The flagbearer of the People's National Convention has mounted a vehement defence for his vision and policies he outlined at the IEA Evening encounter, Tuesday.
Dr Edward Mahama who is making a fifth attempt at winning a presidential election in Ghana painted a gloomy picture of the country he said was stinking with corruption and filth; and lacking a leader who will lead by example.
The PNC leader touched on a number of issues including youth unemployment, education, power, economy, sanitation and corruption at a forum organised by the governance think tank ahead of the 2016 elections in November.
On corruption, he said the country is performing poorly and cited what he said was the blatant violation of the Public Procurement Act in the last five years.
He said the government's attempt to restore power to Ghana has been haphazard berating the Mahama government for employing hugely expensive power plants to solve an almost four-year-old power crisis.
Dr Mahama was even more lethal in his description of the government's performance on sanitation. He said Ghana was amongst the dirtiest countries in the world with no proper plan in place by government to solve the problem.
He outlined a number of policies, including a plan of action to solve some of the problems he raised.
A day after his presentation, there have been mixed reactions to the performance of Dr. Mahama at the IEA forum.
Franklin Cudjoe who is founding president of policy think tank Imani Ghana and who was present at the IEA forum told Joy News Dr. Mahama did well especially with his delivery on education.
He said Mahama's focus on education, and his desire to have a stakeholder engagement is the right way to go.
"If he has money to spend on education, he should ensure there is a lot of pilot study to ensure the critical sectors that need the money actually receives them," he said.
Checks by Joy News' Raymond Acquah indicate that some of the facts presented by the PNC flagbearer were not accurate.
For instance whilst the country may not be free from corruption, it would equally not be accurate to say it is one of the worst performing countries in the world.
Over the last five years, the country has never been in the first 20 most corrupt countries in the world. It has however been hovering around the first 40 mark.
On the issue of youth unemployment checks show that only 37% of the country's unemployed population fall within the youth category and not 65% as stated by Dr Mahama in his presentation.
There was also a faux pas on the part of the PNC flagbearer on the country's percentage share in mineral deposit across the country.
Speaking to Joy News' Francis Abban, the PNC leader said his presentation on corruption, and mineral deposits were spot on.
He said a country that has its citizens bribing public officials to acquire a driver's licenses or a passports cannot be any worse of a corrupt country.
He said Ghana's fight against corruption is shoddy and no data better than what he sees every day will be enough to convince him that Ghana is not one of the worst performing countries.
He said he needs no report to know Ghana's fight against corruption is taking a nose dive.
Source:myjoyonline
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