Opinions of Sunday, 17 October 2010

Columnist: Danquah, Paul

Better Ghana Agenda: The role of Politicians

What has happened to our great nation? Ghana was once a great leader in the world under Nkrumah’s administration, we used to give grants to countries like Guinea and many others. We were once a world power. A country that other African countries looked up to. Now Ghana is a nation of squabbling politicians who cannot agree on anything. Our elected politicians are not leaders. They are like children who keep fighting over their toys (lands, cars, gratia awards etc). Their only thought is to be in power.

If the NDC say the sky is blue, the NPP will say it is green. If the NPP say it is blue, the NDC will say it is purple. President Mills needs to stop blaming the Kuffour administration for all the problems and start doing something to fix them. The economy and unemployment have gotten worse since Mills has been President so he has not done a great job either. His foreign trips to sought loans have done more to increase the national debt than they have helped.

President Mills and his team are trying to get the upper hand on the political issue to help insure their party wins in the next coming election than helping the ordinary citizens to get a better life. The NDC are more interested in staying in control than they are in helping the country and its people. The NPP main concern is to defeat the NDC and get control of Government. They do not care about helping the people at this time. President Mills blames the opposition parties for refusing to help him turn around the failing economy. The NPP do not want to support some of proposed current policies from Mills government now and in the past they supported the same policies when it was their idea and the NDC were against it (e.g. the purchasing of the presidential plane).

The NDC are in danger of losing control so President Mills is trying to convince voters that they have to make a choice between going back to the NPP policies or going forward with his policies. His policies have not worked so far. It seems that President Mills is more interested in keeping control than helping the country and its people.

Thus personally the NPP and NDC spend all their time going back and forth and not accomplishing anything. Let’s stop fighting over who is right and who is wrong and fix it. Stop acting like children fighting over toys. Ghana and the Ghanaian people are not toys. Stop worrying about who will control the Castle or Flagstaff house, and come up with a plan that will save the country and its people. Act like grown up leaders and not like spoiled squabbling children. Start working together and come up with a solution before it is too late. Quit worrying about who might have put us in this situation and get us out of it.

It does not matter if you are from NDC or NPP; you have been entrusted by the GOOD people to run a great nation. NPP and NDC are human and their blood is red just like the people who voted for them. It is time for the politicians to start acting like leaders and lead THE COUNTRY TO A BETTER GHANA!!

Author: Paul Danquah, B.A; MPA, MPHIL
East London