP’s decision to go to court. After all, that’s their constitutional right.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Will Kumasi accept Akufo-Addo?


Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Gradually, the NPP leaders and the party’s supporters have boxed themselves into a tight corner. Perhaps, they have counted too much self-confidence and misplaced trust in prominent personalities, including the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II, to advance their parochial political cause. His refusal to accept their petition today must send the signal to them that they are biting off more than they can chew.
They are tempting Fate, if I may put it that way. All told, elections are meant to be won or lost and accepted as such in good faith. Not so for the NPP.
Indeed, the party has a hard road to travel. The problems that militated against it at the polls, especially in the case of Akufo-Addo, go beyond the confines of the Electoral Commission and cannot be solved the way the party’s leaders and follows think and approach issues.  

The elephants are locking trunks


Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Folks, the NPP’s “Concert Party” is turning ugly at this stage. Nerves are being strained to the breaking point and, if care is not taken, the situation in the party may take a sudden turn for the worse. 
There seems to be no common purpose in the elephant family nor is there any firm agreement among its main actors that the intended court action will be the solution to the party’s fast-fading public image.
Charles Yves Wereko-Brobby, the Tarzan, has stuck his neck out to point the party in a new direction, ruffling feathers in the process and pitting himself (and unknown others backing him) against the militant forces rallying behind Akufo-Addo to fight the Electoral Commission, the NDC, and the media at the Supreme Court.
The circus is agitated and the elephants are locking trunks to give the audience a rare sneak peek into the workings of their democratic culture. Some democrats they are!
Isn’t it very interesting that these so-called liberal democrats can’t accommodate each other’s views on how to fight a common battle to redeem their party’s image without spitting fire? Isn’t it very intriguing for them to be at each other’s throat just because they can’t tolerate any dissension from within? Just because one of them has gone out of his way to express opinions that threaten the status quo in the party?

Monday, December 17, 2012

Why is the NPP seeking refuge in the Asantehene?


Monday, December 17, 2012
The announcement that the NPP will present a petition to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, after a demonstration in Kumasi on Tuesday comes across as part of the intricate scheming by the party’s leaders either to save face and abandon their head-butting with the Electoral Commission or to raise their protestations to a whole new level. Either way, the gravitation toward the Otumfuo has added a new complexion to the matter.
The NPP leaders feel that they haven’t exhausted all the avenues to register their “anger” and, from the look of things, will not take chances. They want to go the whole hog, using both constitutional or legal and unconstitutional or illegal approaches. Perhaps, their cup is running over.
Having made their presence felt in Accra through unconstitutional means (causing mayhem and public nuisance), they have moved inland to do same in Kumasi on Tuesday. Unlike the Accra version of their street demonstrations, however, the NPP leaders intend to present a petition to the Asantehene at the end of the day’s protest march.

The NPP and its lorgorligi logarithms


Monday, December 17, 2012
The road in front of the NPP is indeed winding and long. It fits into what the celebrated Ghanaian poet, Atukwei Okai, has rightly captured in his imagination as “Lorgorligi Logarithms.” Will the NPP leaders move their supporters along this road to reach Canaan? To claim what they are clamouring for as their electoral crown? I wonder.
As they insist on having their day in court but continue to give conflicting/contradictory explanations day-in-day-out about where they are in the process of gathering evidence for that purpose—or even on the exact quantum of votes allegedly stolen for President Mahama—they give misleading impressions about their true intentions.
All that noise about their research office being raided or the office of the leader of their legal team (Gloria Akuffo) being broken into are part of what makes the journey truly lorgorligi in nature. Too many different tastes will confuse the tongue; not so?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The NPP’s ‘Tale of Two Cities’ is too sweet for belief


Sunday, December 16, 2012
We continue to focus attention on the NPP at this point in the post-election assessment of our national life. The threat to national stability posed by the riotous behaviour of its members still persists.
Likewise, the public posturing and churning out of inconsistent claims by its leaders has reached an alarming level to warrant further analysis. It is too ridiculous for belief that these people just can’t settle on any convincing lie to tell the whole world to back their rejection of the outcome of the Presidential elections.
All they have been doing so far is giving us conflicting figures and ratcheting up their thirst for violence.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Madam Hawa Yakubu must be laughing in her grave


Friday, December 15, 2012
The NPP may continue fretting and protesting (whether legally or through riotous behaviour by its activists), but its leaders seem not to know that their fate had long been decided before the 2012 elections were held. Hawa Yakubu will be asking from afar: What are they disputing?
Two main issues account for their defeat, she will say. Call them the lighter and heavier issues.

Friday, December 14, 2012

As the NPP’s woes deepen…. And Akufo-Addo digs in… (Part II)


Friday, December 14, 2012
Now, to the main issues that I consider as the real causes of the NPP’s defeat. The “Yen Akanfuo” label made the NPP an anathema to those who felt slighted or endangered. It is one major problem that the NPP failed to address, which was reflected in its winning again only two of the regions as it did in the 2008 elections while President Mahama was all over the regions, even garnering votes in the NPP’s strongholds. This particular limited scope presented the NPP as a cabal for the Asante/Akyim elements.
Although there is satisfaction that the party increased its Parliamentary seats from four to 10 in the Northern Region, it is no confirmation that the voters have ceased to regard the NPP as “tribalistic” in scope, form, and function. No need to belabour this point.

As the NPP’s woes deepen…. And Akufo-Addo digs in… (Part I)


Friday, December 14, 2012
As the NPP leaders and followers continue to create the impression that the results of the just-ended elections were tampered with by the media, the Electoral Commission, and the NDC to crown President Mahama as winner, they leave me wondering whether they really know the true nature of the Ghanaian voters. Or whether they know where they are pushing themselves to.
Despite the reports by local and international election observers confirming that the elections were free, fair, and transparent (not only at the level of balloting but also in the collection, collation, tallying, and transmission of the results), the NPP leaders still think otherwise. They are nursing hopes that the Supreme Court will reverse the outcome to install their Akufo-Addo in power.
I laugh them to scorn because what has been done and sealed cannot be undone and torn apart at their prompting. World leaders have already stepped forward to acknowledge the winner of the elections and Ghanaians are going about their normal activities, putting the elections behind them.
A fly will bite an elephant if it can find a weak spot in its hide. That’s exactly what has happened to the NPP, which hasn’t missed the attention of world leaders.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

What is President Mahama that Akufo-Addo is not?


Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I have endorsed President John Dramani Mahama as my choice to lead the country for the next four years. It shouldn’t surprise or annoy anybody. I am just exercising my democratic right of choice. With this endorsement, I will henceforth ensure that I juxtapose both him and Akufo-Addo for scrutiny to justify my decision.
You too are free to do as you wish; but bear in mind that as for me and my household, Akufo-Addo’s name is not in our electoral dictionary. He is an anathema to us. We hate to have the Greeks coming to us with gifts at night, which is what Akufo-Addo’s extravagant and pungent promises entail. Hoodoo!!!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The President that Ghanaians need


Tuesday, December 4, 2012
No doubt, Ghana’s main problem is the leadership crisis that has continued to blight all hopes for a steady national redemption. The country has abundant national and human resources and can make much progress to be the envy of the world if it gets leaders with the requisite acumen to steer its affairs.
It’s a matter of very disturbing proportions that despite all these resources, the country is still on its knees while those in leadership positions busily devise adroit means to fleece the national economy and live profligate lives while the country crumbles right in front of their eyes.

Monday, December 3, 2012

What will Akufo-Addo do for the Western Region?


Tuesday, December 4, 2012
As we inch toward Election Day, those coming across as desperate are doing desperate things. And they raise more questions about their own integrity than answers to attract public goodwill.
The Western Regional branch of the NPP-funded TESCON has issued a press statement condemning government for failing to give 10% of the oil revenue to the Western Region as promised before the 2008 elections. A Dominic Eduah, the Regional TESCON Coordinator, explained the group’s concerns in that statement (see “Mahama, where is our 10%?—TESCON,” Ghanaweb, December 4, 2012).
A cursory reading of this statement revealed that it’s just one of the cheap means by which the NPP and its affiliates seek to create disaffection for the government. One would have glossed over it but for its striking reminder of the crude politics that the NPP does, which explains its high level of desperation.

When you befriend an elephant, be ready for its big poop!!


Monday, December 3, 2012
The nauseating “Yen Akanfuo” mentality that undergirds the NPP’s politicking is on display once again. This time, it is happening right within the party’s own ranks, confirming the long-held disdain that those bigwigs in the NPP have for others not of their ethnic extraction.
By their public posturing and unguarded utterances alone, we can tell how they downgrade all others but use them to serve their political interests. They can’t throw dust into anybody’s eyes and they will unmask themselves to be known for what they are. As usual, I won’t mince words in dealing with them.
The Coalition of Northern Youth Groups, an NPP-affiliated pressure group, has called on the National Executive Council of the NPP to immediately suspend Madam Ursula Owusu as a member of the party and unconditionally withdraw her candidature from the Ablekuma West constituency elections.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

To two-faced Akufo-Addo: All-fall-be-fall


Sunday, December 2, 2012
As we inch toward Election Day this Friday, some extra-ordinary events have begun happening to provide some comic relief. Forget about the Hassan Ayariga antics and turn to this latest one, reported by Sammi Wiafe, Citi News reporter in Kumasi:
“… Akufo-Addo took a tumble when the stage on which he was addressing a crowd caved in at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi, on Sunday. He and Kufuor escaped unhurt. Akufo-Addo was addressing party supporters at the rally when the incident occurred but no casualties were recorded.”
Wiafe reported that the rally came to an abrupt end after the incident, saying “All of the executives who were sitting on this particular stage, all of them fell.”
Painfully funny, you might call it? Or sabotage by the carpenters who built the platform? Hirelings of the NDC? Who knows?

Who will enforce the Kumasi Peace Pact?


Sunday, December 2, 2012
Although I have already commented on the signing of the Kumasi Peace Pact by the leaders of the parties contesting next Friday’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections, there are still some loose ends to tie up.
The real meaning to be given the Kumasi Peace Pact has not yet emerged; hence, my return to pick up this issue for further analysis.
Is it not surprising that the very venue at which that Peace Pact was signed has turned out to be the hotbed from where political violence has erupted not long after the Pact came into effect? The Kumasi Ash Town incident is just one of the many that indicate that the Peace Pact can’t solve any problem.
I have read it in full and seen it as nothing but a ceremonial document. It lacks bite, which is why the signatories haven’t even deemed it necessary to do anything to control their followers. In effect, we can’t expect anything but a worsening of the situation as we inch toward Election Day and muscles continue to be flexed at will.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Compelling reasons why Akufo-Addo must be rejected


Saturday, December 1, 2012
If Ghanaians make the mistake to elect the NPP’s Akufo-Addo into office next Friday, they will be sealing their own doom and confirming long-held opinions that they are the architects of their own plight. And that they don’t learn useful lessons from experience to do the right thing in choosing their leaders.
Having complained bitterly about the late President Mills’ inability to fulfill the 2008 electioneering campaign promises—and using that as the main grievance against him, based on which most threatened not to vote for him—what justification will there be for the electorate to vote for Akufo-Addo who is doing nothing different but glibly pouring out promises to lure votes? Vote for him because of his promises?
Take it from me. Akufo-Addo hasn’t given us any convincing justification to warrant his being elected President. All he has done is to bandy about extravagant and fulsome promises, hoping that they will be snapped up by the electorate. He is more invested in dangling promises than demonstrating that he is a more capable candidate for the job. Extravagant and politically motivated promises don’t build countries!