Nduom against overspending in run-up to 2016 elections
The 2012 Presidential Candidate and founder member of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has observed that excessive spending by the government during elections is not good for the country’s democracy as it affects the health of the economy.
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Speaking at a press conference yesterday on the Talensi by-election, Dr Nduom cautioned the government against overspending in the run-up to the 2016 elections, otherwise the country’s economic condition would worsen.
He said the excessive use of state resources by the government in the run-up to the Talensi by-election sent worrying signals and that the trend must not be repeated for the 2016 elections.
“Business people should brace themselves for a rough time in 2017 if the situation is to repeat,” he cautioned.
According to Dr Nduom, it had been the tradition of successive governments from 1992 through to the 2012 to engage in excessive spending during elections, saying that “huge budget deficit is not because of government’s expenditure on infrastructural development, but is due mainly to excessive spending in elections”.
Violence in election
Dr Nduom also condemned the violence that characterised the Talensi by-election and indicated that groups engaged in violence only to intimidate voters.
He said if the violence in the Talensi by-election was a rehearsal of what would happen in the 2016 elections, then the situation would not be good for Ghana.
Dr Nduom said he would not engage in such violence because he had invested in the country, unlike others who had invested in foreign countries.
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Politics of equalisation
Regarding corruption, Dr Nduom accused the government of engaging in politics of equalisation, saying that “anytime that anyone attacks the NDC administration, they fight back that you too are corrupt.”
By that equalisation, he said, “they are making our people think that we are all the same”.
He asked President John Dramani Mahama to focus on fixing the problem and “should not tell us what somebody did or didn’t do”.
Tribal politics
Dr Nduom expressed worry over why a party would not get votes in certain regions because the leaders did not have any roots there.
In his view, politics must be national in character, arguing that merit must be the foremost consideration.