Ghana’s Political Nonsense: NPP’s 1 Year in Office—Failed Promises, Botched Hope and Corruption Galore

The New Patriotic Party, said to be a compassionate political gang of thieves in Ghana as they steal prudently, compared to the main opposition party, National Democratic Congress has been in power for a year following the swearing in of the party’s flagbearer (Nana Akufo Addo) as President on January 7, 2017—and a brutally honest assessment of this one year is not Trump-like yet characterised by failed promises, botched hope and widespread allegations of corruption.

For a party that held on the mantra that it would fight corruption at all levels during a bid to come into power to be swimming in unending allegations of corrupt activities and financial racketeering such as businesses men said to have paid $100K so they can sit near the President at the dinner is awe-inspiring, to say the least.

Of course, the President and his party’s government as expected have denied any corruption allegations levelled against them, sometimes without any Independent investigations—except, the President’s golden mouth and press statements declaring that his gang members are not corrupt.

Other times, lousy investigations, without head or tail, are carried out and a report produced to clear the accused of any corrupt dealings. A case in clear point is the infamous A-Plus’ allegation against the Flag House staffers who were alleged to charge huge amounts of money from individuals looking to have an audience with the President.

You may conveniently argue that allegations of corruption transcend this government, perhaps it even transcends politics but what happened to the government’s promise, echoed by Sammy Awuku, the then National Youth Organizer that when the NPP comes into power, it would end the absurd and extortionate culture of the sale of application forms to job seekers in Ghana?

As reported:

The National Youth Organizer of the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said a Nana Akufo Addo government in 2017, will ensure that recruitment vouchers are not sold to Ghanaian youth who want to serve the country in the various security services.

According to Sammi Awuku, it is heartless on the part of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to allow the sale of recruitment forms when there’s huge unemployment among the youth.

Police recruitment vouchers this year [2016] went for GHC100. There was mad rush for vouchers which saw the Ghana Commercial Bank selling over 17,000 vouchers three days after the Service began processes to recruit new personnel into the Service.

Sammi Awuku had earlier described that happening as a form of extortion from the teeming unemployed youth by government.

One year down the line and Awuku’s government in full political control has without shame or accountability engaged in what he described as extortion, by selling 84,000 application forms to job seekers looking for jobs at the Ghana Immigration Service, an agency of the government.

Worst, the agency had only 500 job vacancies and yet sold 84,000 forms, making as much as 4,2000,000 GHS.

The hope of many Ghanaians, that a political class of Messiahs led by Nana Akufo Addo was miraculously going to redeem things has been botched.

The dollar, which Vice-president Dr Bawumia positioned himself as the only man capable of stopping its speedy run against the cedi continues to travel at the same Usain Bolt speed, if not even faster.

On a positive note, the government has done a number of politically easy things; reinstating allowances–to be paid by taxpayers and has also started its FREE SHS policy, also to be paid by taxpayers.

The difficult stuff, which was to determine that the government was of a different political blood, however, remain unchanged.