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Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, the founding President of IMANI Africa, believes it was "unnerving" that the 2024 New Patriotic Party Flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, sought to sing the praise of the Bank of Ghana.

To him, considering how the Central Bank has superintendented over "the biggest fiscal hole in the Ghana's history", it would have sat well with the public if the Vice President had "promised exacting some form of accountability."

In a Facebook post hours after the NPP flagbearer had shared his vision with Ghanaians, Mr. Cudjoe explained that leadership requires that the leader carries his people along in all decisions and crucially accepts responsibility when things go wrong sometimes.

And thus called on Dr. Bawumia to accept responsibility when things go wrong.

“I’m just unsure about him owning up to the wrongs- which is why I’m asking that he accepts the liabilities that will come along. I wish him well.”

He said “As far as yesterday’s big push for the presidency by Dr. Bawumia went, his resolve to build an inclusive society based on a value system that rewards hardwork, incorruptible behaviour, enhance business flourishing with simple taxes such as the flat tax,  deepen public-private sector partnership to construct and manage critical infrastructure, ensure government’s efficiency with the very bold promise of 50 ministers and deputies, fight corruption through tighter procurement process, ensuring value for money  in project management, adding value to our mineral resources are all significant game-changers’’.

He added that, “I had reservations about how he spent the first hour of his major outing as flagbearer to recount many of his achievements with the government, because we had heard them so many times. However, I thought even if he had to repeat the positives, he needed to be balanced, because quite frankly, charting a different path as he advertised his vision was, should include acknowledging some of  the grave short comings such as innumerable instances of fiscal misbehaviour that made Ghana top all the inglorious macroeconomic leagues and sped up our journey to economic meltdown with its attendant negative life-changing impact through the debt exchange program—even if one were to account for the impact of Russian-UKRAINE war and covid-19.

“Praising the Bank of Ghana was particularly unnerving given the grave sins it committed in the creation of the biggest fiscal hole ever in Ghana’s history. He could have promised exacting some form of accountability with some troubling money wasting projects like the cathedral and suspicious multi-million dollar telecom, oil, gold revenue monitoring and assurance systems. Not long ago, Liberians lamented, that President Weah who promised to keep them in his pre-election photograph had taken them out of the picture after winning power. President Weah disagreed; he said the pre-election photograph was intact, and that it is Liberians who had taken themselves out of the photograph. He lost the bid to be re-elected.

“Leadership requires that you carry your people along in all decisions and crucially accepting responsibility when things go wrong sometimes because you or your colleague ministers may have overplayed your hands. I have no doubt Dr Bawumia intends to carry us along with all his ideas or assets if he wins the presidency, l’m just unsure about he owning up to the wrongs- which is why l’m asking that he accepts the liabilities that will come along. I wish him well.”