“...the reason why they (Heads of State) don’t achieve a lot is that they like to do so many things....I think the President’s past years in office; I think he’s failed largely because he’s not delivered some of the most important things that are needed. He should focus on three main things- energy, infrastructure and education,” said Franklin Cudjoe, Executive Director, IMANI Center for Policy and Education.

The CEO of IMANI was speaking to President John Dramani Mahama’s State of the Nation Address presented in Parliament on Thursday.

President Mahama in his presentation made a lot of promises and pointed out several projects his government is undertaking.

The Minority and Majority Members of Parliament (MP) are currently having a divided opinion on the presentation.

Speaking to the issue during an interview on PEACE FM Morning Show ‘Kokrokoo’, Franklin Cudjoe bemoaned the number of projects the ruling government wants to undertake.

He said President Mahama’s past years in office has been a failure because most of the things written in their Manifesto have not been achieved.

“I think the President’s past years in office; I think he’s failed largely because he’s not delivered some of the most important things that are needed…this is the only country where we talk too much. There is a lot of talk and there is no smartness in government; I am sorry. I am yet to see a President in this part of the world who will admit that he has failed and that he needed help to prosecute the agenda of the country” he said.

If you may recall, Franklin Cudjoe threatened to expose the Controller and Accountant Generals Department over an incriminating document he has intercepted about payroll system. He said there is massive fraud in government’s payroll system and that huge sums of money are going into wrong pockets through an “orchestrated and well planned” agenda.

After his (Mahama) presentation in Parliament, the IMANI boss thought the President would have included mentioned it or at least fired those involved by now.

“I have not seen anybody being fired for that…I was thinking the president would have been able to fire people responsible for the payroll mess; if I don’t see that sorry…Ghana should be comparing itself to Mauritius where there is smart governance. We have gold but what have we done with it…I am saying that we don’t have smart governance at all…for the last seven years, I have not seen any massive transformation in this country; why can’t we do things better? I wish the president well, but they should understand that this is an era of smart governance.”