Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah Asante, has stated the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has managed corruption more effectively than the current government.
He stated that during the 2020 elections the New Patriotic Party (NPP) drummed into the heads of Ghanaian voters that the John Mahama administration was corrupt and yet data comparison between the two governments show the NDC has done better at fighting corruption than the NPP.
According to him, the extrapolation of figures of the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International from 2013 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2020 indicates the NDC has managed corruption better than the NPP.
Speaking on TV3’s Saturday morning analytical talk show, the Key Points, on the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), Dr. Asa Asante averred nobody should think these are just perceptions because it is the World Bank and the World Economic Forum that collected the data.
He argued that one of the factors that influence voter choice is the issue of corruption and the third variable that people consider when they are voting and therefore not surprising that politicians use corruption more effectively during elections.
“What is more on corruption, when we were going for the 2020 election, do you remember the Airbus issue; the NPP drummed it and pushed it closer to the election and then after, it fizzled out.”
“Then I ask myself, is it true that story is indeed the case or is not because I wanted the government to move on and we have not heard anything,” he stated.
Dr. Asante lamented that the introduction of the E-levy has hit a snag because consultation and consensus are conspicuously missing from the process and cautioned that is not the way to go.
According to him, the current problem in Parliament with respect to the E-levy is the lack of appreciation on the part of the NPP government that the 8th Parliament is not the same as the 7th Parliament where it controlled majority seats and could therefore get support for all bills it presented.
The NPP government, he said, is still caught up in that old era and still believes the present Parliament is a rubber-stamp that it could push through its policies without resistance.
“They think things have not changed and it’s unfortunate because if you know and acknowledge we have a hung-Parliament with 137-137, then you need to judge and be tactful.”
“But this is conspicuously missing; why is it so,” he queried?
He noted this is not only being witnessed in power but has culminated into the difficulties on the labour front, within the NPP and other sectors.
This, he said, indicates something is basically wrong, which the government is not considering.
Source: Mypublisher24.com