Economist and Professor of Finance, Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin has said politicians are making too many promises that may not be realised within the next four years.

He said the rippling effect of Covid-19 on the state of the economy will influence this.

Prof Bokpin noted that even when there was better better fiscal space, politicians were not able to accommodate their promises. Thus, they are likely to perform worse in the current economic dispensation.

“2020 is not going to be like any other year. If you look at how the promises are made, it is as though we are not in Covid-19 times or it will disappear in December with the elections. Ghana’s economic recoveries will go beyond four years.”

“There is practically no fiscal space to accommodate these excessive promises and there for there is a high propensity that politicians are out there to deceive Ghanaians for votes,” he argued.

His comments come as part of a discussion of the manifestoes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Speaking on Newsfile, Prof Godfred stated that both electorates and politicians are vulnerable hence they both try to take advantage of each other.

He noted that there is little concern for the medium through which these promises are made a reality – the budget statement.

“The two political parties (NPP AND NDC) have tasted power and we have seen how their promises get translated through the budget.

“Due to the numerous promises that are made, they try to find a way to pass their promises through the budget but it has been very difficult,” he said.

The economist argued that due to the huge number of promises, politicians are driven by ‘short-termism’ to please the electorates without looking out for providing quality.