Two political scientists are divided over the call by the General Overseer of Light House Chapel for President Mahama to immediately start fulfilling promises he made to Ghanaians during the campaign.
Bishop Dag Heward-Mills in a sermon on Christmas Day reminded President John Mahama that Ghanaians are expecting him to fulfill the numerous promises he made to the electorates in the run-up to the elections.
He began by cataloguing some of the promises including the full implementation of the free universal basic education, free senior high school in 2016 as well as the construction of 200 SHS. But political science lecture at the University of Ghana Dr. Seidu Alidu told Joy News the charge is premature.
Dr. Alidu explained the Bishop should have waited until the president is sworn in and all electoral issues on the general elections are dealt with.
He noted: “Political promises have become the yardstick to assess the performance of every government in power; it is also use to assess the performance of our political leaders. So we therefore expect our leaders to make promises they would be able to fulfill, and not promises that would help them win political power.”
Though Dr Alidu said the call was “premature” he conceded, “it is a good reminder…but it is too early now”, explaining there are a lot of outstanding issues to be cleared, noting that President Mahama’s victory is even being challenged.
However, his colleague at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Ghana, Kwesi Amakye disagrees.
Mr. Amakye told Joy News Bishop Dag-Heward Mills’ call is a reminder that politicians cannot take the people for granted.
“The fact that Ghanaians today have not benefitted at all from the rich resource of the land, promises upon promises by political leadership that have come and gone, then you would want to say that it is not premature.
“Possibly it is one of the best things today to sound a word of caution and to introduce some elements of seriousness into our body politics, so that people who really want to lead the nation now and tomorrow would take notice of the fact that at least Ghanaians are now becoming more politicised than before.”
