Come Clear on Your Campaign Promises-IMANI Tells NPP, NDC, Others

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has charged various political parties in the country to come clear on its campaign promises made so far by making compressive plans regarding how they intends to fulfil those promises available.

The policy think tank described the campaign promises of the various political parties in the country as non-quantifiable.

According to IMANI, thorough research it conducted into the promises revealed that they lack the necessary basis to materialize.

In its special report on major campaign promises made by the six main political parties in the country namely, NDC, NPP, PPP, CPP, NDP and PNC, IMANI Ghana noted that most of the promises were not quantifiable.

IMANI Ghana explained that, out of the 247 promises which were made collectively by the parties, only 18 could be described as quantifiable while 186 and 43 of the promises were considered non quantifiable and semi quantifiable respectively.

Presenting the findings at a forum, one of the researchers, Hubert Nii Amponsah, who is the Head of Centre for Economic Policy and Governance Affairs at the IMANI Ghana giving the break of the promises noted that NDC made about 20 promises while NPP, CPP, NDP, PNC and PPP made 29, 38, 45, 66 and 49 respectively.

He bemoaned the practice, saying the lack of proper quantification of political promises makes it difficult for the electorate to make informed choices on Election Day.

“A total of 247 promises were identified, out of this 18 were quantifiable, 43 were semi-quantifiable, and 186 were non-quantifiable. So it is clear that the vast majority of the promises that the parties present are not assessable and are empty promises,” he said.

“…I do want to highlight that the report is tentative, we do make a lot of assumptions but we want to put rough numbers out there and especially in my opinion we want to push the parties to provide a financial plan and a cost benefit analysis to back up every promise that they make to the Ghanaian people. Because three fourth of the promises are non-quantifiable, it’s impossible to make a holistic feasibility analysis of the whole policy set,” he added.

The think tank also punched holes into the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC’s) promise of reducing inflation to a single digit by 2017 as well as making Ghana energy hub in the whole of West Africa.

They also cast doubts over the CPP’s Almond Tree and Wind Turbine promise as well as the PPP’s promise to scrap the winner takes all concept.

Story By: Michael Creg Afful

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