Philanthropist and economist, Dr Kofi Amoah, has congratulated John Mahama following his election as flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The businessman has however posited that John Mahama’s 14 major promises which were contained in his post-election victory speech held at the University of Development Studies earlier this week lacked the fine details that Ghana needs to prosper.
He thus called on the former president to as soon as practicable outline in detailed form how he plans to achieve the promises he has made.
According to Dr Amoah, politicians get away with many promises in the lead-up to elections without giving citizens an idea of how these promises will be achieved and the timelines within which the promises will be actualized.
Commenting via his verified Twitter handle, Dr Amoah said: “CONGRATS TO PREZ MAHAMA 4 WINNING THE NDC FLAG BEARERSHIP. His 14 promises fall short of the needed n necessary deviation Ghana deserves. Promises that show HOW to accomplish them, ie financial plans, loans? Sir, we need a BUDGET proposal, balanced or not.”
In an interview, Dr Amoah said a clear blueprint of how the many promises politicians make to Ghanaians will be funded or achieved is critical to the development of the country.
“This is what Ghana needs from her presidential hopefuls to help us cut the umbilical cord of empty promises that are not properly vetted for authenticity, practicality and doability, what the Americans call the “Ways and Means”, Dr Amoah explained.
Making references to the past to buttress his point, Dr Kofi said “ The sweet litany of promises our politicians, hitherto, have made to get elected quickly metamorphose into big loans as the source of funding these promises … a pot of funds that also fulfils the insatiable bellies of the corrupt, exaggerated project costs, high flying junkets and a spattering of 18th century looking school buildings, clinics and hospitals without the sustainable plans for well-paid medical staff and necessary equipment, badly constructed roads and boastful flyovers and bridges contracted to foreign companies….
“Ghana is broke and it’s going to take a few years to recover from the yoke of debt payments. It’s therefore critical that a truthful and transparent focus is made and presented to the electorate for their buy-in so that there will be no surprises as to how to move from the deplorable state we presently find ourselves.
I did not expect candidate Mahama to have produced his detailed proposal at his “victory” speech but since he has outlined his promises to underpin his roadmap, we expect him to also present his support Ways and Means approach as soon as practicable.
There are obviously going to be other candidates and Third Force Groups to compete for power and they must all be prepared to provide the details of their financial plans and the Ways and Means of their Rescue and Restoration programs for media and other analyses.
Ghana CANNOT keep travelling the same Road into the Ditch…
We must jettison our penchant for the leaders who promise freebies and progress without serious work…
By selecting these leaders we have all become enablers of our own demise.
I hope we have learned our bitter lessons and as such we will now all collectively vow to only follow the leaders who propose for us a believable, possible and practical ROAD TO SUCCESS, with its thorns and potholes visible but also with the hope and likelihood of Redemption, Renewal and Progress
~ CitizenKofi@amoah_citizen
— CitizenKofi (@amoah_citizen) May 16, 2023
Former president Mahama is seeking re-election to lead the country once again and has promised to do a litany of things, including appointing only 60 ministers and deputy ministers when he wins power.
He has also promised to return the banking licences of banks that were affected in the banking sector clean-up and also investigate the murder of journalist Ahmad Suale among many promises.