It was not the House of Parliament but the debate was intense, sometimes cacophonous as four political actors who took their turn on Joy FM’s topsy turvy tried to outdo each other.

Communications Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah co-hosted the Super Morning Show with Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Akomea.

They received valuable support in their respective political arguments from Manhyia MP (NPP), Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh and Deputy Transport Minister, Joyce Bawa Mogtari.

Dr Omane Boamah teamed up with Mrs Joyce Bawa to push government’s agenda. They run through endless list of government projects and programmes which they argued were bettering the lives of Ghanaians.

The Deputy Transport Minister spoke eloquently about the Kwame Nkrumah Circle road project, the Tamale and Kumasi airports amongst others and said life was certainly getting better.

Dr. Omane Boamah will not allow any heckling. She should be allowed to make her points, he told Dr. Opoku Prempeh and Nana Akomea.

The Communications Minister regurgitated power generating projects being undertaken by the government. He said save a small project, the previous NPP government did not do much to improve the electricity supply situation in the country.

His submission brought the Manhyia MP to his feet. He said no government had initiated projects designed to increase the power generating capacity of the country more than the Kufuor led NPP government.

Dr. Opoku Prempeh, affectionately called Napo, insisted that many of the power projects being commissioned by the Mahama government, were indeed initiated by the Kufuor government.

Dr. Omane Boamah’s attempts to interject were parried by Nana Akomea, co-host of the Super Morning Show.

The subject of corruption sharply divided the two political camps as is expected whenever and wherever the two major political parties – the governing National Democratic Congress and NPP discuss the subject.

Whilst the NPP panelists insisted that corruption had reached unprecedented levels with government complicity, Dr Omane Boamah and Joyce Bawa vehemently denied this. They quickly pointed to actions by government they said were dealing with the canker.

Nana Akomea read copiously from eminent citizens he said had alluded to an historic rise in, and record levels of, corruption in recent times.

Giving him tactical support, Napo said no single day passes without an act of corruption involving the government and its appointees being reported. “This is clear exaggeration,” Omane Boamah shot back.

But Napo pressed on. He said the cost of the Kumasi Airport lighting system had been padded in a scandalous manner. The money, he maintained could have been spent in more productive sectors of the economy.

The Manhyia MP insisted the value for money record of the government is alarmingly low.

The closing arguments, as if the Joy FM studio had become a courtroom, provided opportunity for the four to restate their entrenched views about the direction of the country.

Dr. Omane Boamah and Mrs Joyce Bawa remained convinced that the government was on track to transform the economy and there was evidence across the country in the form of development projects to back this.

Nana Akomea and Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh remained less optimistic and even less convinced that Ghana was headed in the right direction. They pointed to what they said were extremely high levels of corruption, government’s lack of commitment to fight same and even government complicity and duplicity in corruption in some cases of corruption, government incompetence, which Napo referred to as fake leadership and dishonest leadership as conspiring to put the country on the precipice.

In the end, they had their say, and listeners had fun.

 

 

 

 

Listen to excerpt of the programme