Surrogates for the two leading political parties in Ghana- the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) are critiquing the Curriculum Vitae of members of the other party. Many have also leveled accusations of fraud and a lack of commitment to fighting corruption against the other party’s presidential candidate. The NDC affiliated Research for Advocacy Platform (RAP) began the CV battle last week as Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the group’s convener, demanded to know whether NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo had attended Oxford University and if so, why he had not included that fact on his CV. At a press conference on Monday, he publicly released an e-mail correspondence with one Jeremy Drew, the Manager of the Degree Conferrals office at Oxford, confirming that Akufo-Addo was admitted to the school in 1962. He accused Akufo-Addo of concealing that information from the public, adding that having betrayed the public’s trust in this way, the NPP flagbearer had lost his credibility and cannot be trusted to fight corruption “It is instructive that Nana Addo has sought to mount the moral high ground on the subject of corruption. He has claimed that he is not corrupt and has never been corrupt. However the efforts that he has made to conceal his attendance of Oxford and his failure to tell the truth when the matter became public completely undermines his claims of incorruptibility.” He continued, “corruption thrives in an atmosphere of cover-ups, untruths and a lack of transparency. Therefore a man who cannot be forthcoming with the truth regarding his own academic record cannot be relied upon to manage Ghana’s resources.” As Kwakye Ofosu was making these claims, an NPP-affiliated group called the Young Patriots organized a similar press conference during which they accused President John Mahama of dishonesty and Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur of fraud. Richard Nyama, a group spokesman, told the media that the Vice President had forged a 1980 M.Sc. Economics Degree from the University of Ghana, Legon. “Our checks at the University of Ghana indicated that Vice President Amissah Arthur never graduated with an M.Sc. in Economic from the University of Ghana in 1980. His name is neither in the year group nor is the University aware of his self-acclaimed graduation in the said subject in that year. “This brings a lot in terms of fraud to the table. The question is did the Vice President defraud the University of Ghana with a fake M.Sc. Degree to be given a lectureship position in the University?” he asked. Accusing the Vice President of public deceit and fraud, he pledged to take every step possible to pursue the matter and protect the interests of the Ghanaian people. Nyama also bashed President Mahama for failing to include his time at the Tamale Bishop Middle School on his CV.