No room for complacency - JOY cautions President
An independent Presidential Candidate in the 2016 Election, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, has acknowledged that though the first 100 days of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration points to positive signs of good things to come, there should be no room for complacency, since the task ahead is huge.
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He has, therefore, cautioned President Akufo-Addo to resist any temptation of corruption that has the tendency of bruising his government.
He has also cautioned the presidency against likely traps that might be set by his own people, among other power brokers, which has the tendency for breeding and leading to open incompetence within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
Mr Yeboah made these points in a statement on his take on the first 100 days of the NPP and the President Akufo-Addo administration.
Restructuring economy
"For the first 100 days, forming a government and restructuring the economy which has enabled a smooth take-off towards the nation's socio-economic reconstruction, I am giving 85 per cent mark to H.E Nana Akufo-Addo for his good intentions and attempt to shape the destiny of our nation competently. The whole nation is waiting to see how the Akufo-Addo-led government will handle the endemic corruption perceived to have been perpetrated against our nation."
According to Mr Osei Yeboah, the two cardinal words that led to former President Mahama and the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC’s) defeat and awful humiliation at the 2016 general election could be attributed to these two evils, - ‘Perceived unbridled corruption by the public and incompetence’ by the then NDC government - in trying to solve the nation's challenges.
“There is no doubt about the massive goodwill from Ghanaians towards the personality of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he stated.
He said the professionals and calibre of officers appointed to occupy various positions in government were par excellence and a good indicator of competence.
The size of his ministers, in the view of Mr Osei Yeboah, “is the highest in our history”, but noted that it did not necessarily mean it was a sign of incompetence, but all in all, “we wait to see how they perform”.
Size of ministers
He went on to add that “as a strategist, the structure and size of your ministers is a clear indicator that depicts your strategy to achieve the varied degrees of promises within a limited time frame”.
"Such a structure may be inefficient but could be effective as well. However, incompetence could be measured after the various ministers fail to achieve their respective goals in fulfilling the campaign promises, as the government is a continuum of liability from the previous one,” he added.
He said the NPP government would have to work with the NDC-committed contracts with high judgement debt clauses perceived to be shrouded in corruption.
“These are great pitfalls that the NPP will be measured if not avoided. The ability of the Akufo-Addo-led government to transmute these contracts as real performance vehicles will indeed distinguish the government as competent with integrity," he stated.
He observed that there had been attempts lately to cite the Akufo-Addo-led government for corruption at Parliament House and currently the Addison Committee on Energy.
None of these matters, he identified, “can hold water but they are great pointers of the eagle eye with which to get hold of anything against the government”, he stated.
Key projects
According to Mr Yeboah, implementation of the National ID and One District, One Factory in particular will silence the critics as those projects are quite unique to the NPP administration’s performance.
He decried the energy problem and galamsey as being key challenges facing the country.
He said those two challenges, if solved competently, could indeed transform the nation to reflect the true identity of the Gold Coast.