Scrutinise campaign promises before voting - Mahama

THE flagbearer and leader of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Mahama, has advised Ghanaians to critically examine the campaign promises of parties and politicians before exercising their franchise.

He said when this is done, the electorate would be able to distinguish between the genuine and false promises made by politicians and thus vote wisely for only those who can deliver to the expectations of the people.

Dr Mahama was speaking in an interview with the Graphic in Accra on Sunday.

He observed, in particular, that the NPP government is not living up to the expectation of the people, considering the positive change that it promised Ghanaians.

He explained that everybody in the country needed a change of government and that is why he and his supporters gave their unflagging support to the NPP during the run-off so as to get rid of the NDC.

The PNC leader said the NPP government campaigned on promises that it now finds it is unable to deliver to Ghanaians.

According to him, the suffering of the working force has remained unchanged since the assumption of office of the new administration and added that it is high time the electorate decided on which party can deliver to their expectation and vote wisely next time around.

Dr Mahama said doctors, teachers and nurses are yet to come to terms with the government because their working conditions are still very poor and said until these conditions improve, the positive change can never be reflected before the government’s tenure of office ends.

He said for true democracy to prevail, government has to involve civil society in decision-making, adding that the government, since its take-over, has never truly involved civil society in decision-making.

He mentioned, in particular, the government’s decision to opt for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, without involving civil society and stakeholders in the taking of that decision.

He also referred to plans to privatise the Ghana Water Company Limited.

He observed that the positive change the NPP promised is not seen and may not be seen because its way of managing the country is no different from that of the NDC, adding, “I am yet to see the positive change that they promised us because we changed the driver of the car, but unfortunately, the car is still going the same direction”.

Dr Mahama pointed out that even though the NPP inherited a weak economy from the NDC, it nevertheless promised the people “heaven and earth” to turn the economy around, which is proving to be an illusion.

He said the PNC was more specific on issues that it was going to do for Ghanaians during the campaign towards the last elections but it was unfortunate that the electorate did not give the party the mandate to rule the country.

He noted that if Ghanaians had listened to the PNC, the to the numerous problems currently facing the country would have been properly tackled and solved.

The PNC leader deplored the frequncy with which the President has been travelling, stressing that "the problems of the country lie in the people and any government that depends on other countries for the solutions may end up being completely disappointed".

“Any leader who can mobilise the people to solve their problems would make the difference in the country, but any leader who depends heavily on handshakes from other world leaders is going to fail,” he pointed out.
Dr Mahama said the government should stop bowing to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and work hard to salvage the economy internally.

He said in order to overcome the problems of the country, the government must depend on national self-reliance rather than depending on world leaders for help which come with strangulating conditionalities.