Akufo-Addo’s cousins contributed to Ghana’s poor CPI performance—Asiedu Nketiah

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah believes Ghana’s poor performance in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report by Transparency International is attributable to the numerous cousins of President Akufo-Addo in government positions.

According to him, the “army of cousins” of President Akufo-Addo who have been appointed to key government positions in itself significantly contributed to the country dropping 11 positions in the latest corruption rankings.

He said during a delegates’ conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in January 2016, in Kumasi, the then candidate Akufo-Addo promised that he would not run a family and friends government, but “for the first time in the country’s history, the president has appointed his own daughter to a government position and even appointed a woman he has a child with as the Ambassador to the Czech Republic”.

Press conference

Addressing a press conference on the impacts of the 2017 CPI on Ghana’s image in the comity of nations, the NDC’s chief scribe said the CPI results reflect the current happenings in the country as the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government has recorded numerous incidents of corruption since taking office from the NDC administration in 2016.

Family and friends

According to Mr Asiedu Nketiah, the unprecedented cronyism and nepotism being practiced by the NPP government cannot be left out as a bait for corruption.

“His insatiable affinity for nepotism and cronyism that has resulted in the appointment of dozens of his blood relations, known friends and associates as well as several relatives of senior government officials into public sector positions has not been lost on the Ghanaian public,” he stated.

He accused the president of failing to deliver on his campaign promise of not running family and friends’ government, adding that filling key government positions with “an army of cousins, nieces and other relatives” was a frontal violation of his campaign promise to the people of Ghana, leading to the restoration of the most nepotistic government in our history will definitely contribute to a perception of corruption and conflict of interest”.

Cover-ups

Mr Asiedu Nketiah believes that the president does not seem prepared to fight the soaring state of corruption under his administration.

According to him, the president only boasts of fighting corruption with the creation of the office of the Special Prosecutor.

“His fight has been reduced to the creation of the SP office,” he said, adding that “you can’t fight corruption by denial”.

Mr Asiedu Nketiah said President Akufo-Addo is refusing to admit the report by Transparency International and rather blaming it on the past government.