Legal Practitioner, Martin Kpebu is calling out President Akufo-Addo on his inability to fulfill most of the promises he made to Ghanaians while campaigning for the presidency.
Mr Kpebu believes it is disappointing that in spite of the president’s remarkable promises, it does not appear that he is actively working to honour them.
The legal practitioner’s criticism is due to Ghana ranking 72nd in the 2022 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report issued on Tuesday, January 31.
Further details indicated that the country scored 43 out of 100 per Transparency International (TI) score, which means that Ghana has not made any progress on the CPI score consecutively for three years now.
It is for this reason that Mr Kpebu believes that the CPI score demonstrates that, contrary to the president’s pledges, not much is being done by President Akufo-Addo to curb corruption.
The lawyer, therefore, alluded to 18 of such pledges made by the First Gentleman of the land, as a reminder to him that Ghanaians have not forgotten.
“Let me mention some of the notable things Akufo-Addo said, which today he has not lived up to, and he thinks we have forgotten. He needs a quick reminder that this thing has to stop,” the legal practitioner said on Newsfile on Saturday:
Mr Kpebu listed the unfulfilled promises as follows:
“1. I shall protect the public purse,
2. I’m too old to steal your money; I have my money already,
3. ‘Yɛ te sika so, nso ɛkɔm de yɛn,’
4. Try me and see,
5. I’m not corrupt, and will never be corrupt,
6. I can develop Ghana without borrowing money from anywhere; the money is here,
7. I will transform Ghana in 18 months,
8. I will not operate a family and friends government,
9. I will fight corruption with the Anas principle,
10. I will make the Korle lagoon and the ɔdɔ river a tourist site,
11. I will build a factory in every district,
12. I will give each constituency GH₵1 million every year
13. I will arrest the dollar
14. The hike in fuel prices will be a thing of the past,
15. I will make Accra the cleanest city in Africa,
16. I will build 111 hospitals,
17. 350 secondary schools
And then 18, the almighty, we will never go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bail-out.”
Additionally, he implored the President to pass an act of Parliament that ensures that appointees of government account for their wealth before leaving office.
Mr Kpebu’s final request is that President Akufo-Addo “should act with dispatch. When you see a simple case, don’t say due process, then for almost seven months, it’s even one year. Remember Sulemana Alhassan—Dr Anamzoya— he petitioned in January last year. One year on, and people are still in office. No. We can’t do that…” the legal practitioner stated.
