Ghana is broke & Mahama will fix it

Aspiring Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, says Ghana is broke and must be saved from expenditures that can be avoided. 

Speaking at a public lecture on financing of political campaigns in Ghana, Mr. Mahama argued that it will not be feasible for the state to consider funding political parties in any form now, because of the bad economic conditions. 

"Ghana today is broke. International credit rating agencies have placed us in junk status. Additional state financing can, therefore, not be a viable option on the table. Even if that becomes an option in the future, I recommend that we put in place an explicit Public Funding of Political Parties Bill in a bipartisan and inclusive manner", the former president asserted. 

He further recommended that should public funding of political parties be scaled up in the foreseeable future, then, an independent and credible institution must be selected to administer the state resources advanced to political parties. 

"In that regard, a sharing formula could be established to ensure fairness, and specific disclosure requirements on beneficiary parties."

Mr. Mahama is contesting his party’s presidential primaries on 13th May 2023, and according to key stalwarts of the NDC, Mr. Mahama is the presumptive flagbearer of the party, expecting him to win an overwhelming majority of the votes. 

On corruption, Mr. Mahama who used the opportunity to launch a digital fundraising platform for his 2024 campaign said he will bring a new focus and determination to fight the canker. 

“It is sad observing Ghana’s performance on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index score card after many years of NACAP’s existence. This is not how we programmed NACAP to be. NACAP can do better! And NACAP must do better!”, he stated. 

Former President Mahama says when he is sworn in as President again, in 2025, he will be coming to the job with priceless experience, and he will work hard to fix what is a broken nation and a fight against corruption. 

“I want us to build the Ghana we want together by writing – not footnotes, not pages but – chapters in the anti-corruption history of our dear country Ghana. We must also uphold human rights, including freedom of expression and not be describing some journalists as terrorists.”