President John Mahama must move away from speechmaking and deal with corruption “decisively,” the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has said.

According to the PPP chairman, Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond, the real state of Ghana “is one reeling under the weight of corruption, the rot that is killing the soul of the nation and its people. Until this matter is tackled effectively, seriously and with a sense of urgency, it will not be productive to talk about the state of anything else – not dumsor, not education, not unemployment.”

“For us it is, see ye the kingdom presided over by incorruptible leadership and all the rest shall be added unto it. It’s only when President Mahama first walks his pledge to fight corruption by starting with the prosecution and jailing of his own men and women when they engage in corrupt acts that people will take him seriously,” he said when delivering the PPP’s version of the State of the Nation, Tuesday.

He added: “Many of our past leaders have shown a certain talkative posture similar to President Mahama’s when it comes to the issue of corruption. We say it’s mere rhetoric because all their talk to fight corruption have only proven to be cosmetic posture, perhaps, said only to score cheap political points on the false notion that they are / were doing something about it.

“In other words, these leaders could not match their public posturing on corruption with the same level of urgency, zeal and determination that are required to actually fight corruption.

“We therefore remind the President that in giving those assurances to fight corruption, he needed to remember that he needs to go beyond satisfying the letter of a constitutional requirement to go to Parliament. He must also meet the expectation of the people of Ghana to obey both the spiritual order of the very Bible on which he swore the Oath of Office as President and the spirit of the Constitution to which he also swore to abide by.”

Brew-Hammond noted: “The main objective of the swearing-in ceremony was not just for ushering him into office, but as a symbolic gesture of a President who whether in good or bad times will still be truthful to upholding the integrity of the State, in this case Ghanaians.

“After all we have ceded our individual rights to create the sovereign State, and given Parliament and the President, the constitutional mandate to make laws and execute these on our behalf.

“That means the President swore to uphold the sanctity of our governance system and protect it from threats, such as corruption. That solemn pledge requires the President to act decisively and dispassionately without fear or favour in dealing with corruption and all other issues delimiting the effectiveness of the governance of the country.”