Accounting to the People Tour abuse of incumbency - GII
20 April 2016
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has said President John Mahama’s ‘Accounting to the People’ tour could pass as an abuse of incumbency per some key indicators.
The President started his tour from the Western Region, moved to the Eastern Region and is now in the Volta Region.
His movements and messages on the tour have triggered public debate with some critics, accusing him of using state resources to campaign to win the presidential elections.
The Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has also suggested that the President’s tour is just a campaign trip running on tax payer’s money.
Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of the GII, Linda Ofori Kwafo, said they may not have the hard facts to prove that indeed, the President is using state resources for campaign purposes; but certain indicators might prove he is guilty.
According to her, the timing of the tour and the message that runs through are some of the indicators.
“In this particular instance, you look at the timing, the message the President is given out.Was it planned earlier? How quickly did the President have this as part of his agenda? All these things will guide us in making a distinction to draw a line between performing his duties as a President, and using state resources to campaign to his advantage,” she explained.
Mrs. Ofori Kwafo noted that drawing a line between campaigning and presidential duties may be difficult, but she insisted that if she sent out trained monitors to assess the president’s tour, they will conclude that there has been an abuse of incumbency.
“The difficulty is distinguishing between what the President is currently doing and what he is supposed to be doing as the leader of a party; but then if I send my trained monitors and they go to the field, I know most of them will capture this exercise being embarked on as an abuse incumbency.”
By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
http://citifmonline.com/2016/04/20/accounting-to-the-people-tour-possible-abuse-of-incumbency-gii/
