A former Communications Director of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea has called on Ghanaians to forgive President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for previously promising to reduce fuel prices.
He said the president made that promise in the heat of the 2016 election campaign and he should be forgiven.
According to Nana Akomea, who is also the Managing Director of the State Transport Company (STC), these promises are usually normal with politicians.
He explained that President Akufo-Addo’s promise was borne out of the excitement of the political campaign and therefore should be disregarded.
Nana Akomea who was on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show last week with the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablawka accused the lawmaker of making similar promises as a member of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA).
He however added that politicians should show honesty by apologizing to the citizenry when they are unable to fulfill a promise they made.
He singled out former President John Agyekum Kufuor as a leader who conceded to not being able to fulfill a promise he made during his campaign.
“Every political leader on campaign makes the same comment. CJA, where Sammy Okudzeto says that is where he got his political influence, they made the same sentiments. All of them. When leaders are campaigning they make these promises but when they come into office, there is a reality check.”
“When you are a political leader and you make certain statements as part of your messaging to the Ghanaian people and you come into office and see that the reality is different, you need to go back to tell them why you made this promise but why it is difficult for you to fulfill that promise. You need to do that.”
“President Kufuor is very famous for that when he talks about some issue that he campaigned against the Rawlings government. When he came into government and realized that the reality of the situation is that he couldn’t do much about it, he actually acknowledged and accepted it. He came out and said it is different and acknowledged it. I think leadership should acknowledge it”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Policy Analyst at Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options, Charles Wereko Brobbey has meanwhile advised the government to use the windfall from the oil revenue to cushion the price.
