Political analyst Samuel Boateng has advised politicians to stop making unrealistic promises during the electioneering period.

The strategist stated that it has become the norm for politicians to make several promises so they can easily win political power, even when they know the promises cannot be achieved.

He underscored the need for political parties seeking office to be realistic and design policies and programs that can help address the challenges confronting the country.

Speaking in an interview on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5 FM, he said that the manifestos of political parties must reflect the challenges confronting the country and provide solutions that can address them in the long term.

Boateng said these promises made by politicians in Ghana, particularly from the NDC and NPP, only manage the challenges but do not solve them. “We manage our problems in Ghana and do not solve them. We have several problems without any solutions. We keep recycling our problems without solutions. As voters, we have a duty to hold every politician to account. We have to assess or evaluate the performance of our politicians and find out if they are delivering on their promises.”

He added that the Ghanaian politician is not accountable and unwilling to admit his or her failures. “We need leaders who are competent and have bold solutions to address our challenges. They don’t admit their failures. When they make their promises and are unable to deliver, they don’t apologize, and we as Ghanaians have not done our part in holding them accountable for their stewardship.”

He advised Ghanaians to punish politicians who fail to deliver on their promises. He said parties should be punished, especially in their strongholds, when they fail in the discharge of their duties.

“We voted for them, and so we have to ensure they are performing as expected. If we can hold them to account and vote against them for their abysmal performance, then we progress. If we stop our partisan politics and hold leaders to account even when they are members of our party, it will serve as a deterrent.

"We have candidates who want to be MPs and go about promising to construct roads, but after winning power, they will tell voters that MPs don’t construct roads. So why should such a person lie to win power? What we can do is force them to deliver on their promise, and if they don’t, we have to vote them out. They have taken us for granted for far too long, and it is time to hold them to account,” he said.