Chief Executive Officer of Kufuor Foundation and former United Nations (UN) Senior Governance Advisor, Baffour Agyemang-Duah has voiced concern about the public’s perception of President Akufo-Addo’s performance on issues such as corruption and poor governance.
Mr. Agyemang-Duah said that the perception of corruption and poor governance stems from a lack of decisive action on the part of the President.
Speaking on the Super Morning Show, he stated that from Afrobarometer reports, Ghanaians’ position on corruption has not been the best.
“So generally, I think there is a very poor impression about that only because of his inaction in dealing decisively with cases that are reported,” he said on February 27, 2024.
The former UN Senior Governance Advisor stated that President Akufo-Addo has been slow to respond to the concerns of the Ghanaian people.
He cited an example where members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in parliament called for the removal of the finance minister which the President failed to respond to.
“There are so many other instances I can cite to indicate where the responsiveness of government to certain popular sentiments were not really met so that is another deficit that we have,” he said.
In addition to the issues of corruption and poor governance, Mr. Agyemang-Duah said that Ghanaian presidents, including the current and former presidents, have a tendency to make promises that they know they will not be able to fulfill during their term in office.
“Over four years or eight years, it is not possible to build 111 hospitals in the country. It is not possible. Just as it is not possible to say I would do one district, one factory during my tenure. It is not possible and even if you achieve that, it will be shoddy work. It won’t bring any results.”
“Those promises by our government have been part of the problem with the people’s perception of governance. People losing faith in the leadership that we have. As you know faith or trust in government is crucial to successful governance,” he said.
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