The list was long; the examples many but Sammy Awuku of the NPP and Felix Ofosu Kwakye of the NDC spared no effort at all in chronicling the major corruption allegations against each party.
The NDC on Tuesday said it had fulfilled its Action Year promises to Ghanaians and cited among other things, stable macro-economic indices, removal of schools under trees and a successful implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure as its achievements.
But the NPP is unimpressed. On Wednesday, its deputy head of communications Sammy Awuku stated on Joy FM that the NDC was tickling itself and laughing and was running fast like Usain Bolt into opposition.
He said the government had failed to meet its own target set by President Mills in his profound Action Year declaration.
According to him, the NDC banked all its hope on a $3 billion Chinese loan and because the loan did not come, it failed to build the Kotokuraba market, the Cape Coast stadium, the Eastern Corridor road, the two universities in Ho and Bono Ahafo all of which were promises under Mills’ action year.
Describing the two universities as another tale of “schools under trees,” Awuku said the STX housing project has also become a “mockery of the situation”.
He said the macroeconomic stability being trumpeted by the NDC does not reflect the true economic situation in the country.
Samuel Awuku accused the NDC leaders of living an opulent and extravagant lifestyle at a time when the masses of the people were living in abject poverty.
“I thought I also heard Awuku make mention of opulence and extravagant lifestyle but Ghanaians would immediately recall that this president has not dipped his hands into the state coffers to take out $65,000 to buy a gold chain to hang around his neck like his president, Kufuor, did. This government has not dipped its hands into the coffers of Ghana and doled out $75 million to put up a presidential palace. Neither has this government doled out $75 million to celebrate Ghana@ 50 as a country.”
“…This president has been the modest we have seen in this country,” he reacted.
He found it rather hypocritical that the NPP will be downplaying the macro-economic achievement of the government when in 2008 its flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo made it one of the top achievements of the NPP.
“It is surprising that today when inflation is 8.55 per cent… Sammy Awuku says we should ignore it; when growth is at 13.6 per cent, which is the biggest in our history, he says we should ignore it. Today our foreign reserves stand at $4.98 billion,” he added.
He said the NDC government has done a lot in solving the unemployment situation in the country and has implemented the Youth in Employment, Youth in Agriculture and Ecobrigade projects, which has employed tens of thousands of unemployed youth.
In a rebuttal, Samuel Awuku said the presidential palace that was built was not for the personal comfort of President Kufuor, accusing the NDC government of buying “$40,000 worth of jewelry for Barrack Obama’s wife when we could have used that to construct over 600 boreholes… Also we were in this country when this government doled out $51 million to a crony, to a friend, a pal of President Mills and vice-president Mahama.”
Kwakye Ofosu responded accusing ex-president Kufuor of presiding over the sale of Vodafone, which he said, was tainted with corruption.
He said barely before settling in office, the son of Mr Kufuor bought himself a plush $3 million hotel.
According to him, the NPP is worse off than the NDC as far as corruption was concerned.
Play the attached audio for excerpts of the who is who corruption banter