Manasseh Azure Awuni, an investigative journalist, has called on Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to take a more aggressive stand against corruption, stressing the importance of doing so for the nation’s economic growth.
He emphasized that tax cuts and overall national advancement could be greatly impacted by the government’s commitment to combating corruption in his remarks on JoyNews’ The Probe.
“I firmly believe that during their opposition, the NPP promised to lessen corruption rather than tax Ghanaians. The savings would then set us free.
The amount of SML alone that we are discarding exceeds the annual total of the e-levy collection. Therefore, I’m saying that some of these annoying taxes wouldn’t exist if you had a government that was serious about combating corruption.
While acknowledging that Dr. Bawumia brought up corruption during his speech on digitalization, Manasseh Azure called for a more proactive approach to combating corruption in a variety of sectors.
“I completed a course on corruption last semester at the Harvard Kennedy School, which focused on identifying and resolving corruption.” We conducted a case study on Estonia during one of the lessons. Sitting there and listening to how they could register a business in this country in under fifteen minutes astounded me so much. Almost anything can be done from the comforts of your home.
As the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, he discussed his aspirations for the nation during the lecture and urged Ghanaians to support him in the next general elections.
A number of policies were pledged, including the removal of the E-Levy as part of Ghana’s endeavors to become a cashless society and the implementation of measures to assist in the elimination of the electricity VAT, emissions tax, and betting tax.
“I am like a driver’s mate in my role as vice president. However, should God grant me the presidency, I will have the power to pursue my priorities and vision from the driver’s seat, as stipulated by the constitution.
“The starting circumstances that we came into possession of in 2017 will not be the same in 2025. My priorities will change as a result. I will try to build on the many positive things we have accomplished,” he said.
However, many people disagree with Dr. Bawumia’s analogy, arguing that in his capacity as the chairman of the Economic Management Team, he could have had a greater impact.
Manasseh Azure, however, thinks it is not shocking that the Vice President, despite being a member of this government, has distanced his campaign from it.
“You cannot come to us and tell us you want to continue what is happening, not to be suicidal, if you want to lead Ghana and we have a president or a government that has performed so badly,” he clarified.
However, the investigative journalist stated that he had expected Dr. Bawumia to at least acknowledge in his speech that some of the government’s pledges had not materialized as expected.
