President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Dr. Kobina Arthur Kennedy, a one-time presidential aspirant of the ruling New Patriotic Party has given President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo a ‘FAIL’ mark in his fight against corruption.
According to the US-based medic, the president’s most significant failure was the anti-corruption fight but other areas have been fairly okay.
GhanaWeb monitored comments he made on the One On One show which aired on Accra-based Metro TV on Monday, October 18, 2021.
Asked about his views on the corruption fight, he gave a terse answer: “It is an F, he has failed us… I think his most significant failure has been fighting corruption,” he stressed.
He however pointed out four other areas he described as the highlights of the barely five-year-old Akufo-Addo government. They were; restoring peace to Dagbon, the banking sector clean up, Free SHS and job creation.
“I think job creation is better (compared to corruption fight). Now, let me tell you, in my view, Nana Addo’s successes have been Dagbon, he was excellent as far as Dagbon was concerned.
“I think that cleaning up the banks was a good thing even though I had a problem with the execution, Free SHS was a wonderful idea, I have problems with the execution. Those have been the highlights,” he told show host Bridget Otoo.
Corruption has been a major talking point under Akufo-Addo with the opposition National Democratic Congress calling out the government for failing to act on reports and allegations of high-level corruption.
A Civil Society Coalition, months back, expressed grave misgivings about how government was handling corruption but the President hit back at them in a meeting at the presidency to the extent of accusing them of wanting him to lose the 2020 polls.
The circumstances under which former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, left office, the resignation of the first Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu and more recently issues surrounding the botched purchase of Russia-made Sputnik V vaccines have dented the fight against corruption according to the CSOs.
Government insists that budgetary investments in anti-corruption institutions have been unprecendented.