Former President John Dramani Mahama has said businessmen and women in the country beam with smiles all the time when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is in power.

According to him, if businessmen were to take a vote on which government makes their businesses boom, they would vote for the NDC.

“The businessman or woman knows the NDC makes them smile while in government,” he said.

Addressing NDC executives and supporters as part of his campaign to lead his party to the 2024 elections, Mr Mahama explained that NDC never set out to victimise businessmen in the country.

“It has always been the zeal of the NDC to work for the benefit of businessmen and women,” he added.

“There has never been anything like the victimisation of business people in the books of the NDC,” he maintained.

Furthermore, Mr Mahama promised he will establish a Governance Advisory Council as part of his vision to improve political governance, help curb corruption and ensure respect for human rights in the country if re-elected president in the 2024 polls.

Mr Mahama said membership of the proposed Governance Advisory Council will include representatives of civil society organisations, religious leaders, traditional leaders, and ordinary Ghanaians.

According to Mr Mahama who is promising to wage a sustained war against corruption and poor governance if elected in 2024, the functions of the Council will include the annual release of a State of Governance in Ghana Report.

“Every year, the Council will release a report on the state of human rights, corruption, and a report on our governance, which will serve as a guide for the government to know whether we are on the right track with regards to issues if governance, corruption, human rights, media and other freedoms including torture and crime,” Mr Mahama said.

The establishment of the Governance Advisory Council as promised by Mr Mahama is to promote better governance and fight corruption.

In his term as president, Mr Mahama introduced a Code of Ethics for Ministers of State and government appointees.

The code of ethics reflected his government’s vision to maintain a clean government; imbued with systems, clear procedures and guidelines for performance and delivery.

He reminded ministers of state that while there are issues that would be accepted in the traditional cultural context, they are unacceptable under governance ethics and legal conduct.

“One of the strongest ways to prevent unacceptable conduct and abuse of office by public officials is to demarcate the ethical boundaries within which actions and inactions could be deemed to be acceptable or unacceptable,” he noted.