Manifestos are mere promises - Kan-Dapaah

A former Minister of Defence, Albert Kan-Dapaah has asked Ghanaians not to place high premium on manifestos of political parties which are meant to solicit votes.

He seems to have debunked President John Dramani Mahama’s claim that the manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not a catalogue of promises to solicit votes ahead of the December 7 general elections but to bring development to the citizenry.

Mr Kan-Dapaah, the immediate-past Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, who now heads the new Centre for Public Accountability at University of Professional Studies (UPS), made the assertion at a capacity building workshop for parliamentary aspirants in Kumasi.

President John Mahama, speaking at the launch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto in Sunyani, stated that the document had captured aspirations of Ghanaians about economic transformation and growth, among others

The workshop was organised by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development CDD-Ghana, in collaboration with the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) and Society Initiative for West Africa, to equip them with knowledge.

According to the former MP for Afigya-Kwabre North, “Ghana is the only country where a President campaigns on what he has done. We need to change this. And believe me, the reforms that Ghana needs cannot come from the political class except civil society,”

He disclosed that Members of Parliament (MPs) become friends when discussing issues that promote their common interest and not that of the good citizens of Ghana.

A Senior Research Officer at CDD-Ghana, Regina Tetteh said although Ghana’s elections conducted since the Fourth Republic had been generally credible and peaceful, the processes were not without serious challenges.

“Elections suffer as a result of various political, institutional and technical gaps such as limited political space for discussing policy issues affecting people, especially women, youth and persons with disability,” she posited.

According to her, mistrust and suspicions among political opponents, political intolerance and insults, harassment and intimidation continue to dominate the political landscape.

“Militancy in political discourse still persists on the Ghanaian airwaves and political elites engage in immature political discourse, focusing on personality attacks and neglecting pertinent policy issues affecting the lives of the marginalised in society,” Ms Tetteh stressed.