Politicians taking Ghana’s democracy for granted – Kumbour

Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Nandom in the Upper West Region Dr. Benjamin Kumbour has slammed politicians for failing to develop Ghana after several years of independence.

He has indicated that Ghana is still underdeveloped because the leaders only get to public office to pursue their parochial interest to enrich themselves and family members.

The former Defense minister said unlike the leaders in the early 90’s the current politicians are beginning to take Ghana’s Democracy for granted by abusing the people’s mandate granted them to transform and develop the country.

Ben Kumbour disclosed this in an interview on Yen Sempa morning show on Onua FM on Monday, April 19, and indicated that in the early 90’s there was a lot of euphoria for democracy experimentation and politicians had the conviction that there is the need to work together in making sure that democracy works for Ghana.

The former legislature noted that a lot of things have happened along the line and the euphoria and excitement of Ghana’s democracy has drastically changed affecting people’s commitment and patriotism towards developing the country.

“Over time a lot of things have happened and that euphoria and excitement about democracy is beginning to sort of come down to a significant extent and the causes are obviously not too far to find,” he told host Kwame Tutu.

“One has to do with those that have been in government and the way we have practiced democracy and the second has to do with the people for whom those democratic services were provided, he added.

He is livid at how democracy has been practiced in Ghana to the extent that there is no connection between politicians and the public on a collective agenda to develop Ghana through democratic rule.

He indicated that the Vows and Commitments by politicians are no longer genuine and sincere due to the behavior of politicians and the fact that they have to contract people to kill opponents to win power.

Ben Kumbour maintained that the public has lost trust in politicians and people only queue to cast their vote on Election Day just because of the fact that it is their civil right to do so.

The former health minister cautioned politicians to be circumspect and change the style of leadership in serving the people but if they continue down this road riding such high horses that nobody can bring them down then one day they would come across a low branch.

He indicated that very soon no corrupt official would go to jail but they would remain relevant and reproduce themselves because the system rewards groups that are known to be corrupt while the public celebrate them because of their wealth.

He has thus called for a national reorganization where the resources of the country would be used prudently so that leaders would be able to provide the basic needs for the citizenry and gain back the respect and support of the masses.