Minister calls for attitude change

Accra, Oct. 26, GNA - Mrs. Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Information and National Orientation, has stressed the need for a dramatic change of attitude in the entire citizenry for accelerated development.

She said, as Government played a facilitating role in change of behaviour, each individual must also contribute his or her quota to the drive towards change of attitudes.

Mrs. Sai-Cofie was addressing students of Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) on Thursday as part of a series of weekly lectures under the theme: "Citizens Input Towards Attaining Faster Socio-Economic Development".

She described citizens' participation in the country's socio-economic development not only as a constitutional issue, but also as a political right since the 1992 Constitution empowered the people to take the destiny of the nation into their own hands. The Minister said that Government believed the constitution must be the starting point for any discussions on citizens' participation in policy setting and socio-economic development, adding, "citizen participation is an integral part of Ghana's democratic process". She cautioned the people not to take the current democratic dispensation for granted because people fought for it. She argued that this must be sustained through efforts to understand the constitution and also by promoting the various rights and responsibilities that come with it.

Mrs Sai-Cofie said she believed the people would fully participate in socio-economic development of the country if existing mechanisms for ensuring quality of life in respect for all citizens were enforced. The Minister stressed that education and training had played a fundamental role in the country's economic, cultural, social and political development and explained that Government's focus on education was to enable the citizenry to participate meaningfully in policy decisions and implementation.

She pointed out that the Ministry of Information and National Orientation was aware of the key role education played in the implementation of coherent and forceful political system, social, cultural and moral reforms and through which it hoped to achieve positive results on the National Orientation Programme. Touching on gender parity, the Minister noted that women representation was increasing at all levels of Government, including District Councils, Parliament and the Cabinet and called for its inclusion in the school system where confidence and knowledge could be instilled in all children.

Mrs. Sai-Cofie observed that the media constituted the most important channel through which the people could voice out their feelings and noted that, "Ghanaians have enjoyed unprecedented freedom of information and expression over the past six years". She said giant strides had already been made to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law, and added that other legislations were also being considered to strengthen the public communication sector to make the media even more accessible to the people.

Mrs Sai-Cofie explained that the five pillars of the National Orientation Programme, which addressed much wider concerns, covered every facet of life, and were meant to accelerate development. Mr Kobina Sekyi, a former diplomat, called on Ghanaians to take responsibility for their actions since that was the only way to create a disciplined society.