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Problems of indiscipline, illegal mining and poor governance in the country persist because political leaders are obsessed with power instead of the country, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey has said, calling for his party to lead “quantum shifts”.
The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated that “the endemic pervasive indiscipline” and “sense of irresponsibility” in the country’s politics must be addressed to put the country on a developmental trajectory.
He blamed multi-party democracy for creating a “doorway for absolute indiscipline” because leaders fear losing power if they enforce rules.
“Members would say if you crack the whip, you lose power. So we become obsessed with keeping power while seeing our country go down. Because all that matters now is winning against everything,” he said.
Mr Kwetey was speaking at the party’s 34th Anniversary celebration in Accra yesterday.
Present at the event were other top party officers, including the Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah; the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga; the NDC MP for Klottey Korle, Dr Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings; the Members of Parliament (MP) for Krachi West, Helen Adjoa Ntoso; party cadres and sympathisers.
It also featured flag raising and cake cutting to commemorate the anniversary of the party that birthed the Fourth Republic.
The General Secretary proposed a “one mandate non-renewal” presidential term to free leaders from re-election fears.
“If you don’t have to be afraid of being re-elected, you do what you’ve got to do for your country.
But the very moment you are constantly thinking, I need to go for election again, that’s where the fear comes,” he explained.
He said the multi-party system has created a “messianic” expectation that political parties will solve every problem, destroying personal responsibility.
“We have fed our people with that mentality that we are messiahs.
Why should I do anything?
After all, the government should come and do it for me,” he added.
The MP for Klottey Korle and daughter of the Founder of the NDC, Dr Zanetor Agyemang-Rawlings, called on the NDC as a party in government to ensure equitable access to resources and to promote humility among those in positions of authority, because “all such persons are stewards, all such persons are servants of the people.”
Dr Agyemang-Rawlings said poverty leaves citizens with no option but “instant gratification,” and the party must be mindful of that as it governs.
“We have a duty, especially now that the NDC is in power, to ensure equitable access and distribution of resources, to ensure humility of persons who have been placed in positions of authority,” she said.
She added that the party must reflect how it governs, as Ghanaians always raised the bar when the NDC is in office, because it is the standard that the party established for itself 34 years ago.
She argued that it did not matter how many new constitutions the state came up with, if the mindset of the people is that “this is democracy and you can do anything you want and there are no consequences, there will be no point to any of that”.
She appealed for “deep and broad stakeholder engagement” in any constitutional review, insisting that youth, women’s groups, fisherfolk, farmers and traders must all be consulted.
