Opinions of Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Columnist: Asamoah-Siaw, Kofi

Mahama should Stop the Thanksgiving and Get to Work

The Progressive People's Party wishes to respectfully suggest to the President His Excellency John Dramani Mahama to stop visiting churches for thanksgiving service for his victory in the presidential election petition.

The party's suggestion is based on the belief that it is not a proper and efficient use of presidential time to be visiting churches for thanksgiving service for a single event that happened more than two months ago. The president has already visited four churches. The president cannot possibly visit all religious groups and denominations to thank God Almighty for his victory.

We have seen through the crystal ball of the president's communications strategy to use God, churches and prayers to divert attention from the difficult economic circumstances of the country. This strategy will not work and nothing of such nature will be able to divert attention from the fact the his government have not been impressive, have not delivered on its promise and the people are suffering from serious economic mismanagement.

The president made reference to the United Kingdom and the United States as examples of countries that had experienced economic challenges in their history. Yes it is true, but the leadership of those countries did not go to church every weekend for thanksgiving service as a propaganda tool to divert people's attention.

They provided leadership in the provision of basic education for all its children to guarantee them a better future, they built housing for their people to live in dignity, they built roads to open up their countries for businesses to grow to provide jobs for their youth and they did not mismanage their resources bequeath to them by the God Almighty. All of us must be grateful to The Lord for his enormous blessing for Ghana in terms of natural resources but what have done with these blessings?

The president has a four year mandate to deliver on the 200 secondary schools and the better Ghana he promised. He must fight corruption in his government. He must get to work and desist from propaganda even when it comes in religious cloak.

We are wide awake and watching!

Kofi Asamoah-Siaw

National Secretary