We will resign if our President condoned corruption - Candidates

Cape Coast, Nov. 28, GNA - Three Vice Presidential Candidates for Election 2008 say they would be ready to resign if their President condoned corruption and refused to take appropriate action against corrupt government functionaries as a matter of principle.

Mr John Dramani Mahama, Vice Presidential Candidate of National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Dr Abu Sakara of Convention People's Party (CPP), were answering questions at the Vice Presidential Debate organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) at Cape Coast on Friday. They were asked what they would do should they differ on principle with their President, who failed to take action against a member of Cabinet, who was found to be corrupt.

Mr Mahama said he was sure Professor John Evans Atta Mills, as he knew him, would never countenance corruption in any form, but if it happened he would resign.

Both Dr Bawumiah and Dr Sakara also said they would resign under similar circumstances.

All the Vice Presidential Candidates, including Ms Petra Amegashie of People's National Convention (PNC) agreed that there was the need to fight the pervasive corruption in the country. While Mr Mahama criticised the way President John Agyekum Kufuor had been dealing with corruption, Dr Bawumia tried to distance Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from it.

The debate was organised under the theme; "Strengthening the Pillars of Ghana's Democracy" and the questions centred on economic, governance and social issues.

All the candidates identified the need to grow the economy to improve upon the living standards of the people but each had a particular way of achieving it.

They would adopt various ways to increase productivity including improving the work environment, condition of service and remuneration. They all endorsed the National Health Insurance Scheme; School Feeding Programme; special packages to bridge the development gap between the North and the South; Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and free education at different levels.

The Candidates pledged to improve the lot of the disabled by paying attention to their needs, such as equipping them with employable skills and providing them appropriate access to public buildings. They promised to pay attention to the development of other sporting disciplines in addition to soccer to enable Ghana to win more medals at international competitions.