Election 2020: Economist criticises NDC, NPP’s silence on sources of funding for campaign promises

An Economist has criticised the two major political parties over the silence on how they intend to fund some of their audacious 2020 manifesto promises.

Dr Lord Mensah said both the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) must come clean on how they intend to finance their campaign promises.

The Senior Finance Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), said an explanation of how the campaign promises will be funded gives voters a chance to verify the credibility of some of the bold promises.

“Whatever has been promised, should give you a guide as to the proportion that can be delivered on the ground. We have a history, parties have promised in the past and we always measure them based on what they deliver.

“If you look at it and you realise that the variation between what was promised and what is delivered is huge, then you should know that someone is being untruthful. That should guide you as a voter,” he said.

He was speaking on the business edition of PM Express on Joy News on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

The two main political parties in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary race have made campaign promises which seem unrealistic and have been proposed only to win votes in the upcoming elections.

The opposition NDC has promised to make tertiary education free from tertiary students admitted next year.

The NPP has also countered this by promising to give free 150,000 free SHS graduates scholarships to enter the university.

Dr Mensah advised voters against falling for some the audacious promises since even if there is a political will to implement them, they are merely ‘deferred payments’ that citizens would pay for eventually through hiked taxes or other means.

“Deferred payments in the sense that they are not sustainable they are things that would bounce back in the long run. If the government tells you, you are enjoying free electricity and water now, you shouldn’t be so happy.

“Going forward, if the government gets hard-up with funds they have no choice but to squeeze you the citizens to pay back whatever has been lost,” he advised.