Mahama fought corruption better than Akufo-Addo – Omane Boamah

Former Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, has said that former President John Mahama’s performance in the fight against corruption was much better than President Akufo-Addo’s current efforts.

Referring to the most recent report on the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI), he indicated that the Akufo-Addo government, has performed poorly in addressing corruption when compared to the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) anti-graft fight in four years under Mahama.

Ghana ranked 80 out of 180 countries on the 2019 global Corruption Perception Index, according to Transparency International (TI).

According to the report, Ghana scored 41 out of a possible clean score of 100 – the same score as the previous year, 2018.

Dr. Omane Boamah, speaking on Citi TV‘s The Point of View on Monday, stated that the current government had failed to fulfil its promise of ending corruption during its tenure in office.

“They [the NPP] also said they were going to eliminate corruption. The most credible institution, which is globally accepted is Transparency International. The worst performance of President Mahama administration on the CP index is better than the best performance of Akufo-Addo. So when you talk about the elimination of corruption, especially in the procurement of goods and services etc, that one too they’ve not been able to achieve that,” he noted.

In 2015, Ghana scored 47 and in 2016, came down to 43. In 2017, it recorded the worst performance with an average score of 40 out of 100 and rose marginally to 41 in 2018 and maintained that figure in 2019.

To ensure Ghana improves on its performance, Government was advised to enforce sanctions against vote-buying, abuse of incumbency and threats to voters to ensure this year’s [2020] election is held in a free and fair environment.

The report also asked the Electoral Commission to also enforce sections 13 and 14 of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574) which deals with declaration of assets and expenditure by political parties.

Meanwhile, the government says its fight against corruption cannot be described as “totally lost” as recent corruption reports showimproved scores.

The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah ,said the government was committed to follow through with the anti-corruption fight and do more.

He noted that, although there is more to be done in the fight against corruption, he said data shows that the government’s efforts so far are yielding significant results.

Dr. Omane Boamah, also took on Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s recent presentation at Town Hall Meeting in Kumasi, describing it as politically pathetic, academically anaemic and flagrantly dishonest.

The former Minister for Communications & Presidential Spokesperson, was surprised at the falsehoods churned out by the Vice President at the Town Hall Meeting meant to showcase government’s achievements.

Dr Boamah, said that the government scoring itself 78percent with regards to fulfilled achievements in its 2016 manifesto was politically pathetic.

This he explained is “because we have a situation where our vice president kept on churning 78% and we have delivered. 78% and we have delivered. As we speak, the denominator itself is being contested. Whereas government puts it around 388, Imani puts it around 500 and over”.

Dr Boamah stated: “So when you are dealing with fractions and percentages for every student of mathematics you don’t suppose to even had have free Senior High School (SHS) to want to know that when denominators are in dispute you are going to have a very serious issue riding on the percentage that they quoted”.

He used the occasion to list a number of unfulfilled promises of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

While in opposition, the NPP made a number of sugar-coated promises to the people of Ghana, however it is finding it difficult to fulfill majority of them in government.

Dr Boamah, mentioned that the NPP in its 2016 manifesto promised to achieve a double digit growth annual which they have not been able to achieve. They said there would reduce corporate tax from 25percent to 20percent. They have not achieved that, he stated.

“They [the NPP] also said they were going to eliminate corruption. The most credible institution, which is globally accepted is Transparency International.