Former Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo has advised President Akufo-Addo to take drastic measures to enhance public confidence in the political establishment to avoid a Kenya-style public uproar.
A finance bill introduced by the Kenyan government in June triggered violent protests in most parts of that country that resulted in at least thirty-nine deaths.
According to the former Auditor General, Ghana’s government must take a cue and avert a similar situation.
Speaking at the 2024 Domelevo Accountability lecture in Accra, he said “If only President William Ruto would have been minded last year or even early this year to do the things that he’s doing today, I think he would have been a hero. But now, even if he cuts his throat for them, people will not appreciate it. It is too late.
“The question we want to ask is the other African leaders including our own President [Akufo-Addo], has he taken a note from it? It would have been so heartwarming for us to hear from the President.
“Given the heat in the country and what I have heard from somewhere, I will reduce my cabinet or ministers to 40. If the President starts to do some of these things, I think it will help to calm nerves. It’s never too late, those who have the ears of the President, it’s never too late to repent and do the right thing,” Daniel Domelevo opined.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Opposition NDC Fifi Kwetey has called for a national introspection on the fight against corruption.
He says corruption in Ghana runs deeper than the political elite.
“If we have a society that is fundamentally premised on not respecting the character of people or the impact of people, then that society is premised on what you have in your pockets. That is a society that can never simply overcome corruption.
“And so, you will have a Jerry Rawlings [late former President], who will come and three heads of state will be executed, a lot of things would have been done. What we simply have achieved is simply because of a situation where people will go a little underground, and they will resurrect again. Because the real virus is in the heart of society,” Fifi Kwetey said.