Former President John Dramani Mahama, has announced his intention to make a fourth stake at the Presidency after his 2016 and 2022 defeats with a wide range of promises, including setting up a government of only 60 ministers and deputy ministers as opposed to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s ministers of over 120, if re-elected president in the December 2024 general elections.
“I shall assemble and operate the leanest but most efficient government under our fourth republic. We will reduce, significantly, the size of the government. As I announced in my Ghana We Want address at UPSA late last year, I will form a government of less than sixty (60) ministers and deputy ministers of state.”
The three-time Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has also promised to scrap the payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive should he be re-elected in the 2024 elections.
Mr Mahama, who made the promises during his campaign launch at the Cedi auditorium at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho in the Volta Region, also promised to probe the expenditure of Covid-19 funds and ensure proper accountability of all public funds.
Present were several bigwigs of the NDC, including ex-Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adzaho, the Minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu in Volta Region.
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“The payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive will be scrapped. The necessary Constitutional steps to take this will start in earnest in 2025. We will also persuade members of the other arms of government to accept its removal.”
Mr Mahama took a swipe at Nana Akufo-Addo’s government for worsening the poverty levels in the country, adding that the failure of the Akufo-Addo government does not excite him because his vision that Ghana will develop, regardless of who is in power.
Ex-President Mahama, who defeated Nana Akufo-Addo in December 2012, observed that the “cluelessness and the harrowing dismantling of our progress by the NPP government has damaged and killed many bright dreams of the country.”
He said, not only has the current government been clueless, but has also been reckless and made wrong judgments and has proceeded to deny responsibility for the harm caused.
“Fellow countrymen and women, the time has come for Ghanaians to receive proper accountability from those they elect to political office. This accountability can only be achieved by a new party in government. I promise Ghanaians, that I shall investigate how public funds were expended and this includes the Covid-19 Audit and the findings from the Auditor-General’s reports over the years”.
“We must clean the Augean stables and rid them of the filth and corruption. The anti-corruption will be given unfettered space to do their work. The days of the infamous ‘clearing agent’ will be well and truly over. But to ensure efficiency and professionalism in this endeavour, institutions of the state would be empowered to be independent in their work. State-owned enterprises will not be a gravy train for political apparatchiks.”
“This government, has been clueless and, in many ways, callous. We are saddled with debt, and we have been downgraded by every rating agency and inflation has gone off the roof, sending people into abject poverty,” Mr Mahama told a cheering crowd at the Cedi Auditorium.
He also promised to restore the trust in state institutions by addressing “issues pertaining to the exercise of powers of the president, proper separation of powers, strengthening of Parliament, restoring the independence of the judiciary, independent and quasi-state institutions and depoliticizing them.
“These will take the centre stage of the new administration,” he added.
He also condemned the government’s domestic restructuring programme, which he said has the potential to wipe out the wealth created by the middle class.
“Our middle class also risks being wiped out due to a reckless debt restructuring programme. Who would have thought Ghana would have come to a juncture like this when our economy has been destroyed by the incompetent Akufo-Addo and his vice Bawumia?”
“We are at this most depressing phase in our history where our economy has been destroyed because of the systematic mismanagement, misguided and clueless policy choices, and incompetence of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia”.
Mr Mahama, further took on what he referred to as the arrogance of the government, which has ditched the country into an economic mess, due to its refusal to swallow its pride and take responsibility for its failings.
“While our people struggle to keep their heads above water, government officials continue to exhibit high levels of greed, corruption, arrogance of power, dishonesty, blatant state capture and conflict of interest”.
“There are many who say that my words, just before leaving office in 2016, that posterity will be my judge, have proven prophetic in the face of the disastrous performance of the NPP government and their harrowing dismantling of our country’s prospects.
“I am not the kind of leader who derives pleasure from or who can smile at our failings — even the failings of my political opponents. As noted by Otto Von Bismarck, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. As far as I am concerned, there is no vindication to be derived from the sufferings of the Ghanaian people. I am offering myself for public office at this time because I appreciate the enormity of the task ahead owing to the level of damage done to our country by this government.”
Touching on the challenges facing the computerized school selection and placement system, Mr Mahama, said the government under his next administration will rather have BECE graduates select their senior high schools after their results have been released to avoid the chaos facing the current system.
Mr Mahama, also stated that Ghana needs an experienced leader to rescue the country from the current economic turmoil and not a trial-and-error leader.
According to him, Ghana’s economy, has been bastardised by the bad policies and systemic mismanagement by the Akufo-Addo government.
He also slammed the NPP government, including presidential hopefuls for failing to take responsibility for the government’s failure, urging the government officials to swallow their pride and accept that they have failed and stop blaming external factors for their poor performance.
“They continue to lay blame for their economic disaster on external factors whose relationship with our present sorry circumstances, are at most tenuous. We all know that this economic collapse has been years in the making just as we know it was entirely avoidable.
“The national decay of the last six years has not been limited to the economy. It extends to all aspects of our lives. Our hitherto trusted state institutions today stand as pale shadows of themselves, undermined, and politicized to the point that they consider themselves an extension of the governing New Patriotic Party.
Mr Mahama, said that he does not think that the country can stand any further damage saying the country needs change, and he is the only one capable of bringing this “badly-needed” change.
“The last six years have been the most difficult time. This government has been clueless and callous, the unthinkable has happened. Ghana is bankrupt, we are saddled with debts and have been downgraded to the lowest level we have ever seen.”
“Who would have thought that government would come to a juncture like this? We are here because of systematic mismanagement, misguided and clueless policy choices by incompetent Nana Akufo-Addo and his Vice President Bawumia.”
“Ghana needs experience and not experimentation. Ghana needs a leader who will not be given an orientation and excursion at the Flagstaff house. One who already knows his way around.”
