STOP THE “CHEAP POPULIST TALK” GHANA STILL NEEDS DEVELOPMENT AID- REV DR OPUNI

The General-Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Opuni- Frempong has described the President’s campaign to create a Ghana beyond aid, as cheap populist talk. Rev Opuni said, Ghana still needs aid. According to him people campaign against development aid to Ghana appear not to know what the reality in Ghana looks like. He said donor countries have to monitor case by case to see that the money is well spent to have their money’s worth.

Rev Dr Opuni said such populist campaign undermines operations of NGOs and other institutions that do business with the donor agencies.

Rev Dr Samuel Asenso Bediako a former pastor of the Presbyterian Church now based in the United States also described the President’s campaign as premature and unnecessary looking at the country’s current economic situation. He said “We need more than sweet political promises, rambling narratives and confusing signals, no matter how amusing. We need real change.

The nation needs a new birth”. He said we need political leaders who are ready to confront our challenges with practical,tough but prudent solutions, walk their talk and will always be on the side of the people who are committed, not in the cradle of those who will eventually stab the masses in the back after getting their votes. He said there are many Ghanaians still jobless and the face of poverty is still in our streets, there are still no accountability for rights violators, there are still multiple standards of justice and people still cynical about our justice system because of political manipulations and our corrupt officials are called heroes by their political friends. He advised politicians in Africa to stop their cheap political rhetoric about development aid to Africa. He said the President should focus on building on what he inherited from his predecessors and clear from his government arrogant officials who fantasize that they are omnipotent and those appointees who think public service is a private trust fund. He said these are the issues the new President should concern himself with. He said after 10 months the demagogic promises seem to have given way to compromise, reversals and even betrayal over time.

He advised the President to quickly move away from the slippery area. The promise that change is coming under President Akufo-Addo seems to have come and gone. There was so much to look forward to when he came to power on the crest of popularity. People waited and still waiting with varying degree of disbelief and hope that poverty would wane, corruption curbed, impunity abated, economic well being assured, foreign intervention and domination stopped. These are the issues we must dispassionately tackle not cheap populist narratives and assurances.

He said, few months into office the new administration has borrowed more than necessary and still borrowing, India is funding renovation of the flagstaff house, the Chinese have taken over our businesses and mineral resources in the name of PPP and other bogus trade arrangements and the President is assuring the people that he will leave a legacy of Ghana beyond aid?,