The Vice President and flag bearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has said that their administration has achieved over 80% of the promises they made in their 2020 manifesto.
He made the assertion during his encounter with the media in Accra Sunday, August 25, 2024, where he sought to answer questions posed to him by the media and provide clarity on certain aspects of the party’s 2024 manifesto which was launched a week earlier.
The claim, is what Ransford Gyampo, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana thinks is insulting to the sensibilities of Ghanaians.
According to him, “the claim that 80% of your campaign promises, you’ve achieved, worried me.”
Many governments, he indicated, tend to espouse abstract achievements which do not reflect in the lives of the citizens whenever they get the opportunity, indicating that Ghana would not be in this mess if the government claims over 80% of its promises have been achieved.
Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, August 31, 2024, Prof. Gyampo said politicians have always resorted to telling lies that do not reflect the realities on the ground whenever they get the opportunity.
“We’ve been in Ghana all this while and anytime government gets an opportunity to speak through their Finance Ministers in Parliament, they talk about things that have been achieved that are completely nonsensical to the ordinary people. Macroeconomic, we have done this, economic stability, GDP…,” he stated.
“The essence of government, Prof. Gyampo added, “is not to tout abstract achievements. The essence of governance is to affect the tangible necessities of the people who are the ultimate repository of the power that you exercise.”
He explained that the government should have juxtaposed the status quo with what it inherited from the previous administration and tell Ghanaians how it has changed things for the better.
“So, we have achieved over 80% of our manifesto promises…, so I ask myself, inflation rate, what is it now in the lives of the people, cedi/dollar rate, what is it now, quality of governance, what is it now, corruption perception index, what is it now, you can just list all the indicators and indices, look at all of them, do before and after, and see if these things are having direct impact on the lives of the people. It becomes annoying that when I am hungry and you tell me that I’ve fed you,” he explained.
Bawumia only carried the baggage of Akufo-Addo’s misgovernment at encounter with media – Gyampo
