President's Claim of Corruption in Past Regime Misleading - NDC

Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia,addressing the press conference.With him is Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, 1st Vice Chairman of NDC. Photo Michael Ayeh

The National Democratic Congress has taken a swipe at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his claims that Ghana's poor ranking on the latest corruption perception index (CPI) was evident of corruption in the past regime.

The President during the swearing in of Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu last Friday had blamed the Mahama-led administration for the poor CPI ranking which scored Ghana 40 out of an overall 100 per cent.

"The recent publication of Ghana's score in the 2017 corruption index showing a further drop in our standing is largely based on the plethora of corruption allegations before the onset of this administration," he indicated.

The 2017 CPI released last Wednesday had further ranked the country 81 out of 180 countries assessed in the report representing the poorest score ever recorded in the last four years.

At a news conference in Accra yesterday to 'set the records straight', the largest opposition party described the President's comment as a conspiracy to deliberately mislead the general public.

"The assertion by President Akufo-Addo that the 2017 CPI was mostly the result of happenings before his tenure is completely false and it would help if he recognised the need as President to steer clear of such blatant untruths and pedestrian propaganda," an obviously displeased General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah stated.

Seeking to 'educate' the President on the latest score, Mr Nketiah said, it was public knowledge that the 2017 results were produced from nine data sources out of which two were traceable to 2016 while the remaining seven emanated from 2017.

"This means that an overwhelming majority of data sources used in this survey were based on happenings in the first year of President Akufo-Addo," he insisted.

"In addition to this, it is a matter of public record that a CPI dedicated to the year 2016 exists and in that particular survey, Ghana scored 43 per cent and placed 70th, three percentage points and 11 places higher than the 2017 score," he maintained.

Enumerating a litany of reasons that could have accounted for the abysmal performance in fighting corruption in his first tenure, Mr Nketiah accused President Akufo-Addo of running a "family and friends" government which had seen him shielding many corrupt acts in his administration.

The General Secretary mentioned the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) and MOVINPINA scandals, the violation of the Public Procurement Act in the downstream petroleum sector by unlicensed entities, the issuance of the infamous US $ 2.25 billion bond, the President's failure to declare his assets, the pre-mix fuel and cash-for-seats saga among others as accounting for the country's weak performance.

Mr Nketiah asked government to take concrete actions at fighting corruption in the country instead of the "gimmickry" stressing that, the fight against the canker cannot be won on the basis of rhetoric and creation of additional bureaucracies and portfolios.

"It would appear that the Akufo-Addo government's fight against corruption has been reduced to the creation of the office of the Special Prosecutor. An impartial Special Prosecutor can make a contribution to the fight against corruption, nonetheless additional measures need to be taken to halt the downward slide of Ghana's image internationally in relation to corruption," he advised.

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