I will encourage John Mahama to initiate more of the policies that will bring sanity into our politics – Manasseh

A Ghanaian investigative journalist and a freelancer, Manasseh Azure Awuni of the Fouth Estate fame has urged the former President of Ghana and the flagbearer aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress to initiate more policy lines into our political discourse.

Manasseh Azure Awuni made this call on his Facebook page in reaction to some policy directions announced by the former President when he launched his campaign for the 2024 general election on Wednesday, 2nd March, in Ho.

The former President amongst others stated his stance on issues of public interest and indicated his commitment on those issues should he be voted into power in 2024 as the next President for the Republic of Ghana.

The former President, HE John Dramani Mahama discloses that he will appoint less than sixty ministers in his next government. Mr Mahama believed that Ghana, per our economic conditions, must not have more ministers and that sixty or less ministers should be enough for any government to effectively run in Ghana.

One of his promises which has received more reactions from several people has to do with his promise to scrap off exgratia to his executives. ”I will scrap the payment of exgratia to my executives and take up the necessary dialogue with the other beneficiaries to buy into this initiative” Mr Mahama stated.

While major Ghanaians have welcomed this promise as the best step to end the payment of huge sums of monies to few people under article 71 holders such as the executives, the judiciary, the Members of Parliament, Chief Executive Officers, Board Chairs and Board Members of state owned Enterprises, few have been critical on his promise and have asked him, Mr Mahama, to give back his exgratia to the state if he wanted Ghanaians to trust him on his promise.

Manassas Azure Awuni, who seems to object to the call by the few for Mr Mahama to refund his exgratia described their call as ”belittling the discourse” and urged the citizens and the civil society to have a responsibility to encourage those who make an attempt to put in policies that are in the interest of the people.

Kindly read his full statement below

John Mahama’s Promises and My Women’s Trousers

There was a time I believed that women who wore trousers–which I considered to be men’s attire–would not go to heaven. I no longer believe in some of the views I held 10 years ago. If you dig them up one day, and I hold a different view from what I used to believe in, it should not amount to hypocrisy.

As I grow and learn, new information and perspectives shape my thinking. So my views may change on some issues. It is common with human nature.

The fact that John Mahama has benefitted from ex-gratia doesn’t mean he cannot have a different opinion about it today. The fact that his previous administration had more than 60 ministers and deputies doesn’t mean he cannot think differently when it comes to the number of ministers.

I will not ridicule him. Ex-gratia is something Ghanaians feel strongly about. There is an apparent consensus that it is wasteful and should be scrapped, especially for some political office holders.

A potential president who wants to scrap or reduce its beneficiaries should be encouraged to do it and more. I will not ridicule him. I will not say he should return what he has benefitted. That is belittling the discourse.

In order to build a strong democracy, citizens and civil society have a responsibility to be critical of duty-bearers. They also have a responsibility to encourage those who make an attempt to put in policies that are in the interest of the people.

I will encourage John Mahama to initiate more of the policies that will bring sanity into our politics. If he wins, we can police him and his administration to implement them.

If his opponents in the election think they won’t scrap ex-gratia or cap the number of ministers, they should say so, and clearly. At the end of the day, Ghanaians will judge and choose.

As far as I’m concerned, I will be happy to see more of policy-related promises going into the next election. I still maintain that anybody at all can borrow and build hospitals or pay school fees. (I should have said “any idiot can borrow…”, but today is Sunday.)

I would have been disappointed if John Mahama was not saying things that contradict the policies and actions of his administration.

We need policies that shape our democracy and I will encourage candidates who do that. I won’t ridicule them. If they win, I will then hold them to account for their promises.

That’s how we build a nation