NPP will walk away with stolen money if they win 2024 - Mahama

Ghana’s former President, John Dramani Mahama, is begging Ghanaians to vote out the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2024 to enable them (Ghanaians) to demand proper accountability.

Mr Mahama made the controversial comment at Wa in the Upper East Region, where he is embarking on his nationwide ‘Thank you tour’.

‘‘The NPP has no intention of fighting corruption, and so the only way they can be made to account to the people of Ghana is for them to leave office so that the new government will come and audit them and show where they have gone wrong. Otherwise, all the money they have stolen, they will just walk away with it.

“If you participate in politics or are a participant in public service, one of the first things you must be willing to do is to be accountable to the people. The only way they could be accountable is for them to leave office so that the people of Ghana can ask them questions and audit them to make sure they account for the period they were in office,’’ Mr Mahama stated.

Mr Mahama has asked the ruling NPP and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure the full operationalization of the Upper West Regional Hospital in Wa.

According to him, the move will help the referral facility address the health needs of the people in the region.

The former president was responding to Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, who was unhappy with the lack of key infrastructure in the region.

The former president urged President Akufo-Addo to provide the required seed money to fully operationalize the regional hospital.

“Since he commissioned it, the hospital has not been given seed money to operate fully. And so it is not operating at full capacity. That is supposed to be the regional hospital, the major referral hospital for the people of the Upper West,” he bemoaned.

With the Covid-19 pandemic stretching the nation’s existing health facilities, the former president, who is in the region to thank the people for their support for him and his running mate, Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, and the NDC Parliamentary Candidates, called for re-prioritization of all such projects that are ready to be used.

“While we think about building more hospitals, we must quickly utilize the capacity that we have already. Because it will be a lack of prioritization if you have a wholly built regional hospital with all equipment that you need there and you can’t operationalize it and yet prioritize the construction of new hospitals.”