A former Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Obiri Boahen, has supported the opinion expressed by Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng for admonishing the party to set good examples if they want to win the 2024 general elections and break the eight-year-old jinx.
The private legal practitioner stated that the party has made significant and monumental gains, but there have also been some unfortunate incidents that have affected the party.
A former Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Obuasi West in the Ashanti region, Kwaku Kwarteng, has advised the government to overhaul what he calls “the corrupt public procurement regime” as one of the ways to enable it to break the eight-year political cycle.
This was contained in a statement written ostensibly by the Obuasi West MP to his party, titled “To break the eight, we must first break the norm.”.
“It is this primitive political culture that has led to the belief that all politicians are the same and produced the eight-year cycle we are seeking to break. To break the eight therefore, we must first break that norm by doing the following: Acknowledge the past and present failures of the political class to provide the kind of quality leadership required to avert the mess in which we find our country today.”
“We must lead by example. As a precondition for any reforms, we must demonstrate the sacrifices we shall make as politicians to convince our people that we are in this together. We must address concerns about how much of our national resources we spend on ourselves as politicians and take steps to overhaul the corrupt public procurement regime we inherited from previous governments and have continued to live with.”
Commenting on this, Mr. Boahen noted that he will not claim the party has achieved all of its processes, and Ghanaians expect that persons involved in massive corruption ought to be punished or prosecuted. That is one aspect of the issue. Maybe I can even tell you that should Bawumia be elected, a lot more will be done.
He described the use of the $2 million on the botched Sky Train Project as purely foolishness, adding that the project made no financial or political sense and that all those who contributed to that botched project must be prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state.
He asserted that this issue cannot be overlooked because it has tainted the ruling party that campaigned on dealing with corruption.
“If you told me the NPP administration spent $2 million on a botched Sky Train project, I’d be disappointed. It is senseless and a waste of state resources. I’d rather be a happy man, knowing that the government spent Ghc9.9 billion on free SHS, benefiting 5.1 million. It is a remarkable achievement. However, if you tell me the NPP spent $2 million on a failed Sky Train project, I will only condemn it as foolish and demand that those responsible be prosecuted. Even with the train services we have in this country, how have we managed to keep them from talking about the Sky Train Project?
We need to bring those who were behind the project to book. Governance is not a Ponzi scheme. This is something I say, and some NPP members don’t agree with me. I am a principled and honest politician, and it is not everything the NPP does that I agree with. There are some issues I don’t agree with. I repeat, those who caused us to spend $2 million on this failed project must be prosecuted. Heads must roll. A future Bawumia government must deal with this issue. Is the Special Prosecutor also not aware of this issue?. It is ridiculous that we have spent $2 million on a failed Sky Train project, and yet, those who caused it are walking around unpunished.”
He also described the National Cathedral project sponsored by taxpayer money as an unfortunate venture.
He stressed that the government had no business using our resources to dig the most expensive hole in the world.
He believes it would have been far better if the government had mobilised resources towards the project instead of depending on state resources.
“To a certain extent, I will agree with Kwaku Kwarteng. I will agree with him because if you use state resources to sponsor a national cathedral project and also dig the most expensive hole in the world, then it is not financially prudent. It is an unprofitable venture. When the project started, I complained and opposed it. I had suggested that we could have partnered with the churches in building the cathedral. You don’t use tax money to build the national cathedral. I was insulted and vilified. Later, some of the prominent members of God resigned because they found wisdom in what I said. Between the NDC and NPP, the NPP has performed better, but we can do much more if we are prudent.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
