Former President, John Mahama and President Akufo-Addo
The question of who has superior performance in terms of corruption fight is simple. The track record of former President Mahama and that of President Akufo-Addo in terms of corruption in Ghana clearly showed that Mahama performed far better than Akufo-Addo.
I prefer to start with Akufo-Addo’s track record on corruption in Ghana, which is very weak and unimpressive, to say the least. Although every government under the 4th Republic is not without any corruption scandals, Akufo-Addo’s regime has been an outlier with overwhelming corruption scandals with no sign of ending before the end of this current government. Let’s look at the details beneath.
Akufo-Addo’s performance on corruption fight in Ghana
Before Nana Akufo-Addo became president, he made so many promises to Ghanaians that he would better fight corruption than Mahama by using Anas’ principle and avoiding nepotism, the 'family and friends’ government. Such mouth-watering corruption-related promises of Akufo-Addo fell flat through a lack of political will or commitment to power.
For instance, Anas Amereyaw Anas has been conspicuously silenced by the Akufo-Addo’s regime as evidenced by the gruesome killing of Ahmed Suale in the Number 12 Expose involving the President, former GFA boss, Mr. Nyantakyi and other government officials. Additionally, issues of nepotism and ‘family and friends’ appointments abound in Akufo-Addo’s government.
This regime of President Akufo-Addo has overwhelmed Ghanaians with more than 100 corruption scandals and still counting: with no alleged corruption case yielding any good result. The scandals such as the Dapaah’s cash hoarding saga, botched PDS and Agyapa deals, and galamsey economy scandal involving Charles Bissiw readily come to mind.
Akufo-Addo’s apparent lack of political will and leadership to confront the worsening corruption situation under his government undoubtedly earned him the unenviable ‘Clearing Agent’ tag, which has only been echoed by former President John-Dramani Mahama and many other Ghanaians.
According to the Afrobarometer findings, Akufo-Addo’s regime has a highly poor record in terms of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI). For instance, about 55% of people saw the Office of the Presidency to be highly corrupt, second to the Ghana Police with about 65% worse than that of the previous Mahama's regime.
Most importantly, the worst performance of the Mahama-led regime in terms of the CPI of 43% in 2016 is now the best performance of Akufo-Addo as of 2022. This confirms the fact that Nana Akufo-Addo has been defeated so badly by corruption itself.
Additionally, the recent survey conducted by Global Info Analytics and published in October 2022 indicated that about 77% of Ghanaians strongly believe that the running of the country (including the corruption fight) by President Akufo-Addo is in the wrong direction.
The bad CPI figure for the Office of the Presidency now is indeed a worrying verdict for President Akufo-Addo as it seems anti-corruption agencies as well as individuals like Mr Daniel Domelevo, etc. are silenced by his regime. It is also apparently clear that President Akufo-Addo has not been truthful to Ghanaians about his commitment to fighting corruption effectively. The opposite is rather happening under his very watch.
Mahama’s performance on corruption fight in Ghana
The track record of former President Mahama on corruption demonstrates a much better performance than that of President Akufo-Addo for the following reasons.
Under Mahama, frantic efforts were made to curb the cancer of corruption by acting on reported allegations. As indicated above, the worst performance of the Mahama-led regime in terms of the CPI of 43% in 2016 is now the best performance of Akufo-Addo as of 2022. For instance, the erstwhile regime of Mahama allowed the law to take its course to incarcerate Hon. Abuga Pele in the YEEDA scandal, as well as making 2 Ministers of State, namely Hon. Vicky Hammah and late Hon. Dzifa Ativor resign to serve as deterrence to other officials with entrusted power to manage the financial and natural resources of our country.
It is also important to note that incidences of corruption were not so rampant under former President Mahama as opposed to what we are witnessing right now under Nana Akufo-Addo.
Former President Mahama not only showed political will to fight corruption in the country but also showed honesty in addressing this debilitating social cancer.
The available track record of Mahama on corruption reflects superior performance to that of Akufo-Addo who seems defeated by the overwhelming corruption scandals registered under his regime.
The presidential ticket of the NDC with Mahama and Jane going into the 2024 general elections is the right choice to reverse the deteriorating trend of the corruption phenomenon in the country.
