Stop being ‘Father Christmas’ during polls: Nduom to Mahama

The people of Ghana need programmes and government policies that last: lower taxes, uninterrupted electricity supply, good drinking water, good and affordable compulsory education, good health and permanent jobs, not the sewing machines, fertilisers and vehicles that President John Dramani Mahama is sharing ahead of this year’s presidential elections, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, flag bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), has said.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), an anti-graft body, recently accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mr Mahama of vote buying ahead of the elections. Likewise, The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) said in a recent pre-election survey that the NDC is leading the league table of vote buyers.

Dr Nduom, in an opinion piece titled: ‘President J.D. Mahama – Please Stop Using My Tax Money to Campaign for Votes’, said: “My employees and I work, risk our lives travelling across the country and sweat to sell products and services, borrow to operate factories, then pay income tax, payroll tax, VAT, etc., to government. Then we see President Mahama and members of his administration "donating" outboard motors, sewing machines, vehicles, fertilisers, etc., while campaigning for votes. If this is not daylight robbery of the government's treasury for partisan political benefit, then what is it?”

“Now, NDC functionaries are all over the media justifying the plundering of taxpayer funds while the Mahama administration says it does not have money to pay debts owed to ECG, pay teacher and nurse trainees, etc. How many of the more than one million fishermen, millions of hairdressers and farmers can get some of these ‘gifts’? Reminds me of the tactics of the illegal micro-finance schemes – show the people a handful of people whose deposits were doubled and others will be deceived into parting with their hard-earned monies. And this is what is at play here? Is President Mahama Father Christmas? Is this the Christmas season for gift giving?”

He added: “What the people need are the things that last – lower taxes, continuous, uninterrupted electricity, good drinking water, good and affordable compulsory education, good health and permanent jobs.

If President Mahama campaigned on bringing these to the people during his tenure as President, how could I complain? The fact that he can't do this and has resorted to ‘gift-giving’ must tell Ghanaians to beware and not waste their votes on those who have disappointed them and now are desperately trying to buy their votes. We the people of Ghana deserve better than this!”