The 2012 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Abu Sakara Foster, has expressed disappointment in President Nana Akufo-Addo’s fight against corruption.
Dr Foster, who is also the founder of the National Interest Movement, a civil society platform formed to rally support for an independent alternative to Ghana’s electoral duopoly, said in an interview on Wednesday, that President Akufo-Addo’s performance, as far as the fight against corruption is concerned, fell below his expectation.
“Given the circumstances available, there have been a number of disappointments”, Dr Foster said.
He explained that: “I expected, one, a more inclusive government – but I am talking from my own point of view; I expected a stronger fight against corruption because of his reputation.
I felt he would get a strong delivery on this. I just feel that we have not made sufficient progress in that direction”.
As far as the agricultural sector is concerned, Dr Foster said: “I felt he brought a focus on agriculture which had not existed previously and the budget has gone up marginally, although I do not think that it is enough to do the work that needs to be done and to spend in the areas that we need to spend, but you cannot deny the fact that that focus has been there”.
“Now, these things, collectively, if I have to see this person’s performance over this period, I would say: ‘Yes’, but I expected more”.
In a similar manner, Dr Foster said the performance of the erstwhile Mahama administration also fell short of his expectation.
“Now, did I expect more from John Mahama, too? Yes, very much so; he is a person of my generation, I expected more and, especially as the conditions were very ideal for him”.
He stated that; “So, on that score, as I said, at the end of the day, I believe that there is an inherent system in our democracy that tends to shift the focus of government from the things that really matter and that is where we keep hammering that whoever is there, if you do not address these things at the constitutional level, the attention would always be shifted.”