Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, NPP, has stated that he believes the strongly-worded advice issued by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, GCBC, on issues of governance is ‘difficult to sustain.”
He said the pronouncements, which included talk about the President’s pledge to protect the public purse having turned into an illusion and a spike in general hardships on the populace, largely were generalized.
Buaben Asamoa was reacting to the statement on Accra-based Citi FM on Monday, November 8, 2021. He admitted that the government is continually working to improve the lot of Ghanaians stressing that the country was generally being steered in the right direction.
“The kind of pronouncements that I hear, generalized as they are, I find it difficult to sustain. We don’t believe that we have achieved everything, far from it and we don’t believe that everything we are managing is socket and complete, far from it.
“But we believe that we are working very hard towards the public good, we believe we are widening (the) social net and we believe we are moving the economy in the right direction. I sincerely hope that this is generalized advice,” he added.
In a quick rebuttal,the NDC Communication Officer Sammy Gyamfi, insisted that the pronouncements by the Bishops were a pointed condemnation at the misrule and misgovernance of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government.
“He was very categorical in bemoaning the alarming rate of corruption and the misapplication of public funds under the watch of president Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia. He was very specific in lamenting the rising cost of living and the increasing rate of poverty among our people,” Gyamfi stressed.
President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, GCBC, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, at a gathering of the GCBC held in Wa, capital of the Upper West Region, spoke in critical terms about issues of governance in the country.
One of the most stinging points was about how the President’s pledge to protect the public purse has all but become an illusion.
“Though poverty stares us in the face, it appears lost to those with power. The expressed commitment of the president of the republic to protect the public purse, a promise that citizens welcomed, seems to be an illusion now.
“Are those managing the public purse not concerned about waste and misapplication of resources that belong to all Ghanaians? Can this be referred to as irresponsible use of power or the lack of compassion and empathy?”