CSOs must be tough and continue to fire the government – Nana Oye Bampoe

Human rights advocate and former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo has urged civil society groups and community based organizations to be harder on the government so they do not short-change the people.

“Advocacy groups must be harder on government. They should even be harder. There is this base; principles, values, integrity, excellence, trust. Trust because the people have placed their trust in you”, she pointed out.

“You need to understand that you are a servant. You are working for people, in the interest of people. You have a blueprint, you have a constitution, you have the various programmes and strategy documents. So you apply that, applying yourself to ensure you get results”, she added.

On how crucial civil society is in shaping society, Nana Oye said “civil society plays a critical role in ensuring that they hold governments accountable. So it’s actually very welcome.”

“As a public officer, as a minister, I welcome that because sometimes you may not get the whole perspective, you may not get the whole picture and you may not be everywhere at all times. So civil society, community based organizations are able to give you the perspectives”, she added.

“So I will give you an example of LEAP. We give these monies to indigenes and the less fortunate; so what is the impact, what does that old woman in Bukom, that old woman in Kose, what do they actually need, when do they need that money”, she stressed out.

“So that is when you will get community based organizations and civil society groups being able to give you that input to make your delivery and programmes better, because you are serving and you need to make that programme better”, she mentioned.