Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has charged political parties to concentrate on solving the needs of the people and not reduce their mandates in office to mere political events.
He said the demonstration held by the ‘Fix the Country” groups of persons leaves much to be desired and therefore called on politicians to visit the issues of the day.
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu said this to mark the 29th Anniversary of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
The NPP government has come under serious scrutiny from the minority NDC in the first year of their second term in office due to questionable financial decisions in recent times, security concerns, poor economic initiatives that has resulted in high cost of living and a staggering unemployment rate.
The #FIxTheCountry protestors took to the streets to argue-out some of these concerns.
Sharing his views on these issues on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Friday, 6 August 2021, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that the celebrations of the NPP must be viewed in the light of recent happenings.
“But you see Randy, I want to focus this discussion on the number of years that political parties exists by the impact that they make and how they contribute to the overall health of our democracy and our governance architecture. We cannot hold this discussion without paying attention with the concrete reality today. This NPP at 29 commemoration happened less than twenty-four hours after the biggest non-partisan demonstration that this country I will say have ever witnessed. You have teeming youths, young professionals in their thousands who are not your everyday politicos. They largely do not have party cards. They actually served notice that the leading parties and indeed all political parties to stay off. To back off. And yet look at the numbers they marshalled to the streets,” he noted.
Mr. Ablakwa indicated that it was necessary for the President to respond to the worrying concerns of the public which dominated media headlines than being upbeat about victory in 2024
“I would have thought that the President would have taken the opportunity to respond to their concerns. Instead of the President beating his chest and engaging in test-thumping and saying that the NPP will win the 2024 elections, I thought that the President will be addressing that very significant development.”
“It was all over in the international media. I was called by a number of international media organisations to reflect on the ‘Fix The Country’ demonstration. From Aljazeera to BBC to Associated Press to AFP, Reuters. Just name it. The international media focus was on Ghana” he stated.
The North Tongu legislator said the information put out there by the demonstrators highlights the frustrations of the people and that it was important for NPP leadership not to dwell in their conceitedness and self-aggrandisement.
“Huge numbers, massive turn up. You listen to these young people. They have become disillusioned about the fourth republican experiment and as leaders of these political parties, we must be concerned. We must be deeply worried about this. I mean if you read some of the placards. Some of them say ‘to hell with the fourth republic; bring down this fourth republic; democracy is not working for us. Political parties must go into a pensive mood and reflect greatly.”
“This is not a time at all to be jubilant and to be buoyant and to engage in razzmatazz and extravaganzas and what have you. The people that we lead have become very, very, very disappointed to put it mildly about our democracy,” he emphasized.
Mr. Ablakwa explained that political parties are interested in assuming power more than dealing with decaying problems in governance.
“It is emerging that the leading political parties seem to be more fixated about winning elections than winning the battle against unemployment, against corruption, against maladministration, the lack of amenities, the lack of opportunities, the despondency that has engulfed this country. So we are seeing political parties becoming electoral machines and not governance machines,” he concluded.
By: Ernest Tetteh Kabu | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
